A Latin American Game's Remarkable Journey to US Target Stores

0:00for advertising agencies to make their brands feel more human online. And I think that for small business owners, it is just easy to just be human. Hello, I'm Shuang Esther Shan, and this is Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and building a business. Many new entrepreneurs work on a side hustle along their day job, and there's a lot of benefits to that. There's less risk, and you still have income coming in. For Mike Alfaro, his day job in advertising helped him get connections and skills he needed to build Millennial Loteria, a modern version of a traditional car game played in Mexico and Latin America.

0:43Now, Millennial Loteria is a best-selling board game at major retailers like Walmart and Target, and it's helped Mike to build his dream career as a CEO, creative director, and now children's book author. He's here to discuss how building a company can fuel your career in many different directions. Thank you so much for joining us, Mike. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to talk to you. Yeah, I'm very excited because I think your career is fascinating. So Millennial Lotteria started as an art project when you were still working in advertising. For people who are not familiar, what is the game and how were you able to put your own spin on it?

1:26Yeah, I grew up playing Loteria, which is a very similar game in mechanics to bingo. If you play bingo, it's very similar. So instead of just calling numbers, these are the, you call out cards that have these images on them. And the images were iconic to a lot of people who played growing up, kind of like how if you played Monopoly growing up, you kind of see the little pieces of Monopoly that are iconic, I guess. And so for Latinos, we had those images of a mermaid and the lady, el catrin, you know, el corazón, just different sort of things that represented Latino culture. And I saw them, you know, like I grew up, obviously I grew up playing with them, but then I became older.

2:09I didn't play for a while and I found them and I thought, wow, these are a little bit more outdated than they, than I think millennials nowadays would like to be represented as. And so I thought about modernizing it a little bit and it's just put it on Instagram and it, you know, people started liking the message and the themes of how I updated the cards and they wanted to buy the game. And I ended up just having to create a business around it. And I think having your full time job really helped because it gave you the connections and also gave you the chance to have savings to actually make this game a reality.

2:46so tell us how you made the first order of the print happen yeah so I mean for me I wanted to I guess I didn't know anything about how to start a manufacturing of a product before I've never done that before in my career but I knew you know I had worked in advertising at that point for about 10 years as a creative director so I had worked with some print manufacturers for a you know little tchotchkes to give out to clients or conferences that have a brand on them. Those simple things, I think I reached out to some of them being like, could you create a card deck and a box to fit the cards in and print some things?

3:27And they were like, yeah, let's try to make it happen. And so that's how I did like the first, you know, a thousand orders through just the connection that I had and utilizing those connections. Right. And it was here in the United States. I ended up spending like$19 ,000 or$20 ,000 total, I guess, at the end into manufacturing the first 1 ,000 sets of Loteria. So it wasn't like it was very cost effective to make them at that beginning. But I was like, okay, let's make them. These will sell. I'll price them a little bit higher. Obviously, higher than I think a normal Loteria set would be. But just because of the exclusivity, I think I can probably make that work so that I recoup my money.

4:04And then it ended up, you know, selling out in like four days. And I just made all my money back and then some more. And I was like, whoa, OK, there's a big demand for this out there. But yeah, I put him on Shopify. That's where I like first did my first a thousand orders. And it was super easy for me to set it up. And it was an easy way for me to sell it online. And for me, that was a proof, too, when I started to explore my options into publishers. That's when I could use some of the stats that I had from Shopify to show them like, look, this is how much it sold. This is how fast it went, how much they sold for.

4:38And it was a cool way to show that there was potential behind my brand. So yeah, your advertising career, the corporate job, actually really prepped you for launching the business. It connected you to a production partner and also a variety of artists and designers. Talk to us how having this job was actually so beneficial for your entrepreneurial journey. Yeah, I mean, I came to the United States to study advertising and, you know, television. From the moment I got my first job, I was always learning about, you know, how to design things. Because I was even coming in as a copywriter. I didn't know, have a lot of design experience.

