You Have to Change If You Want to Move Up with Co-Host Tonia Poe

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind.

I'm Larry Weddell.

And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind.

I am here with Tanya Po, one of the most influential female business leaders from California. And not just female, just business leader. And especially in the arena of entrepreneurship and standing on your own and starting with an idea and a concept and building something that is yours that can last for a long time. And Tanya speaks to many, many people and connects because she knows what she's talking about. And so welcome Tanya. And I want to, I want to get your take on another subject if.

You'Re open for it, of course. Thank you so much, Larry, for having me.

This here's, here's the, and I'm surprising Tanya with these, this is a topic talk type thing. But the thing is it just, I was thinking about this one day and I wrote, wrote a note. You know, you just really. And this is self talk, folks. A lot of this stuff that we do on these, when we talk about topics is things we have to say to ourselves. You have to, you have to learn the right things to say to yourself. But one of the things you have to remind yourself is you're going to have to make changes if you want to move up. You're not going to be able to move up being the same old you, doing the same old thing, the same old way. Because what work to get you here is not necessarily going to propel you up the ladder. It's not that you throw all your fundamentals out, but you've got to improve on them. You've got to have a better you in every area so you can be more productive, get more things done. So it's a matter of you change your, you know, and improving your attitude, change what your priorities are, change what you do with your time. You may change who you spend your time with or who your friends are. It's not just a matter of giving things up, it's a matter of upgrading. You know, it's not like, well, I can't do that anymore. Well, it's like I'm not going to do that anymore so I could do this and all of life, it's not a punishment change, it's an upgrade change. And if you upgrades allow you to move up because you're exchanging things in your life and so this improvement process, these changes you go through, have to be as a result of decisions. And our last talk, you talked about the financial side of it as a result of a decision. But you have to be decisive. You have to be precise. You have to take a stand on these things. And if you want to move up, you're going to have to make changes. So that's what I want to hear, what you have to say about that subject, Tanya.

Well, you know, I think people need to evaluate where they are and the things that are actually coming out of your mouth and running through their brain. They say they want to do something different. They say they want to be more successful, they want a promotion on the job, they want to make more money if they have all these things they want to do. But really what they're saying is they want to do these things and they want to stay the same. You know, they're, they're, they don't understand that the person that they are at that time has gotten them to that point. And in order to elevate to another level, change is necessary. They have to change. The first thing they have to change is their thinking because they're, you know, you're only as good as your thoughts. And if you're sitting at an area of your life that, where you want to do more, be more, become more, then you're going to have to do more. And that is just, that's, that's just necessary. Okay. After they get past the fact that, wow, I'm going to have to make some, some change my thoughts and make some necessary changes, then they have to put, put this into action. How bad do you really want to make a change? How bad do you want to do something different? And then they have to go, you know, find that skill that you're good at. If you're at work and you want that promotion, you know, somebody's going to get it. Why not you? Well, the person that wants it the most changes the most that, that, that thinks about it more. The hungriest person is the one out of 20 out of 30 out of 15 that's going to get it. And why does it always go to someone else? Why does it never go to you? Because you're not making the necessary changes. You know, someone once said, oh, you've changed, you've changed. And, you know, you haven't seen this person for eight, nine, ten years. Oh, you've changed, you've changed. I hope so. I didn't work this hard to stay the same. I worked harder to Elevate my. My thinking, to elevate my. My. My existence. I want to be a different person when you see me. I want to grow a percent a day. If you don't see me for six months, I don't want to be the same person you saw six months ago. I mean, I need an evolution. Is. Is. Is what? And if I'm going to continue to evolve into something better than what I was a year ago, then I have to keep growing. But I think that people, more people are afraid of change. They're afraid of something different. They say they want more, Larry, but they do not understand exactly what it takes to get it.

And the thing is, if you're running a company, a team, you're in charge, people know your deal, they know what you're going to say, they know, you know. Over time, the people underneath you pretty much learn your deal. And if you're not getting fresh exposures, fresh excitement, you got fresh challenges. You're not improving their workplace. You're not coming up with better tools and better ideas. You don't have new beachheads and new ideas to start to challenge everybody. With staleness, boredom starts to come in, and it's the whole thing of you grow or you die. You don't have to keep growing, but if you don't grow, you're going to stall out. And pretty soon your people are. You're going to be. You're going to lose your shine. There is a reason why at the car dealerships, they're out there washing those cars every morning and rubbing them down so that they'll be shiny and sparkly from the street. You're not going to sell cars on the lot. Maybe you might now that there's no chips and there's very few cars around. But in normal times, cars don't sell that are dull on the lot. You know, they have. When people walk by, they got to see that light sparkle off of it. You know, something that gleam that they kind of speaks to, you know, that deep red, you know, that blue that you know. And so the thing is, in your business, in your. Everything about what you do to be productive, there has to be some electricity in there to some excitement level. And that comes from change, from moving forward, doing more, getting, breaking into new arenas, doing things that haven't been done before with this company, with this organization, helping your people make breakthroughs.

