Inspiring Entrepreneurs to Get Out of Their Own Head

Welcome to beyond you'd why Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Gary Sanchez. At the why Institute, we've helped over 40,000 people discover, make decisions and connect using their why. This show will be much more powerful for you once you know your own why. So head over to whyinstitute.com and discover your why. Today you're going to meet one of the leaders who've discovered their why with us and is going to share their story and the powerful lessons they've learned.

Welcome to beyond you'd why Podcast, where we go beyond just talking about your why and actually helping you discover and then live your why. So if you're a regular listener, you know that every week we talk about one of the nine whys and then we bring on somebody with that why so you can see how their why has played out in their life. And so today we're going to be talking about the why of contribute. So individuals with this why yearn to be part of a greater cause, something greater than themselves. You do not want to be the cause, rather contribute to it in a meaningful way. You want to make a difference in the lives of others in an organization or a cause you believe in. You love to support others and relish the success of the greater good, the company's growth and the victory of the team. So people with this why seek to add value in all they do, do their part and help in whatever way possible. You are often behind the scenes looking for ways to make the world better. When you show in a more public forum, it's often to trumpet a message or support a movement. People with this why are go to people, the ones you look for when you need help with just about anything. They use their time, their money, their energy and their connections to help other people do better. So today I've got a great contribute gal for you. Her name is Tisha Marie Pelletaire and she is best known as the authentic girl with a touch of badass by her peers. She's the Chief Experience Officer for Tisha Marie Enterprises, inspiring entrepreneurs to get out of their own headspace and make their vision happen through business, mentoring, professional speaking, personal brand building, her online course, the Startup Entrepreneur Academy, a Startup Business grant, and her live events. Now Tisha is also the host of the Success Over Struggle podcast, a Venture Devil Mentor at Arizona State University's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Department, and an author. Her latest book, what Are the A Mom Shares Her Good, Bad and what the F Moments can be found on Amazon and Audible. Tisha, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you Gary So good to be here with you.

I'm excited to talk.

Yes, I am too. So bring on the questions. Let's go.

Tell everybody where you're at.

So I am in Gilbert, Arizona. So if you're familiar with Arizona, it's maybe about 40 minutes from Phoenix, right on the suburb.

And so let's start from the beginning. Give us a little of your history. You know, where'd you grow up? How did you get onto the entrepreneurial path?

Sure, sure. So I would like to say I'm native of Arizona even though I wasn't born here. I moved here when I was 2 from Northern California and went to Arizona State University. Had a degree in broadcast journalism, which is a whole other story. And really started I was thinking I was going to be like the next Connie Chung. That was my story. Like, even through high school, I'm like, I'm destined for the TV spotlight. This is what I'm going to do. Ended up going in a different direction my senior year of college and started taking more broadcast, not broadcast business and marketing type classes. And then worked for a couple of years for a few companies and decided, I think I'm going to start this entrepreneurial journey a little early. I was thinking 35 would be the age I started. And it actually happened when I was 24, newly married, ready to go, and started my first company, simply put marketing in 2004. So just celebrating 16 years being in business and have pivoted quite a few times, don't we?

All right, so you were in broadcast and you decided, you know, what was that moment that you decided, hey, I don't think I want to do this. I want to try something different.

Yes. So there was one day when I was in my class where my professor brought in a guest speaker. And I always admire speakers who can, who can just be honest. They don't sugarcoat things. And the speaker came in and instead of telling us all of these great things about the industry, she was completely real. And she said, if you are going to get into this industry, understand that it's all about appearances. It's about sacrificing your family and friends for breaking news. It's about starting at the bottom and every single thing she said. Honestly, Gary, I was like sinking in my chair and my mind was just playing this trick. Do you want this? Like, hello, do you want this for your life? And I, you know, I wasn't married yet. I didn't have kids, but I knew that in my future I would and I knew that I didn't want to have to deal with, like, is it the kids or is it my career? Is it my family or is it my career? And, you know, even fast forward to now, I've been in the news a lot, being an entrepreneur, so it kind of has come full circle when you become the news and you're not just reporting the news. But I've also gotten to interview other news anchors here, even on my podcast and on my panels, and they've also said, you know what? She was right. The industry is definitely like that. And I sacrificed a lot for my career, and now I let it go. So I feel like I really made the right move. Like, how often do you get to interview the person that did take that route and ask them the hard questions of what is your life like? And would I have loved that life?