5:17So I got to learn working with art directors. You know, still to this day, I work with Gerardo Guillen, who is our partner for Millennial Notarial in design. You know, we do a lot of design with him. And then we have other designers, too, that come in to help us with different projects. and just forming those connections of people that you know you can vibe and you work well with. Also, even, you know, different directors out there when I did a commercial and they came on to direct it, just having that experience of how they shoot commercials helped me also visualize and learn from them how I want to shoot my own commercials when I do stuff with Millennial Didier, how I frame things.

5:49When I shoot something on TikTok, a lot of those things too, I learned on the job. I was like, TikTok wasn't out there back then in that big capacity, but it's just social media. So those things really set me up for success. And just those connections are really easy to utilize. I always tell people to, you know, if you're working in a place, always see it also as well as like, it could be a stepping stone to something else. Try to get as much as you can from working in a place, learn as much as you can, because then when you become an entrepreneur, you can utilize that as well. And a lot of things they don't teach you in business school or in like advertising school, you just got to learn by being thrown into the fire and figuring it out.

6:26Yeah. And I think it frees you up to focus on the areas of business that you truly enjoy. So talk to us about having the freedom to work on the areas that you love and also passing on the responsibilities to people who had the expertise to focus on those other areas. Yeah, I'm very, you know, creative individual is how I feel. All my life I've been just focused on creative projects, but when it comes sometimes to doing a little bit more of the like just math work on stuff or just like shipping distribution, even customer support sometimes can be like daunting. And just working with huge national retailers that expect sort of people to come in, just kind of knowing what to do.

7:10I think for me, passing those responsibilities off to somebody else and focusing on that creative aspect really helped also the business because I could just focused on, okay, we did Millennial Loteria, but what's next? Okay, we can make Millennial Loteria Y2K edition, which we have out at Walmart now. We can do the Millennial Loteria Gen Z edition. And a lot of that comes too from just doing market research, seeing what different trends are going on in Gen Z culture, what's going on with the Gen Xers, and let's do something for them with Y2K edition. A lot of our work is based on generation. So there's also a lot of research that I do that I love doing.

7:45And that helps us out as well in finding a strategy and a direction of where to take our business. And, you know, I don't have to worry about when shipments arriving from Columbia to the US and all that kind of stuff. That's something that my publisher can help take care of. And I think what's so special about your story is also that your love for advertising your career has given you the connections, not only just to meet the first supplier that was able to produce that first deck, but it also gave you the connections for different artists and designers that you get to work with. And I think that experience really fueled this business as well.

8:25Talk to us how your career and the business are two symbiotic parts of yourself as well. Yeah. So one of the funny things about getting a large following all of a sudden on your social media that are following your projects was that they were also following me. The account was my life and I was posting cards that related to my life. So I showed behind the scenes of what was going on in my life, what I was doing, if I was moving somewhere. And people started to also follow me as a creator, not just as like, you know, the brand. And so my Instagram account and my TikTok became more like, OK, here's my life and this is what I'm doing.

9:02And these are sort of the products that come out of me and that I get to create. And so for me, finding that sweet spot between, okay, now that I have this business that's doing well and I can organically promote it on my social media, now I can also work with different brands that want to reach out to my audience and know things that interest me like movies or TV. and I've gotten to do collaborations with different brands out there. I've worked with Disney, Warner Brothers. I've done stuff with Tostitos, different collaborations that I was able to utilize sort of my knowledge of advertising to create partnerships with them that would incorporate like a special edition game for the release of Encanto on Disney+.

9:47That was something that we were able to do. Or, you know, Warner Brothers had the Suicide Squad coming out and they wanted to do Loteria cards for each of the characters in that. And I'm a big nerd. I was like, yes, let's do it. Let's let's let's figure it out. And because I spoke that language of advertising and marketing and knowing sort of how to deal with clients and, you know, meeting deadlines and everything that's needed. I think it was an easy transition for me to work with studios and different agencies. And that really helped feel also like what's going on with the game. So it's very like it kind of goes back and forth, like people like me for the game, but then they like me for different, you know, because now I also work with these studios on things that aren't really not that yet.