And.

That requires change. You know, you've got to change. And change starts at the top is what I'm saying, right? And if you want to be the Person at the top, you've got to be the most willing to change and not set in your ways on things that don't really matter. You know, you got to be set in your ways on things that matter, but you got to be flexible on the things that will allow you to improve. And you've seen that happen. Like, I know that you've adapted and changed in just about everything has. How you, you know, I. I believe in evolution as it. As it relates to business, you know, yes, you got to evolve. You know, in personal development, you got to evolve, right? And so if, if you want. It's like Bill Arender said to me a long time ago when we were doing. I did a book with him. It was like, I'm not. I know I'm not good enough today to do what I want to do, but I may be good enough tomorrow, you know, Great.

That's a great message.

And so what do you tell people? Is this a big thing for people to get clear on in their mind?

Yes, it's necessary because, you know, especially in the business we're in, they tend to think that they can just, you know, come and be themselves. And, hey, I'm going to improve my financial situation. You know, you can improve it to a certain extent, but to dream big and to really start making some decisions that are going to seriously impact your life and your future, it takes changing. When I started in finance, I was used to being a schoolteacher and used to being a probation officer. I was not used to having to have disciplines that were that where those disciplines are so important that if those disciplines are correct, then it's going to bring about change in me and a business and make money. I didn't have to worry about those things when I was a schoolteacher or probation officer because there was a system that I was involved in, and that system was going to function with or without me. But when it came to having a business, of being an entrepreneur, a business owner, and having to make decisions not just for myself, be profitable, but for other people as well to be profitable. It took change. It took me thinking different, seeing things different, thinking outside the box. What can I do to improve and enhance this situation? You know, it took all of that, and it's a journey, you know, it's a quiet journey that you take one book at a time. You know, people are not always big on, you know, reading. But when I tell you I came into this industry and of course I knew how to read, right? I have degrees and all of that, but I had not really picked up a book to read for improving myself since probably high school. Even in college it was, you know, let me read this so that I can get a grade. But I had not really read a book that Tanya wanted to read that I felt I was going to gain some type of knowledge. And when I put this book down, I'm going to be smarter on a subject or on myself. Some things that I want to improve on myself until I got into the financial industry. And when that happened, I realized how everyone should be doing this. Everyone should be picking up a book on leadership, on dealing with people, you know, on just, you know, how to be a better person with your spouse or with all these areas have to do with one another. You know, you can't be your best when your home is not right, when you're not right spiritually, you can't be your best in a business and you can't make clear cut decisions. And so I just believe that you have to be willing to improve and enhance your thinking so that you clear on what you want and improve your skill sets in that area. I had to become proficient with learning about money and learning about the things that impact your decisions around money and then to help guide other people. So I just, I feel like people are shortchanging themselves by not creating the disciplines that they can easily create, not creating a library for themselves of reference material that can guide them into financial freedom. I just feel like they're just, you know, dragging their feet about saying they always want, I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to change. And the biggest time of the year that this happens is the end of the year between Christmas and New Year's, between making all these, you know, resolutions about what it's going to look like and what they're going to do and how the next year is going to be my year, it's going to be better. And they do all of this, but they don't want to do the work, Larry. They don't want to do the work.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business, has accrued over $5 billion in assets under management, and has done well even during trying. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar Now I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible Advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move up.

Well, you know, that's going to lead me into something I'm going to talk to you about, you know, on another thing. But the deal is. Well, the point is, folks, when we talk about change, it's like if you're up, you've gone as far as you can go in your life. You know, your frustration. Frustration is the fuel of growth. Frustration is there for a purpose, because inside you, your subconscious is telling you you need to be moving up. And if there's things that you're beating your head against, maybe it's your location, maybe it's your industry, maybe it's your company, maybe it's your position inside there, maybe it's what the people you're working with. But I mean, you can change things, but it starts with you in your mind saying, what is it that I want? And what's standing in the way. And when you read, you should not apologize for wanting to move up and wanting to, you know, learn a different skill, you know, like. And you follow what, what's exciting is when you keep following your natural curiosity. There's a Geiger counter inside your core that causes you to get interested in certain things. Certain people, certain, you know, why do certain people like basketball? Other people like cycling? Other people like, right.

Swimming? Why?