Knowing what I know, that's a very mature decision to make at that time in your life. I don't know. How were you able to do that? Because when I think back to when I was in college, you're just trying to figure everything out. You're trying to figure out, really, what do I want to do? But you had already made that decision. And then to pivot at that moment just seems like, very mature.

I've been told, yes, I'm very mature. 24 year old. When I started in my business too, you know, I think for me, I already knew what I wanted. I think that for me, I had already kind of sensed what my future would hold. Like, I am the planner. I am the person. Even in my first book, I'm like, I'm the girl that's going to get married, have two kids, have this business established, and everything has kind of fallen, you know, to the wayside sometimes. Like, this is. This is the adapting and the pivoting that we do. And I think for me, I did have a stint at working with one of the radio stations at asu. And I remember Gary, I was interning. I walked in the first day and she's like, get on the Internet, find the news. You're on in five minutes. You know, package it up. You're on live. And I'm like. Like, I hadn't even taken the news writing course yet. And I was like, I'm not sure what I'm doing okay. And I just remember feeling a level of anxiety that I'd never felt before, you know, And I think that that was really what prompted me to start moving in another direction. And then when she said these things in the class, I was like, oh, yeah, okay. You know, What I'm out. Like, where do I raise the flag that I' that I am going to take a different path?

So you got into business and what was their first job?

So my first job was working in ad agencies. I worked for a couple of different ad agencies and I really loved the process of taking someone's idea and moving it through to fruition and having a definite deadline of, okay, project done, moving on to the next. I am very big. You even said it in the contributor role that these are go getters. These are people that they see it, they go, it's not this to him. And haw and think about it. It's like, no, we put action behind this and we start to move. Because if that sits in my head, it drives me crazy. It's got to get out. It's got to get out. The idea has to get out. And I feel like, you know, even working in the ad agency and then starting a marketing company, I ran an event management company and then I also led a mom entrepreneurs group for several years that I was always surrounding myself with people who needed the help with the implementation and action. They needed that business mentoring. They needed someone to help them get to that next level.

And so you, you worked for a couple years and then started your own. And you started your own ad agency. And so what was that like? So there's going to be people listening to this that are, you know, they're in their job right now and they're really kind of teetering on, should I do my own thing? How did you come to that decision and what was that like for you?

There's an interesting story. When I was working for the ad agency, I was toying with the idea of leaving. I think it was just women's intuition. There was no advancement where I was at. There was some talk that the company wasn't doing so well financially. And I had an opportunity to go work for another company while building a business, which to me is like, wow, that's the best of both worlds. I have stability. I can build a business. And. And so I started making the rounds to leave my, you know, my company and leave the ad agency. And when I went to this, this company that was going to hire me, it was like, you know, he looked at me, Gary, and he's like, you know what, Tisha? I don't think I can move forward with this.

And I'm like, what? We've been planning this for months. And he was like, I don't think I can. I think the future is bright for you, though. And that was really the last things he said to me. And I remember leaving just in tears, like, sitting in my car in tears, going, okay, I'm at a crossroads. I can sit here and I can go try and find another job, or I could really bet on myself and do this and figure this out. I can figure this out. And I did. I had no clue. I don't know how to run a business, you know, and this is where I say, this is where you become the student. This is where you immerse yourself and you start learning and you start putting yourselves in situations and finding the right mentorship, the right people who can help you get there, because they're 10 steps ahead of you already. And I feel like that's what I'm doing so much of now, because I've already gone through a lot of those failures and those errors and those mistakes. And now I can teach other people how to do it, how to do it better, better way, you know, how to get there faster and how to have the support and the resources, which is why I mentor so much.

So who was your mentor when you got out and jumped into business by yourself?

I went straight to the Arizona Small Business Development Center.