10:24I do, you know, where it's like trailer concepting for them or social media messaging. That's stuff that they reach out to me because they like working with me so much just on Loteria that they were like, hey, what else can you do that's not Loteria? And I was like, yeah, here, let me show you. Yeah, it's really cool because I think a lot of the times entrepreneurs have this crossroads where they let go of their corporate job or their past career. But it seems like both your career and your business has really thrived. So interesting to hear many different chapters of your career and the development of Millennial Lotteria.

11:00I'm excited to dig into the social media aspect even more. I'm chatting with Mike Alfaro, the founder of Millennial Lotteria. I wanted to take a moment to thank our listeners for tuning in to the show. Please take a moment and subscribe to Shopify Masters and leave us a review if you're enjoying the show or have any feedback for us, it helps others to discover us as well. Thank you so much. So one of the collaborations that mean a lot to you is the one with Target. Tell us why it was such a memorable one. It was a very full circle experience for me because when I came to the United States, I came from Guatemala, I came to Orange County when I was 18.

11:43I just turned 18. I came here from college to study, you know, advertising. And I basically came with like, like, you know, two suitcases. And that's what I had to like, you know, I came to my parents didn't come with me when I came to this. I just came by myself to like move into school, into the dorm. So it was all brand new to me. I'd never been in California. And so I didn't know a lot of the stores and everything kind of I felt really foreign. That's how I can remember feeling very out of place. And when I came to one of the first things that they had at school was like, hey, there's like if you're an international student and you need, you know, toiletries or more stuff for your dorm room, which I definitely needed more stuff of just like different things when you move into college that you don't, you're not going to bring on a plane.

12:24There's like a special little bus that's going to leave to Target. And they were like, you got one hour, go shop, you know? I'm just like, okay, I got one hour in the store that I don't know. And I'm walking in and it's just like, it's very different than the Mercados that I used to go with in Guatemala. This is like very like style, like, you know, that Target sort of feel that you have for a very design-conscious sort of store. And I remember going down the aisles and they had all these different products. A lot of them are Target products, you know, that you don't get in Guatemala. And so everything felt different.

12:53I was like, what is this? And the prices are much, much higher than everything costs in Guatemala. So I felt very out of place. I felt very foreign. Like, I didn't know what I was doing. So when the opportunity arose to have a product like this Millenoteria, that's all about representation, arrive in Target and be a game that sold at Target, that was something that I was like this is a full circle moment because I'll have something on the shelves that maybe if there's another kid out there who is coming you know to this country and is walking down the aisles of Target and sees a game that reflects something that they know growing up maybe they won't feel as foreign maybe they'll feel more as like hey this is the place where I belong that's something I didn't see when I came to the United States and I hopefully our game can do that for a lot of other young Latinos out there that are just want to feel represented and seen.

13:39I think Target understands that because they have their, you know, their Hispanic Heritage Month celebration that is all about, you know, Latino founders and products. And they really supported this product because they were looking for products that represented young, modern Latino shoppers, which we have a lot of buying power. And this was a product that totally fit the brand. And we had to make a product that was family friendly because our original millenoteria was just like really for millennials. It was a more like cards against humanity type humor in the cards. And we were able to make it more family friendly for Target.

14:12And it became a Target exclusive, which also was really great for us to have just something that we could say, this is a Target exclusive. If you want to get the family friendly version, pick it up at Target. And that was really great to be able to do. And you had a crazy successful launch because you leverage again, that symbiotic piece of your social media, you highlighted the launch, and it just got sold out so fast. So yeah, tell us about that. When we started launching the game at Target, I knew we had to put out some social media out there, something to say, hey, we're here because we really have no, you know, we have any advertising budget for TV or radio or anything like that.

14:51But I was like, you know what, my audience is online, we're on social media, we're on Instagram, I can put something on Instagram that can help tell my story. So I just did a recap video of like, hey, you know, we started selling it, you know, through Shopify on our online store. Here's what we were doing. And now, you know, we've been working with all these different partners and now we're at Target and you can come shop there. And it was a very, I guess, just endearing video for a lot of people who saw it because they were like, wow, here's this kid who's like investing his own money and the product is doing well and it's all about Latinos.

