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Having Infinite Possibilities
As an entrepreneur, my vision will determine how large my business idea grows. The only limitations are the ones I put on myself by not thinking big enough. Being an entrepreneur has opened my mind to think in terms of possibilities! I get to ask myself “How?” when faced with challenges, and seize new opportunities when they arise. Coming from an attitude of “What’s possible?” has benefited my personal relationships as well. There’s also no ceiling on your income when you own your own business!
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Controlling My Time
I’m so grateful to be able to choose how I spend my time each day. I love building my businesses while balancing time with my family and having fun. My shop, The Experience Ink: Tattoo & Smoke Shop, is close by if I’m needed there. These days I’m spending most of my time at my new restaurant, Tlayuda L.A. and love learning a new business! It’s so much fun getting to know our customers and introducing new people to Oaxacan Mexican food.
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Being My Own Boss
An entrepreneur’s success is based on her efforts! To be successful in my day-to-day activities, I’m growing my leadership abilities in managing my employees. A significant growing opportunity was training someone to take over my day-to-day operations of The Experience Ink so I could start Tlayuda L.A. Every day I become a more effective leader of others and myself.
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Living My Passion
I’ve always been passionate about giving the best possible customer experience. It doesn’t matter what business I’m in – I love to make someone’s day more positive. Now I’m able to share my passion every day through so many different avenues of business! It’s really true how when you love what you do, it’s not work!
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Having a Creative Outlet
I feel so fortunate in getting to express my creativity through my businesses. Social media marketing is one of the main areas where I let my imagination flow. I get to tap into my artistic creativity from designing the next special of the week in my tattoo shop to staging a mouth-watering photo of my restaurant’s latest dish.
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Creating Jobs in My Community
I have always cared about my family and my community and I’m continually looking for more ways to give back. As an entrepreneur, my businesses now employ ten people. That’s ten families who now have a steady income source providing for their daily needs! What a privilege!
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Supporting Other Entrepreneurs
I love connecting with other like-minded people. I’ve been hosting an entrepreneur Meetup called Free Business Tips at the Experience Ink in Mission Hills for the past two years. We’ve built a great community of small business owners that encourage each other, provide resources and assistance, plus masterminding and feedback opportunities. We always welcome people who have never owned a business before and it’s so rewarding to watch them succeed! I also have so many great friends and business partners I met from my Meetup!
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Industry Innovation
Innovation comes from being open to new ideas from products to customer service. My focus is always on enhancing the customer’s experience. Along with incorporating new ideas, I also set my own standard of excellence for each company. I’ve found that setting my own bar in each industry builds our brand’s reputation and grows our raving customer base.
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Being Open to Change
My passion is creating the best customer experience. One way I do that is by listening to my customers’ desires or challenges and then striving to fulfill that need. Changes can trigger fear in many people and the fear alone keeps many people from becoming an entrepreneur. Spending money on a new marketing campaign, investing in a new product or firing an employee is scary. However, as a business owner, I have to trust myself to make the decision and push through the fear. Introducing new ideas has led to many successes both in business and in my personal life. Who Moved My Cheese is an excellent story about adapting to life’s changes. There’s a twelve-minute animated video that shares the whole story and the short book is worth reading many times. I am constantly learning, re-evaluating and striving to implement positive changes quickly to continually grow my all businesses.
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Growing Myself
My 10th reason I’m grateful for being an entrepreneur has to do with who I become in the process of building my businesses. Each business started as just an idea in my mind and now they are built and I get to see them expanding every day. I understand more and more how each business and I are connected. I find that the more I better myself, the more successful my businesses become as well. After I took the PSI Basic Seminar in personal growth and success, I improved my awareness and added tools that I use daily in every business and my life. In fact, opening my restaurant was one of the results I created after that class! The Experience Ink and Tlayuda L.A. are merely the first of many businesses where I create an amazing experience for every customer!
About Laura
Laura Guerrero owns Tlayuda L.A. Mexican Restaurant and The Experience Ink Tattoo and Smoke Shop. Tlayuda L.A. brings together the Oaxacan flavors with a contemporary twist – it’s not your traditional Mexican restaurant. It’s located at 5450 Santa Monica Blvd in Los Angeles, two blocks off the 101 freeway at Western Avenue. The Experience Ink is located at 15534 Devonshire Ave in Mission Hills at the 405 freeway and Sepulveda. There’s a team of talented tattoo artists plus a retail smoke shop with a great selection of vaporizers, hookahs and much more. ExperienceVape.com is her successful eCommerce vaping website for the smoke shop. Laura lives in the San Fernando Valley with her family and enjoys going to art shows, meeting new people and sharing delicious meals with great conversation.
An Invitation to Inspiration 