Arizona Small Business Association. Sorry, the Small Business Association. And in that, I love that with the membership, they had mentoring, which I absolutely agree with, you know, because we're not meant to do this alone. We're meant to get the help we need, but you've got to be willing to ask for the help. So there was a gentleman, Keith. I remember he was Keith Jones. He was my mentor. But even since then, I had so many other people speak into my life and help me and encourage me and be that voice for me. And it's just. It's amazing because sometimes we're so close to our ideas that we don't see. Sometimes we need fresh perspective. Some of times we need someone to just push us out of our comfort a little bit more.

So you had a mentor, you started your business, you got this going, and it started doing really well. And then you decided, hey, I'll grab somebody else's hand. Or did you start hiring people? Or how did you go from being the student to having the great business to then becoming a mentor? How did that happen?

Well, I have children. In 2008, I had my son. And you remember I was talking about how I was this great planner. I was like, this is how it's going to go. Well, I decided to have a child in, like, the worst economy, you know, and so my Marketing business is failing. I'm like, what am I going to do? This is not part of the plan. But I find that there's always opportunities that present themselves where it's, again, it's a lesson learned, and it's okay, I'm going to pivot, I'm going to change this up. And. And so just going through a lot of different business experiences I shared. You know, running the marketing company, running an event company, and then leading so many women nationally who are also mom entrepreneurs. It really was just this. What do you love to do? I remember a friend asking me. She said, tisha, you do a lot. If you could boil it down and you could do two things in life that you really loved, what are you doing? And immediately, Gary, I was like, speaking and mentoring. She's like, that's your final answer. And I said, that is my final answer. And at that moment, when she asked me that question, I got so crystal clear on where I wanted my personal brand. The company that I'm in now, Tisha Marie Enterprises, I wanted that to be based on professional speaking and mentoring. And after I decided that the opportunity with Arizona State University came, where I was able to do both speaking and mentoring, I was able to start going back to my alma mater and helping those startups get their start going from idea to revenue and working with them in the process. And that, honestly, is what I think a contributor like that fills my heart. To be able to see someone succeed and knowing that I've had a hand in that success for them.

I was just going to say that that is so in line with the why of contribute. Because you want to use your time, your money, your energy, your connections to help other people do better. And when you're doing that, how do you feel?

Oh, I'm ecstatic. I'm just like, this is why I do this. I mean, I just gave a startup business grant. You mentioned that. And, you know, kudos to your company too, Gary, because you were sponsoring this, you were also giving the recipient the why, you know, why, how, what statement and the why assessment. And I want that. Like, I want that for people. I want them to know what their why is, because it's going to make such a big difference in their messaging and how they show up in their business and in the world.

Yeah, exactly. And so I'm excited to work with it now. Have you already picked who we're going to work with?

I did. So. Funny story. There's always a story. You know, I'm big into storytelling. I've written a Couple of books. And I continue the journey sharing my stories and rule of life lessons. So back in 2010, a woman in Florida, I applied for a mom entrepreneur grant. And it was right around the time I was launching this new business, the Mom E Club, which I mentioned. And I ended up winning the grant. Gary. I ended up like beating out all of these women and winning the grant. And you want to know why she said I won the grant? She said it was because my grant, my application, was the only one that was helping other people succeed. It wasn't about widgets, it was about pouring into other people and helping them, which was like, okay, so you've asked me like, how does contribute play a part in your life? How do you see being a contributor playing this pivotal part in your life? And for me, that's it. It's always been there. It's always been there, this desire to help the next person along. So I've been giving grants since 2010 and I've always had sponsors and so forth. In 2019, I took a step back. I did not give a grant. And this year, because of the circumstances, I was like, you know what? So many people are going to take a leap of faith and become a business owner this year because they've lost their jobs, because they know they need to financially provide for their family. And maybe this is the right time where that idea finally comes out and they want to make that vision happen. So My birthday is September 15th and it is, you know, for all you business owners out there, thanks. Yeah, it was just, you know, it was just recently. And for the business owners out there, it's also estimated tax day, which is crap.

