Arely Lugo, owner of Beautiful Beginnings Child Care Learning Centers in Brownsville, has been named 2023 Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Lower Rio Grande Valley District Office.
Beautiful Beginnings is certified by Texas Rising Star, a quality rating and improvement program for early childhood programs in the state, while its staff has taken part in Texas School Ready, a comprehensive early childhood teacher training program.
The path to successful business ownership wasn’t always easy for Lugo, a single mother of four and a graduate of the inaugural class of the Women Entrepreneurs Small Business Boot Camp in 2010, when it was under the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce.
It was the same year Lugo organized the first Brownsville Business to Botana Expo, which featured 35 vendors. The following year’s expo, which she also organized, was more than double in size, attracting 78 vendors.
Lugo became director of a local child care learning center and opened her own business, a jewelry shop called MaddAbbie’s. Although the business didn’t survive, it sparked in her a passion for entrepreneurism.
On the strength of her child-care and business experience, Lugo launched the first Beautiful Beginnings location in 2015. After that, as she puts it, “life happened.”
“After I opened daycare one, I went through a divorce the first year, so it went real hard, real crazy, real quick,” Lugo said. “It’s been quite a journey. I had to pick up three jobs because daycare wasn’t making it, because there was a baby.”
Still, the business survived despite the curve balls, including a global pandemic, and in 2021, she opened a second Beautiful Beginnings location.
Business is good, Lugo said.
She credited the boot camp and the chamber — whose executive director at the time was Angela R. Burton, now director for the SBA Lower Rio Grande Valley District — for showing her where to find the resources she needed to succeed in business.
“Angela just kind of took me under her wing,” Lugo said. “It’s like they say, the chamber’s like a gym. If you don’t show up, you’re never going to see results.”
The more chamber events she participated in, the more connections with mentors and fellow professionals she made, Lugo said. One of them was Arturo Gonzalez, senior business and trade advisor for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Small Business Development Center, she recalled.
“He was a great mentor also,” Lugo said. “He brought the whole, like, how important the business plan was, how important it was to see your competitors and analyze your market. I was just like, what are you talking about? I was just going to open up a business.”
She laughs at the recollection, and advises anyone just starting out in business to “do the research, do the planning” and pay attention to the details, even if they don’t seem like a big deal.
“Even though you’re planning small, always think big,” Lugo said, adding that it’s also very important to “block out the noise.”
“Because there’s a lot of noise: You’re not good enough. You can’t do it. Just completely block all of that,” she said. “Even if you get a no, it’s one no closer to your yes. … Hey, I opened a store, and it wasn’t profitable. I closed it. I didn’t worry about, oh my God, what are people going to say? It just wasn’t the right thing for me. It wasn’t the right time.”
She also advises business newbies to take advantage of the many free business-how-to programs, including those offered by SBA, and get involved with chambers and other business groups.
Lugo said she recently joined FemCity, a national women’s networking organization created to empower women.
“All you have to do is invest your time,” she said. “Invest your time, show up and be willing to help without expecting something in return. I think that’s what has gotten me the connections that I have.”
Other 2023 SBA Lower Rio Grande Valley District award recipients include CCC Services of Edinburg, named Woman Owned Small Business of the Year, and Valley K-9 Detection Services of San Juan, named Veteran Owned Small Business of the Year.
SBA announced the awards in the run up to National Small Business Week, April 30-May 6 this year, which recognizes small business owners “who demonstrate staying power and substantiated history as an established business with at least three years of business operation,” according to SBA.
“National Small Business Week presents an opportunity to appreciate the significance of small businesses and acknowledge entrepreneurs who play a vital role in finding solutions, generating employment opportunities, and enhancing the development and prosperity of the region,” Burton said.