15:22So I think it caught the eye of a lot of people saying this is good for our community. This is a feel good story. And it got about 11 million views on TikTok. And so all of a sudden, people started posting videos of them going to Target to buy the game and posting their review of it and playing with their friends and all these different videos started to go viral. And that really helped fuel the launch of Millenoteria. It, you know, it went viral, I think the same week that we launched. And we again, we didn't plan it. I was just planning it to post it. We didn't have any money put behind it, nothing.

15:54I mean, we were just like, you know just so happy to be included at Target I just didn't think it was going to have this big of an impact because all of a sudden you know we start seeing stores sell out in like all the places that are Latinos like there was a lot of Latino concentration here in California and Texas even like Florida and then you start to see like it kind of start sweeping across the United States where stores was just starting starting to go out of stock of Millennial Loteria just sweeping the nation yeah exactly just sweet I was like that's literally what it just sweeping the nation we could see like it started where all the Latinos were and then it just started keep going more and more and more and more and like obviously there's Latinos everywhere but it just sold out more where there were more Latinos and so we started to see that so many people were enjoying the game and we my publisher got a call from Target being like hey like did you guys drop like an advertising campaign because like you know you're out of stock in all these places like obviously we're going to restock we're going to need to reorder but like what you know you guys gotta let us know if you're going to do something like this, you know, like have a big ad campaign around it so that we have enough stock.

16:55And my publisher was like, no, we just, you know, our founder just made a TikTok and they were like, oh, that's cool. And so they've always been encouraging me to like post more TikToks about us being a target. And I'm able to do that, you know, but I also don't want to bombard my audience online with just like everything about my business. So a lot of stuff I post too is just normal random stuff throughout the day that makes people laugh or funny jokes that come to my mind. And then every once in a while, I talk about Millennial Loteria as part of my journey because it is part of what I'm doing.

17:24And I get a lot of people, when they see me in random stores, sending me pictures or tagging me, being like, hey, I saw your product here. And sometimes I don't even know they're sold at those stores. So it's really fun to see that. Got a tag from someone being like, you're at TJ Maxx. And I was like, cool. I mean, I think that's what makes it special, right? You're having this connection with people who've found you years ago when you first started to create these designs and they like to see you succeed because they're also subscribed to your updates and also the business updates. I guess the question here is a lot of listeners are trying to start their own business.

18:04They're trying to build a community and they're trying to be better at engaging with that community. What is your advice for doing that on social media? Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of advice that they get is to put themselves in front of the camera. You know, all of a sudden, like you have all these entrepreneurs that have to become social media influencers. I've seen that in a lot of people out there who have their businesses that all of a sudden, there's this like need to be in front of the camera. And I think for some people that can be uncomfortable. So for some people, that's going to come more naturally.

18:36But I think it is important to share your story and what you're doing. It's, you know, but it has to feel organic. I think it just has to feel like something that's just coming really from you, that it's not a lot of marketing sell all the time. It just needs to be something that's a mix. People appreciate that. Brands pay millions of dollars for advertising agencies and like teams of people to make their brands feel more human online. They want their brands to appear human on Twitter, on Instagram. That's what they get paid for. And I think that for small business owners, it is just easy to just be human.

19:12You know, I think that's just showing that human side of you when you're starting your small business, I think is very endearing for people. And especially if you're coming from a spot that you want to bring representation to someone, there's a lot of people out there who feel like, yeah, I want to see that representation. And all of a sudden you become like the representation that you are trying to like advocate for, which I think happened to me. A lot of people come up to me now and like, hey, I really like your story. I'm going to start my business. I'm doing this. And, And, you know, I'm learning a lot from you, just following you, seeing what you're doing.

19:39And I think that's really cool because I can, you know, inspire other people to start their own businesses. And Latinos, we're starting businesses at like higher, like higher rates than a lot of other people out there. So I'm just excited that I can also provide that inspiration for people. Yeah, it's truly interesting how woven your career and your business. We've talked a bit about this at the top of the show, but in a sense, you are now your own creative director and instead of building campaigns for other brands, you've become a brand in yourself and you're also using that creative director hat for other companies as well.