So I've shared that for the past 16 years of my life, I paid taxes on my birthday. And it's a pretty bad feeling. It's just again, write the check to the government, send it off, you know, and, and this year I decided over the summer that I was going to flip the script for my life and instead give my grant on my birthday. So now I'm paying it forward on my birthday to somebody else. And so yes, we did announce the grant recipient. Her name is Sharon Diet Santu. She's out of the UK and she lost her job as a result of COVID and has this great vision and great with follow through. I have a feeling she's also a contributor. And yeah, and we're moving along. We're starting to work with her and all of the sponsors have started working with her. And it's such an incredible feeling that to me is better than any gift. It's like, I get to give the gift to you. Awesome. I love that. I'll do that all day long.

I'm looking forward to working with her. That's going to be fun. We're taking a quick break to give you a chance to find clarity in your life instead of just listening. Ready to put an end to your frustration, Ready to unlock the code to your personal and business success. I know you can, because I have, and I'm giving you my exact system. It's time for you to discover your why and how and what. Head over to why institute.com and get started. Let's get back to the show.

Here's an interesting thing about your why, and that is with people with your why often feel like they should be in the background helping other people do better. But when you put somebody with your why in a leadership role, in a CEO role, they do extremely well. The CEO of a company called T. Rowe Price. It was a $565 billion company. And I asked him one day, his name was Todd. And I said, todd, why do you feel like you've been so successful? Because when he took it over, it was a $12 billion investment firm, and he built it to 565. And he said, you know, the secret to my success has really been that I personally interview everyone that works for me, and I have 6,000 employees. And he said, I know something about everyone, and when I can help each one do just a little bit better, then we all do a little bit better. And that's how I think you would be as that CEO and in that leadership role as well.

Yes, people are important to me. And as you shared earlier, connections are important to me. It's why I am definitely the connector type, you know, And I do a lot of talks on networking, and I always say that you've got to get away from this what's in it for me mentality. When you meet someone and you're asking questions and you're listening to what they're saying, I'm already thinking in my head, this person should meet XYZ this. I'd love to help them. That's just me. That's how I am. And then you go, make that happen. And I've seen people who are like, I don't make connections unless I get a connection. It's worth it. And it's like, okay, now that's the wrong mentality. Because if you go out with a go giver, I love that book, the Go Giver. If you Go out with this go giver mentality. It always come back. It comes back to you in some way, shape or form, always.

I love that. Now, you've worked with a lot of CEO, a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of startups. What is the so if I'm listening to this and I'm thinking, you know what, maybe I want to start my own company, what do you recommend as their first step? What do you think they should do? What have you seen that works and what have you seen that maybe doesn't work?

Well, even in my startup entrepreneur academy, the first thing I take them through is vision. You know, is let's get your vision clear. Let's talk about what you want. You know, let's think long term and then let's back out the how, let's back it up. Let's back it up with the strategy and the tactics that you're going to use to get to that, what you want. It's so important to visualize what you want first because then you can see it. So right now I'm reading Think and Grow Rich and it's talking about manifestation. And if you already believe that you are in possession of those things, then you will work harder to get there. You won't let limitations be your reality. You won't start making these excuses. You'll actually work that much harder to get there. And I believe that too. And that's why I say I'm like, we've got to start with vision before we even start laying the foundation of what this business looks like. Let's talk about your vision, let's talk about your mindset, let's talk about how we're going to start building this up. It's starting with here is the end goal. And now let's back it up, let's back it up. But start here, right?

So how do you think now that you know more about the why, where do you think the why is going to fit in on that? Because.

From my perspective, why comes even before vision. You know, if you got to know why you're doing it, to want to even do it, and then what is it you want to do? But I'd love your perspective on that.

