We were lucky to catch up with Kasandra Vitacca Mitchell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kasandra, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
Yes happier as biz owner. Yes I have thought about a regular job. It is a thought that occurs when a heightened emotional situation occurs – lose a client, receive a large bill, argue with husband…below is over a 1000 words as I just started writing and, viola!
“What was I thinking?!” … “Why exactly did I launch another business?” … “Didn’t I just retire from a career which required I hunt for the next client?? And here I am doing the dog and pony show again.” … “Lord almighty, what was I thinking?!!”
These are the thoughts that played over and over in my head as I returned from a glorious vacation because I needed one! I had just launched another new business and I was exhausted from wearing every hat a small business requires from president to accountant to marketing to business development to inventory control to administrator and more.
I had recently retired from the independent financial services business I started in 2008. So, when the lockdown hit in early 2020 and my speaking and coaching business came to a standstill, I figured it was a good time to officially retire from everything. Further, my husband and I were building a new home in a new town which gave me a great excuse to leave the world of work behind and enjoy the life of retirement.
Thus, 2020 was a year dedicated to creating a new living space as empty nesters. I had a lot of new rooms to design and decorate, not to mention a new town to explore. It was also during this time that I came to the realization of why I love being an entrepreneur.
I did not work for money. Sure, before retirement, my income contributed to our ability to sustain our lifestyle. However, even when we needed my money to make ends meet, God wired me in such a way that my motivation was always: how can I use my skills, talents, intellect, and expertise to help others achieve more for themselves? I am a “mission-driven” person. I may or may not “need” money, but I “want” purpose and meaning. For me to excel, I want more than survival; I want to thrive! And for me to thrive, my work must matter for something more than money.
So, when 2021 arrived, I had completed the main projects in my home, and I quickly became eager for another “project.” As more business establishments opened and travel became less restrictive, I knew I had to go back to work. …but where? …and, more importantly, why? …I not only had no more financial need, but to a certain extent, I had lost my desire.
Thus, the debate began: do I get a regular J-O-B or start another business? I hesitated to launch another business because I knew the exorbitant work involved to create a successful and sustainable venture. At times, the allure of a defined work schedule with a set paycheck within a somewhat narrow set of work objectives, would tease my thoughts and I would find myself searching for jobs on the internet.
However, one critical truth kept rising to the surface which compelled me to launch my next business venture – I want control. I want to control my time and the company vision. So, whether I worked 20 hours or 60, I could not stomach the idea of having to get permission from a “boss” to take personal time off to visit my ageing parents for a week or host a spiritual weekend for women or take a vacation. More importantly, I did not want to answer to anyone but my God and the wise counsel with which I choose to surround myself. #ControlMatters
Shark Tank business guru, Lori Griener spoke truth when she said, “Entrepreneurs are the only people who will work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week.”
Entrepreneurs like me do not work for the money or the accolades or the fame. We work as hard as we do because there is a desire that burns inside us to create and build and control a future reality that simply will not exist under the direction of someone else’s vision. We have a dream for ourselves and the people we will impact that will only work if we can control it. Sure, others can help, and we hire them. In the end, however, we take the risks because our desire to create something sustainable that impacts and delights all involved is so strong that we must define the parameters ourselves.
So, in September 2021, I launched Healthy Treats 4U, a venture that combines my passion for entrepreneurship with my excitement for simple, healthy eating options. And though I lamented the reality of the hunt, that I must suit up and find clients for my new business, I simultaneously knew the only outcome would be unadulterated joy. Not only was I backed by the confidence of having built successful businesses before, but Healthy Treats 4U is built on a vision which makes it valuable and rewarding for all involved.
Managing healthy vending machines is not just about encouraging people to make smarter food choices. As soon as all my machines are placed in businesses with sustainable traffic, I will immediately begin a campaign to find and train hard-working citizens who are often dismissed and considered unemployable by our society. The business model and operational structure of Healthy Treats 4U will enable those who may not be able to thrive in the traditional dynamic of 9-5, to earn a decent wage with professional freedom. The prospect of giving others this opportunity is how I know my business will succeed. It has to…not for me, but to allow others to see optimism in their future, maybe for the first time ever.
