Exploring Life & Business with Elizabeth Ortiz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Ortiz.

Hi Elizabeth, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a mom of 3. I have an 11-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy, and a 1-year-old girl. I was born and raised in Carolina, Puerto Rico. I moved to the U.S. in 2013 after having my second baby. I moved here looking for a better education for my kids. The first year I was a stay-at-home mom and gained a lot of weight. I wasn’t used to spending so much time at home.

I was always active, I used to be a dancer back in P.R. After that year, I started working part-time in a toll plaza on an overnight shift because the father of my kids was working mornings so we divided our time with the kids. But I wasn’t happy working there I was always tired. So I decided to change jobs and go back to school. I started working at a famous department store in the jewelry department. I remember it was only for a season but after 2 months working there, they decided they want it to keep me.

It was funny I didn’t know I have the skills or talent to sell. I just need a job. In the meantime, I was going to school to get certified as a surgical technologist. I went to school for this back in P.R but my school wasn’t accredited here in the U.S. so “it didn’t count”. I remember talking to my father saying I wasn’t going to go to school again for the same career I already went back in P.R. he said ” it’s only a year, look how fast the time goes. Look at the kids how fast their growing”. That was my “Aja” time.

Now I’m working and going to school at the same time. I was like that for a little over a year until I graduated, had my certification as a surgical tech, and started working in a surgery center. Making now $10 more than I was making selling jewelry. I learn a lot in this place about my career and people. At this time, one of my old friends that used to dance with me offer me the opportunity to participate in a workout class. I was very excited because finally, I had the motivation to start getting in shape and being healthy. She brought me to a Herbalife Nutrition Club.

I tried the products and loved how they make me feel. Finally, I had the energy to play with my kids and work out. I started to lose weight and people were noticing and they started asking so the opportunity to have a part-time Herbalife distributor came up. I was happy, I was helping people to get better I enjoy my job. I worked as a surgical tech for 3 years but my heart was always adventurous and the opportunity to be a flight attendant came and I didn’t let it pass. I have always been a people person I like to be surrounded by people and get to know a little about everyone.

Little did I know life has other plans for me. After 4 years here in the U.S., I separate from the father of my kids and he moved away and I ended up being by myself with my 2 kids and a part-time job with a bunch of bills to pay. I had no other option than to go back to a hospital to work a full-time job as a surgical tech. But this time was different. This job was

“THE JOB” or so I thought. This hospital was brand new I help to organize most of the things in the OR I thought that this was going to be my job for life until I retired. I knew everyone. I knew how everything worked I was a senior surgical tech. But God. He had other plans for me. While I was working Herbalife part-time at my sponsor’s nutrition club I met my now-husband. He used to be a client there for a couple of months and I was there every afternoon.

My routine started early in the mornings getting my kids ready for school. I had to be at work at 6:30 AM and get out at 3:00 PM to be home by 4:00 pm to shower, get dressed, and give the kids food because I had to be at the nutrition club by 5:00 PM. I work there Monday through Friday I was in charge of one of the workout classes called Fit-dance. After doing this for almost 3 years I found out I was pregnant with my third baby.

I was working in the hospital full time when Covid hit us I was pregnant and scared because we didn’t know much about it. I didn’t want to put my baby or my family in danger plus the OR manager wasn’t making it easier for me. She didn’t have any consideration about me being pregnant during a pandemic while trying to adjust to everything, because my other kids at that time weren’t going to school because of the pandemic. Everything was shut down.

In the middle of all this, the opportunity to open my own nutrition club came. When I say God has perfect timing, believe me, he does. I talked to my husband about my wanting to open a nutrition club full-time, plus I didn’t want to leave the baby in a daycare with now Covid going around and I was unhappy at my job because of the situations the manager had me in. I just needed his support and he gave it to me.

Now here I am in April of 2020 giving the final touches to what now is @B_Strong_Nutrition. I was almost 9 months pregnant when my nutrition club had its grand opening. I was still active, working out, and drinking my products. In May 2020 my baby girl was born. She was a healthy and beautiful baby girl. A pregnancy with no complications compared to my previous 2. I want to say that taking care of my body before my pregnancy help me a lot with that. When you give your body what it needs your body will respond differently. I only gained 21 lbs with my pregnancy and after that, I bounced back to my pre-pregnancy weight.

Here I am 2 years later after I made the decision to quit my full-time job to open my own business and take care of my baby full time. We serve a variety of protein and energy products that can help you to lose, maintain or gain weight in a healthy way. All this is served and hand-made by me. The menu gives you options on how to have your healthy breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

You can come to enjoy a healthy waffle, waffle sandwich, crepes, donuts, or a shake. Everything is made with Herbalife protein products and of course lots of love. Let’s not talk about the teas. You can enjoy them with common flavors such as pina colada, strawberry watermelon. passion fruit, guava, and a bunch of other flavors. We have other activities to offer to our clients like weight loss plans, workouts, and ladies’ night.

Ultimately I am grateful for this opportunity that I have to be able to do everything I enjoy. It truly changed my life and the lives of my children. Being able to be a business owner and knowing I’m serving a product to help and benefit others makes it all worth it.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been easy. Along the way, I have seen betrayal and people that I really love left my side. But God had to replace old for new. Everything has been very emotional all of this process has taught me endurance and perseverance.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about B Strong Nutrition LLC?
I specialized in nutrition. I am known for my crepes and waffle sandwich made out of protein and full of fruits. What sets me apart from others is the service that I bring when you walk through the door.

My most proud wise is my moist waffles and teas filled with a bunch of fruits. I would like for the reader to know that there’s a place where they can have fun, eat healthily, and have a good time. I want them to know that there are more people around with the same interest in getting healthy while having fun.

@B_Strong_Nutrition offers ladies’ night a VXN instructor comes every Tuesday and Thursday and offers a stage performance dance class that helps us work out every muscle in our body.

@B_Strong_Nutrition is soon to be on door dash for the convenience of those clients that cannot make it to the shop.

@B_Strong_nutrition serves a variety of sweet and salty dishes.

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I did take a high risk by leaving my full-time job and embarking on this adventure of being an entrepreneur. I was scared at the beginning and sometimes that same feeling of being scared creeps out on me. But my faith has kept me.

When people ask me how. I always tell them even if they have a fear, do it! Do it with fear but DO IT. The worst feeling is to live with “what if”. God never gives you a dream that you cannot fulfill.

Pricing:

• Combos start from $10
• Mega teas start from $5
• Ladies night $13

Contact Info:

• Email: ortizseiseeli@gmail.com
• Website: tatianao.goherbalife.com/en-us
• Instagram: @B_Strong_Nutrition
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.ortiz.96930013