I think the why is going to help. I mean, this is why I want to incorporate this even into some of the programs. Because I've always said one of the essentials in starting a business, I'm like, you've got to know your why. Big Simon Sinek fan. I was like, you've got to know what your why is. Because there are going to be days where you want to give up. You don't want to keep going. And when you think about, well, why did I start this? And you go back to that beginning point, then it makes sense again. It makes sense. And you start moving in that direction of, okay, I'm back on track. Because we easily. You know that, Gary. Like, we easily get off track. You know, this isn't working. I'm giving it up. I can't do it anymore. And then you're like, ah, but why did I start this? I mean, there's been days where I'm like, I should go back and get the job. I'm just gonna go get the job. And then, you know, I've got the two kiddos. I have Caleb and Ellie, and I always go back to my kids because they really are the why for me. They were the why even before I had them. It was like, family is important. I know I want to be there for my kids. I know I want to lead them and lead by example and teach them. So, you know, I remember going to my daughter one day and saying, I think I'm going to go back and get the job. What do you think about that? And she's like, well, I'd be happy because you wouldn't be stressed out, but I'd be really sad because I would never see you. And I was like, you just gave me my why once again.

Okay, no more job. And I didn't get the job. And for good reason. For good reason.

So it's important to know that. And as you've shared, when you know your why and you're like, that's exactly who I am, it just makes your messaging so much clearer. It attracts the right types of people into your life because you're so crystal clear on, this is who I am, and this is why I do the things that I do.

Yeah. When you know your why, what you do will have more impact. You'll have more meaning, more focus, more direction from the perspective of your why. And so if somebody's thinking about becoming an entrepreneur.

Would you say that being an entrepreneur is an easy path or not a very easy path?

Look at my face.

No. No. It's one of the best books that I read before I even started in business was called E Myth Revisited, if you've ever read it by Michael Gerber. And he really does paint the picture of, this is not glamorous. This is work. Like, this is figuring it out. This is months where you just don't know if it's happening like.

It'S a marathon. Are you in it for the long haul? Are you in it just for the short term? Success? What do you want? And are you disciplined? Do you want to just go collect the paycheck, come home, not think about it? You know, being an entrepreneur, you don't turn this off. Your brain is always. Mine's always thinking up ideas. I'm always jotting things down. And what about this idea? And what about how I do this? And you're constantly investing in yourself because, you know, you don't know everything, and there's other people that know more than you do. You're constantly, like, consuming and, okay, and the next thing, and, how am I going to do this? And, you know, you're. You're just. It's. That's what it is. It's patience. It's patience. It's persistence. It's grit. It's all of that. And if that's not you, then I wouldn't recommend you getting into entrepreneurship because you will feel like, why am I doing this? You know, it's hard.

Yeah, you have to be okay with failure, huh?

Absolutely. I failed several times. I was just sharing with a friend that, you know, to get on a TEDx stage is one of my bucket list items. And I've applied several times. I haven't gotten it yet. I feel like this is the one, like, the one I just applied for. But I was like, you've got to be good with the rejection. You've got to be good with, okay, moving on, Moving on. It's okay. Like, failure is not final. It's not fatal. It's just, you just got to get back up. So this is a really good test in resilience. Like, how do you bounce back from that?

Yeah. Somebody. You know, I've talked to a lot of friends that have built many different types of business, and they describe failure as just showing me what's not going to work. It's not. It's taking one more option off the table. And so now I know that's not going to work. Okay, what will work? It's just a quick pivot. It's not a destroy yourself jump off a cliff. It's just, okay, now I figured out what's not going to work, what will work. Let's try this. And you just keep on going.

Yeah. So in the book Think and Grow Rich, one of the quotes that really stuck out to me was that all of these successes that you see all got off to a bad start. They all had to struggle through it until they finally arrived. And I really love that word arrived. I was, like, circling it, highlighting it. I was like, when do you know you've arrived? When do you know you've arrived? And I feel like there are several times in my life where I'm like, I've arrived. Like, I'm here. This is it. It's a great feeling. Great feeling.

So I look at the right behind you and I see on your wall, faith makes all things possible.

And you've also got love makes all things possible.

I have love. And then you can't see it, but below that is hope. So it's faith, love and hope. And I have that throughout my whole house. Like, I feel like that's the message. Yes. I think you have to have all of those things, but I would also add a fourth one. If you've got to take action now, you can have all of those things. You can have all of this faith and hope that things are going to go okay. But then you also have to be able to implement and apply what you're taking. It's not enough to just say, I'm going to consume it. It's just going to work. That doesn't work either.