20:17I guess, what is your advice for shaping and building out the life and career path into the most ideal state? This is a huge question, but I feel like you've done it so well where you're able to like grow in both respects. Yeah, I think for me too, my family, I too, I think one of the other aspects to add into that huge question that a lot of people have is also like having your family to think about and to spend time with Abby just became a new dad. I also have to think about how much time I want to be spending on my business on different projects and how much time I want to be spending with my family.

20:54And I right now I'm like doing half a day with like my daughter here where my wife works and then we have no child here. So we're kind of going back and forth. And that was another big part that I wanted to be able to do. And for me, being my own sort of boss and my own creative director for my own business allows me to be able to schedule time to do that and be able to also, because that's a big part of, you know, it's not just about handling the different sides of the business, but also handling that personal life is really important to me. And I know it's really important for a lot of millennials my age as well out there that want to have that work-life balance.

21:28And for me, being able to have this game that became passive income and just working on projects that I kind of want to work on and that really fuel my fire has allowed me just to be more creative. So I think for people, I also tell like, think about it as a freelancer. There's a lot of people out there who are freelancing. You can freelance for different things. You can freelance as a creative director. You can freelance for your business. You can freelance for different things. It's just, that's how I sort of think about it as well. Because when I have other business coming to me working, you know, it is kind of like a partnership as well, where I'm freelancing some work for them.

22:02I'm never like joining a part of a company, they're not bringing me in to be part of their company. I'm just there for a little while as a partnership. And I tell people to kind of think about it in that way. A lot of people who are advertisers out there love their freelancing career. And so for me, it's like, that's, that's just another way of thinking about it as well. It's, you're kind of freelancing and you get to pick and choose what projects you want to take, what's going to give you that step forward as well. A lot of the projects that I do are stepping stones for other bigger things. Sometimes I've done projects that are influencer projects that have been very small in scale that have led to bigger collaborations, you know, bigger things in the future.

22:38Sometimes I've done like favors from like, I'll do something for free. And then they come back and they come back with like a whole paid campaign and they want to incorporate and I'm like, great. You know, that's awesome that you saw that there was a response to the first thing that we did and they're just kind of coming back with something bigger. So don't be afraid to utilize those connections that you have and doing favors for people that are small at the beginning can also lead to people really seeing what else you can do. I think the way that you were able to shape your career and your business into the different chapters of your life was the fact that you were able to make really good decisions and also say no to certain opportunities.

23:14like at the beginning you didn't go full force on the business with Millennial Loteria you actually took the licensing agreement and that might be a hard decision for a lot of people so for yourself how do you make those pivoting decisions and choose the option that's right for you it's where your passion is too I think that's a big thing like I said I don't really love the side of running a business type of aspect of the shipping and all that kind of stuff that that's too different for me. I'd rather just have a license. And that was incredible to be finding a partner because they also know that, you know, when you're working with a brand like myself and like my game, you're working with me as well as the creator.

23:55And so they see a benefit in that in partnering with me. I'm just not that focused too much on sort of the day-to-day logistics of the shipping and the distribution of Millennial Loteria in a way that I really didn't want to be a part of. So it is that thing of saying no to the things you know are going to make your life sadder, not just because of the money. And like I said, you know, I this was a side gig for me. So I was always doing it not because I wanted it to be like for the money, but I was doing it because it was something that I felt like I wanted to do. But again, thankfully, we've been able to like recoup everything that we invested in it and just see how exponentially it started to grow.

24:34And I realized like, okay, this is a great business to have. And it allows me to explore other interests that I have and I love. Why I think right now I'm just very happy with where I am with my life and my business. And, you know, I'm doing some children's books next. I can just keep creating more and more and more. And all of a sudden we have a huge line of products that I've been able to create. And that also is like really fun to be able to focus on those on the creative side of the business. Well, you have to tell us about the children's book and why it's so important for you in your life and your career right now.