Happy #SeekTheJoy Tuesday!

*All images courtesy of Nina Ojeda and PRÊTE*

On the podcast this week is Nina Ojeda, the CEO and Founder of PRÊTE, a membership service for blowouts at the best salons in your city.

Nina is a serial entrepreneur, writer, speaker, and the CEO and Founder of PRÊTE. Prior to the launch of PRÊTE, she founded The Avenue West, a go-to-market agency that focused on launching startups and building growth stage companies, which she sold in 2016 and continues to serve as Strategic Advisor.

Nina also writes a weekly column for Inc. Magazine and frequently lectures and sits on panels about startup survival and entrepreneurship. When she's not working (or getting her weekly blowout), she's likely spending time with her rescue dogs and fiancé or attempting to get her pilot's license.

On today's episode we chat all about Nina's love for entrepreneurship, how her start in PR and marketing led her to launching PRÊTE, and Nina breaks down what it really takes to successfully launch a start-up. We also chat about impostor syndrome, not being afraid to ask questions (like, a lot of questions), the importance of building a strong community, and the biggest risk she's ever taken. Plus, Nina shares how she's been able to maintain such a strong mindset and positive perspective while fully immersing herself in the world of serial entrepreneurship and start-ups, and how being creative and supporting other businesses in their growth really brings her the most joy.

I can't wait for you guys to hear this week's new episode. I had such a great time connecting with Nina, and her passion, drive, and love for entrepreneurship is truly inspiring.

“I learned early on that that the best and most successful companies or founders are always asking questions of people who know more than them.”

— Nina Ojeda

So how exactly does PRÊTE work? By partnering with high-end salons all over to the country, they book you blowouts at the salons closet to you at the time you want. Their concierge will find you a 5 star salon spot anytime you'd like, in any of their markets. Right now they're in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, Orange County, San Diego and San Francisco. They're coming soon to Washington D.C., Houston, and Miami!

With PRÊTE you can have a great hair day, every day (um sign me up!)

It was so much fun to hear Nina share her journey and what it's really like to launch a successful start-up. There was a period of time when Nina was running The Avenue West while also launching PRÊTE, and she shares the crazy exciting moment PRÊTE took off. She had created a website and put the product out there to see if anyone would be interested, without any expectations of what would happen. Well . . . people were really interested. Pretty much overnight they had over 1,000 people who wanted to use the service - and the rest is history.

“When you’re building a start-up you have to give 150% of yourself, there is no way around that.”

— Nina Ojeda

Nina and I also had a very honest conversation about the importance of building a strong community. No matter what you're doing, it's important to surround yourself with people who have been in your shoes, who have done it and who understand. Often when you start something that you're really excited and passionate about, the people who were in your corner from the beginning may not stay in your corner. This is something Nina learned early on, and every person that she's ever spoken to has had that same experience. It's not something that I talk about often, but it's also been my experience. It's hard to grapple with, it's hard to not take it personally, but as Nina shares in this week's episode - the sooner you let it roll off your back and not take it personally, the better off you'll be.

What I know for sure is that as you continue to follow your passions and dreams, you'll start to build and develop a new community and support system.

Nina has this incredible fire and drive to keep creating. PRÊTE has been so successful, but Nina's not about to stop there. Opportunities and inspiration are endless, and her ultimate dream is to eventually sell PRÊTE and continue to create and make new products.

To learn more about Nina and PRÊTE check out their website www.prete.co

You can find PRÊTE on Instagram @pretebeauty and Facebook @pretebeauty and you can find Nina on Instagram @ninaojeda

Until next week, ✨ #SeekTheJoy - hit SUBSCRIBE - and it would mean so much if you could give the podcast a rating and/or review on iTunes ✨💛🎧

Ratings and reviews help Seek The Joy get seen by new people, and I'm so grateful to each and every one of you who has rated the podcast!

If you rate/review the podcast on iTunes make sure to e-mail us a screenshot of your review to sydney@seekthejoypodcast.com and as a token of my appreciation and gratitude for your love and support, I'll send you my NEW #SeekTheJoy Guide for Infusing More Joy into Your Life document! I've created this guide based on what I've learned from these #SeekTheJoy conversations. Along with this guide, you'll also receive two limited edition Seek The Joy Podcast stickers which I will mail out to you!

The sixth episode in our series, The Power of Storytelling, airs on June 21st! We want you to be part of it! To learn more and to submit your story, visit the Share Your Story section of our website. Fill out our interest form - and we'll get back to you ASAP.

Listen now on iTunes, Soundcloud, Google Play, Podbean Stitcher or Spotify!

Ep. 36 Entrepreneurship and Launching a Successful Startup with Nina Ojeda of PRÊTE