So what have you seen in the entrepreneurs that you've worked with?

I think that they're, like, I shared, there has to be a level of discipline. There has to be this. I know I can get this. They're in it for the long term, they're working hard. But I will say that they are not discounting the small steps that it takes to get there. So many of us want to jump to that success. And I was like, do you realize that your success is a series of small steps that it took to get there? You have got to celebrate those wins. That is the beauty in this journey is don't overlook that in your journey. And so I've worked with so many entrepreneurs where they really are, like, I just have an idea and what do I do with it? And when you're working with a mentor, this is why I love mentoring and why I love to be mentored. Because we're so close to our ideas sometimes that we don't see it. We don't see the bigger picture. We need some fresh perspective. We need that help, we need that push. And so when I say that if you're going to start a business, what separates those who are just hobbyists and those who are actually, like, putting their all into it is they're coachable. They're looking for that guidance. They know they need Help. They're not afraid to ask for help. You know, they're humble.

And they have that discipline and that drive, and they know that it's going to take them to move it forward. It's not going to happen for them. They're going to need to take the steps in order to get there.

You know, recently on my podcast, I had a gentleman by the name of Warren Rustand, who's somebody I think you would really enjoy following. He's a global leader for group called YPO and EO. YPO is Young Presidents Organization, and EO stands for Entrepreneurial Organization. And he's about 77. His life is just an amazing life. All the things that he's done. And I asked him that same question, you know, what is that one quality you see in CEOs that work? Currently, he mentors about 40 CEOs of some pretty major organizations. And he said exactly what you just said.

Wow.

Yep. He said, discipline. Discipline is the number one thing. If you don't have discipline, none of the rest of it matters.

Discipline.

Yes.

And a very specific morning routine that you do every single morning to set the stage to get yourself ready for what's coming that day.

Exactly. Exactly. And I am definitely doing that, I think, as even part of COVID I was like, I've got to get on this habit. I've got to get on this mindset kick of I start my day this way and I live for that. I know if I don't do those things in the morning, my day is completely just. It's shot. It's like I'm not starting off on the right foot. So creating healthy habits, adding your priorities into your day.

I always like to say, too, because people ask me about the whole work life balance. I say, you know what? I go with the rule of three because I don't want to overwhelm myself. I know that I want to get these things accomplished, but I can't do 50 things today because I know that I'm overestimating what I can do and do effectively. So really taking into account when are you at your capacity and when are you doing your best work?

I think event planners would make great mentors.

I was an event planner.

Yes. That's what I mean. I know some others, and I just think about them and they're like, man, they just have that ability to take so much coming their way and find ways to get it done. Not all at once, but they get it done. And that's. I see. I can tell that's what you do. And do with your. The people that work with you.

If there's somebody listening to this and they want to connect with you and they want to work with you or they want to take your course, how should they get ahold of you?

You know, the best way to connect with me is even through my website, tishamarie.com there is a button at the bottom to schedule a virtual latte with me, which is simply a zoom call just to get to know each other. The other way is I'm. That's really the platform I choose to hang out on. I do a lot of content. I do live streams off there. So connect with me on LinkedIn and also send a personalized message. I always say that. Don't just say connect with nothing in it, because then I really won't know who you are. But if you tell me, I listen to this podcast with Gary, I want to connect with you, then I'm like, absolutely. You know, thanks for taking the time. Always happy to help. So those are really the best places. And then I can guide that person from there on what they're needing or if they need some more support.

Awesome. Well, Tisha, thank you so much for taking the time out this morning and dealing with all of our technical issues. And I'm glad we finally got to have our conversation. And I'm excited where all this goes.

Yeah, I'm excited, too. So thank you, Gary, for having me on. And I know we'll do some more work together in the future. And it's been a pleasure. It's been a pleasure spending the morning with you.

Thanks for listening to today's show. But before you go, let me ask you a question. Would you like all of your communication to be easier and more productive? Take the essential first step to clarity now@yinstitute.com. i'll catch you on the next episode.

Sam.