No matter how tired I get or when I lose my “desire” to work, it is the idea that I can create something great for another to flourish, which gets me out of bed in the morning and keeps me up late at night. While it is foolhardy to say, “I did this on my own,” starting a business from the ground floor is about as close as I will get to exclaiming, “I did that!” It is that feeling of “self-made” achievement which sustains me as an entrepreneur. Knowing “I did that,” keeps me from looking for a regular J-O-B where I would be stymied and denied the chance to be the conduit to create realities for others that far surpass their dreams. #ControlMatters
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
After graduating with an undergrad and masters from Stanford University, I entered the corporate world, excited to design programs and systems to help others improve as a professional. Throughout the 90s until 2007, I worked in private corporations, non-profits, and universities in what is now known as “Organizational Design and Efficiency.” In 2008 I took the leap of faith and transitioned into the world of Financial Services as an Independent Wealth Strategist and rather than design macro processes to help the company, I took my skill set to focus on the micro applications to help individuals.
Financial services meant that I specifically worked with insurance and investments. However, the approach to helping people get more out of their hard work matched perfectly with what I had done for almost two decades. Thus, I quickly rose to the top of my industry and, in the process, refined my skills and expertise as a “life coach.”
When my book “The Happiness Formula” was released January 2019, I made the decision to transition full time into speaking and writing and retire from financial services. While the majority of my coaching clients grew from the work I had begun with them as their financial advisor, I needed to expand my brand beyond one’s wealth. After all, “happiness” is much more than any one area and always has been.
As 2019 came to a close, I officially retired from financial services and looked forward to the growing list of speaking engagements I had committed to for 2020 as well as the work I would continue with my growing list of coaching clients….but then, the lockdown.
2020 gave me a lot of time to reflect on who I am and what I want during this phase of my life. It also gave me a full year to explore service work as a volunteer. I coached, I mentored, I led “Women of Valor” weekends and online book studies, and otherwise availed myself wherever The Spirit led. By the end of the year, I knew I did not want to stop serving others and I wanted to be of service by creating something profitable that also could be used to serve others. Thus, Healthy Treats 4U was born.
Now I could officially declare when asked, “What do you do for a living?” I can answer, “I help people get the highest level of health, wealth, success, peace, freedom – HAPPINESS – possible!”
Regardless of what I do, I focus on what would YHVH have me do and say. While I am passionate about one’s physical health which is why I began a healthy vending business, Healthy Treats 4U, I am always focused on, blogging and vlogging about, and praying for one’s emotional, spiritual, relational, economic, communal, and educational health. I am still a “Personal Excellence Drill Sergeant” so encouraging, inspiring, and sometimes kicking someone in the butt to achieve their God given excellence is what gets me up each day.
Regardless of the specifics of my work, all my efforts center upon YHVH’s Divine Design for humanity. So, even when I am re-filling one of my healthy vending machines, I pray not only for those who consume my products, but for those who pass by and see my machine. I pray God uses me to shine His Light into this Dark world so that those who seek, may find Him.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I apologize up front for being brief but I wanted to submit this timely and, alas, I have already written a LOT. Thus, extreme brevity will be employed for these two questions. If you desire more, ask and I will comply.
Before I officially left corporate America, I tested entrepreneurship via multi-level marketing businesses. When I approached a woman in a store to ask if she’d want to learn more about what I could offer her (old fashioned “live” cold calling), she asked if I had any degrees and from where. When I stated I had an undergrad and master’s from Stanford, she disdainfully queried, “You have two degrees from Stanford and this is what you do for a living?!”
While I laugh today, she was not the only person to express such disgust that I would give my time and energy to a networking venture. However, I am indebted to those years of “hawking” makeup and jewelry and legal services and house products because I learned how to be an entrepreneur. I learned how to hear “no” more times than the average person can stomach and maintain sincere joy…or at least maintain a modicum of excitement for the work at hand even though my ego had been crushed multiple times over.
I have blogged and vlogged about why everyone needs to engage in a multi-level marketing business because not only MIGHT you discover a viable “Plan B,” one will certainly learn if she has what it takes to be an entrepreneur. The ability to bounce back from set back after rejection after failure and more is the definition of resilience. Managing a business venture of your own, whether it be a network marketing venture of a business you build from the ground floor, will confirm if you have the tenacity, fortitude, endurance, and just plain “crazy” to succeed at anything.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
I saved it.
When my husband and I got married in 2013, we knew we would need another large investment to round out our wealth plan….but what? After examining everything we had and defining our skills, talents, and time, we concluded we wanted another business. Thus, we made sure to structure our lifestyle such that 25-30% of our income was set aside for this future ventures once we found what appealed to us. It would take until 2021 to find the business of healthy vending machines and because God saw fit to ensure we maintained a strong system of saving, we were able to purchase 10 vending machines to start.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.healthytreatstx.com/
- Instagram: thehappinessformula
- Facebook: Healthy Treats 4U
- Linkedin: kasandra
- Youtube: kasandravitacca
- Other: https://kasandravitacca.com/