In Business Blast Podcast #787, host Tyler Wagner interviews Tracy Irvine, a women’s empowerment and leadership coach. Tracy shares a formative childhood story about receiving a "Don't Quit" poem from a substitute teacher, which instilled perseverance despite growing up with a mother battling ALS. She explains how early financial stress created limiting money beliefs that can hinder entrepreneurs, emphasizing the need to re‑write one's money story. Tracy advocates for joining mastermind groups as a critical source of accountability and support for both corporate professionals and business owners. She offers personal advice to her younger self—relax, travel more, and learn to cook—highlighting the importance of self‑care. Discussing happiness, she stresses self‑love and managing the inner critic as foundational to well‑being. Tracy recommends Wallace Wattles' "The Science of Getting Rich" for its mindset teachings combined with hard work, and shares a favorite Seth Godin quote: "If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try," linking it to her own leap from a secure tech job to coaching. Finally, she provides her online channels (Instagram, LinkedIn, website) for listeners to connect.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with the support you need to finish your book. Best part is, after you finish your book, they take care of the entire publishing and marketing process 100% for you. So if you want to become a successful author, make sure to check out AuthorsUnite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Tracy Irvine with us. She's a women's empowerment and leadership coach who helps women entrepreneurs evolve into inspiring, confident, and impactful business leaders. So welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me.
Of course, grateful to have you on. So Tracy, the first one I got for you is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
So this one had me— this is a good question. Because I was thinking about like, what is that best story? And the thing that came to my mind was back when I was around 11 years old, I was in a I, how do I say this? I grew up in a pretty neglectful situation. My mother had suffered from ALS for most of my childhood and my family, a lot of the care was given towards my mother, right? So there wasn't necessarily a lot of people around to help take care of me. So I had to be pretty independent at a pretty young age. And around when I was 11 years old, I had a teacher, her name was Mrs. Mack. She was a substitute teacher. And I don't remember specifically what was going on in my life at that time. It could very well just have been the normal stresses of being 11 years old and then living at home with a sick parent and things and all those things surrounding that. But at the end of the year, she gave me this little card with this poem on it. And the poem is called Don't Quit. And I kept this card with me this whole— my entire life. I've carried it through me for hundreds of moves, it feels like, you know, and so many life changes. And I used to keep it in my wallet and now I keep it on my desk. I have it laminated because it was really starting to fall apart. But it was just this really beautiful poem about persevering and don't quitting and just having that overarching message of you're strong and you'll get through it. Whatever trials and tribulations you have, you'll get through. And I just, I just, you know, I always look back, teachers, I don't think get the credit that they deserve. And, you know, just something so small like that made such a huge impact for me. And here, here I am, however many years later, I'm still carrying it with me.
And then what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So you really do need to understand your mindset around money if you want to go into business for yourself. And there is, when you're working in corporate, you're going to get a steady paycheck no matter what, right? You never really necessarily have to worry about it because you know in 2 weeks you're going to get another paycheck. So, you know, you know, 2 months, 6 months, 8 months from now, you know, you're going to have that consistent money coming in. And so when you start your own business, there is nothing that's going to challenge you more about your money situation and Many of our beliefs around money are formed from the age of, you know, between when we're born and we're 7 years old. And, you know, if you look at my situation, everything was my mom's medical bills. Money will come in and money would just go out right away, right? Like there was never any, there was no saving. There was always a want, want, want. And so I started to develop a limiting belief around lack of money and it, can permeate a lot of things within your business. There's this feeling of I'm not enough. So getting really, really understanding what story is around money and then actively working to change that because you can't focus on your clients if you're going to be really super worried about paying your bills.
And then what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
So overall business advice, You know, I think whether you're in corporate or whether you own your own business, find a mastermind group. I don't know if you've ever been involved in a mastermind group before. You know, they're so valuable. You can have it work with one other person. You can have it be in a group, whatever works best for you. But I'm in two masterminds right now, and I've always been in a mastermind ever since I started my own business. And I kind of wish I did this when I was working in corporate. I wish I had known about it. That it's, you know, just a mastermind can help you, you know, provide you support, give you accountability towards the goals that you want to do. You know, I meet with these ladies every week, you know, and we talk about what's top of mind for us, where are we with our goals? What do I need support with? What do I need help with? And it's just whether you're looking to move up into management or whether you're looking to build your business, it's just having that support is so key. So key.
I could not agree more. And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
To relax. To relax. I push myself really hard. You know, one of the things that you learn when you don't have a lot of people taking care of you is you become very independent and you push pretty hard. And it's— so I would tell myself to relax. I don't have to push so hard. To take more trips. And I would even want to say learn to cook because eventually you will like vegetables. Even though I wouldn't believe it back then, eventually you will like them. So go learn how to cook them.
That's awesome. And then kind of going a little bit down a different path, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Okay, this might sound a little hokey, but like the key to happiness is really learning to love yourself. You know, we have this really awesome brain that keeps us going and keeps us safe. But at the same time, this wonderful brain really loves to tell us what we do wrong more so than it loves to tell us what we do right. And we can feed into that, feed into that voice in our head that says that you're doing something wrong and how it can really drag you down. And for some people, it can lead to depression. For some people, it can be a pretty dangerous thing. Right? So just really Finding a way to understand the difference between the voice that is helpful in your mind and the voice that is not, that is really the key to learning how to love yourself. And that is just really the basis of everything. Because if you don't love yourself, who, you know, how are other people going to love you?
And then what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned for that?
So this goes back towards my mindset. In the first couple of years of my business, I did a lot of reading on that and the The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles was one of the books that really spoke to me the most. It was written, I think, in the early 1900s. And so a lot of the wording is super old, but a lot of it is about mindset. A lot of it is about— I mean, and it's kind of the basis for the law of attraction, but it's so educational. And a lot of it is mindset. A lot of it is, if you believe it, you will achieve it. But also at the same time, you do have to put the work in. You know, it's not one of those things that if I believe it, I want a house and the house is gonna pop up in front of me. That's not the case. It's like, it's like, I want a house, but now I got to work really damn hard to get that house. Right. And so it kind of gives you that motivation and that mindset to get you going.
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
So my favorite quote right now, because I feel like it changes a lot. But my favorite quote right now is by Seth Godin. And it says, if it scares you, it might be a good thing to try. Have you heard that one?
Yes. And I love Seth Godin.
Yes. Yes. I love him too. And so it's, it's, you know, when I look back at all the risks that I've taken in my life, it usually was all the risks that I took were usually preceded by lots and lots of fear. Like I had a really awesome corporate job. I worked in tech. I was making a lot of money. I was very successful. I was doing really well. And then I got this this desire to start helping others in a different way. And I started to think about coaching because I had gotten a coach for myself and I started to think about, is this something that I could do for other people? But in order for me to be a coach, I had to leave my corporate job. So here I'm terrified, right? I'm terrified. I'm leaving this totally secure thing to start my business. And it took me a long time to make that decision, but it's been 3 years since I've been in my own practice and I don't even wanna look back now. You know, it's been such a rewarding thing for me. And so that fear that you feel, listen to that fear because there's something behind it. And that, that it's that desire for you to improve. It's that desire for you to be better than you are now. That, that's what you have to That's what you have to look for.
Yes. Well, listen, thank you so much for coming on. The last one I have for you before we let you go is where can our audience best find you online?
Yeah, there's a couple places. So you can find me on Instagram. I spend a lot of time on Instagram at Tracy Irvine Coaching. And you can also find me on LinkedIn and also my website, which is also TracyIrvineCoaching.com.
Perfect. Thank you again.
Thank you.
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