Hispanic Heritage Month Spotlight: Coach Juan Ortega

Florida ActionCOACH Juan Ortega hasn’t always known what he wanted to do with his life, but when he discovered ActionCOACH he knew he’d found his life’s calling.

Ortega grew up and went to school in Orlando, Florida.

“I want to say that I’ve always been interested in business and even as a young boy I remember wanting to successful doing my own thing but I never really picked a career path like most of my friends did,” Ortega said. “I liked business but the thought about working in other people’s businesses never got me thrilled.” 

Ortega entered the hospitality business at 18 because his dad was working in a hotel. He spent the next 20 years he working with some of the most well-known and luxurious hotel companies in the world. But In 2012, after becoming a Director of Marketing and Sales, he decided that it was time for a change of course.  

Ortega stumbled upon the ActionCOACH brand while reading a magazine and he describes it as love at first sight.  

“For the first time I could see a business model that I could own, run and have a lot of fun with at the same time,” he said. “About four months after reading the article I decided to leave behind my career of 20 years and risk it all for the American dream.”

He has never looked back.

Ortega said that some of the biggest issues facing business owners are a combination of not having the time and skill set to grow their business and perhaps, having too many options.

“Trying to do it all and not doing any one thing really well. I see doctors, lawyers and engineers attempting to piece together and build their marketing platforms themselves instead of allowing a professional to help them do it,” he said.

 According to Ortega, the advice he can give any business owner is simply to open their minds. 

“Open your mind to the possibility of how great your business could really be,” he said. “Open your mind to the idea that you could build a business that could run without you and open your mind to the idea that you don’t know everything and not everything needs to be done by you.” 

Ortega says the best part of being an ActionCOACH is the training, the community and the flexibility of the business model.  

“Although there is one big business model, there are probably 100 smaller models that you can choose from to run your business doing what you want and how you want. We have countless tools, programs, systems, and processes at our disposal which we can use to grow just about any business,” he said.

Life as a coach may be a dream come true for Ortega, but he said people may find the most challenging portion of his job surprising.

“The most challenging part of my job is not getting results for the clients, it’s simply getting the business owner willing to try something new,” he said. “Helping them realize that this is what we are experts in. That it’s OK to get a coach and to have a coach doesn’t mean that you couldn’t do it on your own, it means that you are smart enough to know that we all have blind spots.”