He went from poverty to Phipps Plaza

Business editor Matt Kempner’s “Secrets of Success” shares the vision and realities of entrepreneurs who started their dreams from scratch. The column alternates with business editor Henry Unger’s “5 Questions for the Boss,” which reveals the lessons learned by CEOs of the area’s major companies and organizations.

Guzman’s advice:

— Numero uno: work

— Numero dos: work

— Numero tres: work

Esteban Guzman grew up poor on the streets of Mexico City. By eight he was working. By 13 he was a runaway. Now he has his own tailor shop at Buckhead’s upscale Phipps Plaza, making suits and doing alterations for the wealthy and glitterati.

His shop, Q Tailors, is small but growing. Guzman, 62, says it generated $450,000 in revenue last year and, even after his pay, notched a 30 percent profit margin. He and his youngest daughter are the only full-time employees, but others, including his wife and two sisters, work there part time or as contractors. He says he has a green card to stay in the United States and plans to apply for citizenship. English is his second language, so some of his words below have been tweaked in translation.

I come from a poor family. I started to work when I was maybe eight years old across the street where we lived in Mexico City. A small stand where they sold magazines and newspapers. I was friends with the owner. I started selling newspapers in the street. I made a few cents. I would give the money to my mama to feed my sisters and brother. I went to school in the afternoon. I learned very fast how to put (the newspaper sections) together. Later, I was maybe 10 years old, he chose me to wake up very early, like 4 a.m., to go to the place where they did distribution for the newspapers. He sent me in a taxi. They put all the newspapers and magazines in the taxi and they tell the taxi to take me to this corner or that corner.

Guzman distributed newspapers to other boys to sell on the street.

My father was very violent and one day I felt like he was going to hurt me. I left home because I saw my situation was very bad. I went to the downtown of Mexico City. I started to sell newspapers in different places in the streets and in the buses. In reading the newspaper, the employment section, I saw they needed a helper for someone who wanted to learn with a tailor. I requested the job. But I didn’t look good. I had only one t-shirt; my jeans were ripped. He looked at me strange. But I told him I needed to work. I started to work with a pedal (sewing) machine. No motor. He taught me to do everything by hand to be a tailor.

I lived inside the tailor shop for eight years. I slept under the table where they cut the suits. I fell in love with the daughter of the tailor. She fell in love with me, too. Big problem. That’s the reason I left the tailor’s shop. The mama told me I didn’t deserve this girl. They were rich.

Guzman eventually went to school to finish training as a tailor, got married and worked as an agriculture inspector. But about 25 years ago, encouraged by friends, he got a visa to work in the United States, he says. He worked at tailor shops and stores around metro Atlanta before landing at Saks Fifth Avenue, where he spent nine years. He says he gained a reputation for good, fast work.

Always I was growing. You start to connect with people.

Salespeople at Saks or other stores where he had worked moved to other retail outlets, expanding his network of contacts. Many would call him to do alterations when they had a rush job or when their own tailors were backed up. And they would tell managers about him.

I’d run to fit their customers. (After shifts at Saks) I would pick up all the work from the (other) stores, and I would take it to the basement in my house. I said (to customers), “I don’t have a place to fit you.” They said, “I don’t care. We can do it in the restroom.”

I received a phone call from Versace asking if I could do alterations for one celebrity, Mr. Tyler Perry. Later they called me for Usher. The key is they needed the clothes for the next day or two days. Later Hugo Boss called me to see Ashton Kutcher to alter one white smoking (jacket), same day. Later the owner from the H.Stockton store called me and asked if I could do a good job and fast for Justin Bieber. I altered one suit. He is a good guy. All the time I went to homes. Later I went to alter a suit for Mr. Elton John.

Over the course of a decade he bought used equipment he hoped to one day put in his own shop.

I started to collect trays, machines, irons in my basement. I talked to myself all the time in the mirror. I need to build one business. In my mind it was: “Keep going; keep going.”

If you think something, you can do it. My son said it is very hard to do it right here because you need money. But I never stopped in my mind. I’m blessed. I’m a lucky man. The three keys to be lucky: Numero uno, work. Numero dos, work. Numero tres, work.

I saved some money from a 401(k) and money I had in savings. I had maybe $10,000 or less. I only had to pay the rent because all the work is in my hands and in my mind, and the equipment, I already had it. When I started it was me and my son.

He named his store Q Tailors in honor of his mother, whose maiden name began with a Q. But the first space he got from the mall wasn’t actually in a public area.

They gave me a small space, very nice space, by the dock where the (tractor) trailers come. I was there like 8 months. (Customers) call me and I go to the fitting rooms for (the mall stores). I had my own customers and I told the stores, “Let me use your fitting room for one minute.” I told (the mall executives) I need space right here in the mall (near other stores).

Many Phipps customers are visitors to the city, and they want clothing to be fitted for them and ready before they leave town, Guzman says. Which is why references from salespeople and speedy work are key.

There is more profit and money in alterations than custom-made. One hem for jeans is $20. Rush? $25. You know how long it takes? 20 minutes or less. To make a custom-made suit takes 70 hours, for custom made by hand. You can make maybe $1,000 (profit on a $1,500 custom suit) over three weeks. There’s one fit, second fit. And still maybe you find some wrinkle in the suit. I like it because for me it is challenging.

His roughest time was after moving to a space inside the mall proper. About six months in, he had to ask his son for money to help cover one month’s rent. But business improved and was good even during the recession.

More people came for alterations to their old suits, for their old pants. Fix pockets, fix zippers, put the patch in the pants, cover the holes. Alterations never stop. And right now, people start to buy new suits.