We were lucky to catch up with Veronica Westlake recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Veronica, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love it if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from.
Inherently, my work ethic comes from being raised by two amazing parents who always worked. My parents, Pedro and Esmeralda Rodriguez are native Texans, but they left the Rio Grande Valley in the early 70’s looking for a better way of life and more job opportunities where they could manifest their own destiny.
My parents were not high school graduates, but my father did get his GED and spent four years serving in the Army. My mother didn’t go to school beyond sixth grade because her family needed her to work to help support the family. Even still, she went to cosmetology school and owned and operated her own salon for forty-two years.
I am a first-generation high school and college graduate. Education was always a top priority in my parents’ home and in my home today. My parents always emphasized that an education could open doors and give me opportunities that they never had. Therefore, while I did work during high school and through my college years, my first job was to get my education first.
That being said, my work ethic comes from what my parents modeled for me. My parents never missed work and we rarely took family vacations because my parents were always working to help further their own personal business goals and to pay for my education. While this may not be the ideal model for a life well lived, I now walk and implement a similar lifestyle and work ethic. Finding a balance between work and family is a constant struggle for me, but I have learned to say “No” to some opportunities simply because they are not in line with my work ethic style and/or distract me from my business goals and family.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself.
As the owner and creator of La Casita Hot Sauce, I wear many hats such as CEO, CFO, COO, and all of the O’s in between. My husband Todd and I are the machine, with me being the main engine that keeps us in production of our full salsa and pickle line as well as working with our copackers for tortilla chips, daily operations, private shipping fulfillment of orders from our e-commerce site and our wholesale site, managing Kroger and HEB purchase orders, scheduling in-store demo engagements, and all social media content creation using our entire product line. We are very excited about expanding into HEB grocery stores and sharing our salsas with Texans.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Persistence
2. Be coachable and willing to change
3. Accept failure and learn from it
These are my top three pieces of advice for entrepreneurs. Starting a small business, creating a business plan, and executing the plan is never a perfect process. All risk-takers must be able to fail, learn from the failed events, chalk it up to new learning, and then move forward with that new knowledge of what didn’t work and keep going. Persistence won’t allow you to give up, but it does cause you to constantly evaluate and reevaluate what is working and what needs to be stopped if it has poor ROI.
All entrepreneurs really need a good sense of humor. If you can’t laugh and roll with the punches, because there will be many of them, then consider working for a company that offers security and a bi-weekly paycheck. Being an entrepreneur is a wonderful journey and experience, but it isn’t for those who are not willing to take risks and be brave.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Yes! I love collaborating with other foodies and I welcome the support of partnering with food influencers. It’s surprising to me how I’ve grown my online social media community of foodies and they have become dear friends. I love to learn from these home chefs who are pursuing their foodie dreams and teaching along the way. The best way to get in touch with me for collaboration is via email: [email protected]
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lacasitahotsauce.com
- Instagram: @lacasitahotsauce
- Facebook: @lacasitahotsauce
- Linkedin: @lacasitahotsauce
- Other: Pinterest: @lacasitahotsaucetx
Image Credits
I own all images.
