Businesses for a Better World

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Thomas Shelton, co-owner of Valetudo Systems, LLC, located in Louisville, KY, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I have multiple businesses, and each business serves a different industry and its customers. Our core values focus on the social and environmental betterment of our biosphere.

Tell us about yourself

The fields we are in now are a byproduct of COVID. When the pandemic hit, I lost my restaurant marketing business and basically had to rebuild from ground zero with absolutely no funds. This caused us(me personally) to focus more on social and environmental causes. More giving and less taking! Our motto is “ you can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” I felt the collateral damage of Covid, and we now want to do more for society.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I love our recent story of clawing back after Covid. Most people would have just quit. The entrepreneur in me doesn’t have an off switch.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

First, finding the right team. Not the highest educated or most experienced. A team that’s there to build something. The second is financing. The financial industry hasn’t upgraded its standard. It fails to consider the speed of information. It could take you a week to get a loan, but your competitors can destroy you in the time it takes to write a social media post.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Be flexible. The world is a noisy place and moves fast.
Not everyone that is hard on you is an enemy, and not everyone propping you up is your ally.
Never get suckered into paying for services before results. Only pay based on results. If a company refuses that structure, they are telling you, “our work is inadequate, and you should assume all the risks.”
Contracts are the most important, but they have to make sense for everyone.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://todaysshop.store/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/todaysshop502/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/todaysshop502/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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