Meet Kissa Ortega | Entrepreneur & Business Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kissa Ortega and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kissa, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Looking back on my career as an entrepreneur, I would have self-diagnosed myself as a workaholic. I had zero work life balance and found myself obsessed with work. I would wake up in the middle of the night because I forgot to do something during my work day. I would only come home to shower, sleep, and get ready for the next day. All I could think, talk, and share about was work and business.

Now that I’m a parent our family business and dynamic has definitely changed. Since our son was born and the pandemic happened, we’ve had to take a really hard look at not just our business but our entire lives. We’ve had to reflect and ask ourselves really hard questions about whether or not what we were doing was healthy, doable with this huge life change, and even whether or not it was what we wanted. The answer was NO.

It was an easy answer for me. Before we started a family I kept using the excuse that working myself to the bone was “paying my dues.” I was convinced that I had to grind and hustle to the point of exhaustion so that I could reap the benefits, have more flexibility, and live the “entrepreneur’s dream” later. Though I believe that it’s important to work hard to build a business and put in extra time in the beginning stages of a start up I realize now that I took it too far. I was done. I didn’t want that for me, for my family, or my future children to see that life was only about work.

We made the hard decision to cut the aspects of our business that was holding us down. We did the unthinkable – we closed our restaurant. At first it felt like we had failed, but in time we realized it was just the beginning. We’ve been able to pivot our business to something more sustainable where we could be home more and still provide for our family. We’re learning about different aspects of the food industry and we feel like we’re students again which has invigorated our motivation to look at our products from a different angle. Most of all, it helped us to realize that though it was a hard decision to close our restaurant it was possible to still have a thriving business while having time for family, friends, and ourselves.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My biggest take away from my career so far as an entrepreneur is to create a community that supports you, holds you accountable, and believes in you. It’s easy to feel lonely when you’re a business owner. You think that no one is going through the same struggles as you, or that you feel so overwhelmed because you’re in over your head. It’s almost easier to close yourself off and never share the truth about what you’re going through. But once you find your people – your community – don’t let them go. Make an effort to keep in touch. Check in on them to see how they’re doing. Be real with them, support them, and let them support you.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them on a food tour of SoCal. I would take them to Joe’s Pizza in Santa Monica to grab a slice and maybe do some shopping in the area. I would take the to Monterey Park and do a little food crawl of all the mom and pop food spots there. I would take them to my favorite sushi place in the Valley. Take them to Redondo Beach to have fresh seafood and crabs.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a shoutout to the community of entrepreneurs that have become dear friends over the years. It’s easy to feel alone in the journey of entrepreneurship, but our colleagues were really there for us when we were going through one of the hardest times in our business. Because of them we were able to grow and come out the other end stronger!

Website: www.ninongsdessertlab.com

Instagram: @justkissa / @ninongsdessertlab

Youtube: YouTube.com/justkissaTV