Well, that it has to do with their internal Geiger counter, you know, and why do little. Some little girls, they want to be ballet and some want to ride horses, you know, and then some just want to be with their friends, you know, they're not interested in any kind of big thing like that, you know, any particular sport or activity. What, you know, that's the way people are. And so the question for you is, what are you all about? And what, what you're all about is what you get interested in. What interests you. Things that jump up into a conversation. Or you hear about a part of the country, or you hear about somebody all of a sudden, sudden they got a certain kind of car and you got like, wow, you know, you know, I remember this, you know, and you. It causes you to go exploring. You know, you hear about it and you're track. I remember hearing Samantha Hedberg talk about like 20 years ago, she was talking about, got back from London. Her parents had a flat in London. I don't know why, Tanya, that just. That just went all over me. It's like, why can't I have a flat in London? You know, like, right, why don't I have a flat? London, you know, right. I My neighbors across the street, they went on a shopping trip to London and then saw some plays. And I'm thinking, what am I, second class citizen here? Why don't I. You know, first of all, I don't like plays. And then, you know, I got most of the things I want, but just the idea of, you know, London traveling, you know, flight in London, where you go, and then. So when we had our expansion thing as a company, I went over. I was there for eight months, and I had at least two different flats. London. And that was fantastic, except I found I couldn't sleep at night because there was so much noise. I couldn't wait to get back to the country, the United States. But I at least got it out of my system. And I Learned. I learned 10,000 things. You know, I can walk around. You know, I learned how to walk around London blindfolded, pretty much. It's pretty small place. And learned all of these. All these things you do when you go on an adventure. So. But the thing is, all of that new exposure and information and people I met and all, I brought that back to the United States with me, into our business. And I was a fresher person, you see. And so the thing is chasing the things that you're interested in, you know, kind of like Willie Narajo, believe it or not. I don't know if you've heard this. You know, he's. He's got a Ferrari passion. So he buys a Ferrari, he orders it from Italy, and he talked about it on his podcast. But we know Willie. But all of a sudden, Willie, he's driving around, they take him to see his car being made in Italy, and they let him drive around a racetrack. He falls in love with racing in Italy, with Ferraris. So now he'll make. Except for Covid, he's usually in a given year, making eight or more trips to Italy every year, because it turns out they got racetracks all over Italy for these cars. And he's become a race driver. And then the other thing is, that makes him fresh because he learns things, he meets people and comes back, and his business is just boom. It's never stopped growing. And, you know, he's got such a Ferrari fetish. He's got one for every day of the week in the United States. I don't know how many he's got in Italy. The thing is, when you have a passion, the passion is there to drive you forward. It's not to make you a selfish, greedy pig. It's to drive you forward into other worlds where you can learn things, meet people, have experiences that will energize you and you to have more electricity in other areas of your life and keep you from going stale. And so the thing that we want to get across to you is if you want to move up, you got to make changes. But it's a whole lot easier if you're following your natural curiosity and things that naturally excite you. Do you want to have a final word on that one?

Well, I'm from Compton, Larry, and growing up, I would see people in nice cars, and I would see them, you know, having recreation. And my dad would, you know, take me, you know, out the hood, so to speak, and he take me horseback riding and dirt bike riding and just to experience different things. And so I always grew up saying, wow, you know, we would go rent these things and I'm like, I'm going to own them one day. I have a passion for recreation. You know, I have a boat. I have a toy hauler that hauls where you can sleep in it, and it hauls my. I have a dirt bike, a quad. I have a Polaris four seater. I have a Can Am four seater.

Yeah.

And then I have a mobile home that sleeps six. And so I. And, you know, I'm just. I have jet skis. We are. Have a passion for recreation, for living, you know, just live. Go live. And so I just made it my business to indulge in those things. Like, why not? You know, I also love cars. I love SUVs, so I'm always. I always have an SUV. In about every three years I get a new one, you know. But you know, Larry, all these things came about because of the decision that was made that say, you know what? You know, I heard Oprah Winfrey say a long time ago, I think I was in college, and I heard her talk about a desire and I heard her talk about having. There's different levels of desire and there's the, you know, the things that you say you want just like on the surface. And then there's this, this level that it's in the pit of your stomach. It is something that is, is. Is pushing you, and it just won't go away. You have a desire to be someone or do something extraordinary and a desire to create a different life. And that's what I had. And that desire to do that has allowed me to be able to indulge in some of the things that I've been, you know, always wanted to do. And it's there for everyone, Larry. They just have to figure out how bad they want to make necessary changes and take the necessary steps, but it is definitely there for everyone.

Thank you, Tonya if you enjoyed what.

You'Ve heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world. I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go Go Go.