A Coffee With Tara Proskiw, Owner of Towne & Countree Kitchens

Join us for a coffee and chat with Tara Proskiw, the powerhouse owner of Towne & Countree Kitchens.

Tara grew up in Duffield, Alberta, watching her father work at the TransAlta Power plant. While she initially considered a career in policing, her spirited and strong-willed personality eventually led her to the Court Stenography program at NAIT. Tara shares the fascinating reality of this profession—from learning what is essentially a different language to the extreme speed and accuracy required. However, her unwavering moral compass and high standards for integrity eventually led her to leave the industry behind. 

After transitioning into the corporate world at Gateway Mechanical, Tara met her husband and eventually moved into the countertop industry. Her drive and talent saw her climb the ranks to become the first female branch manager in her field. Seeking a more personal, smaller-company atmosphere, she eventually found her home at Towne & Countree Kitchens. Tara was captivated by the transformational power of renovations and joined the team as General Manager with a clear vision: to one day become the owner. After a four-year "trial" proving her leadership, she purchased the company and is now celebrating five successful years of ownership!

Tara also opens up about the philosophy that fuels her success: maintaining a positive mindset through intentionality and gratitude. She discusses the importance of making a conscious effort to look for the good in the world, rather than letting the weight of the negative take hold. By reframing obstacles not as failures, but as essential growth opportunities, she has learned how to progress forward with purpose. Tara emphasizes the necessity of finding what truly "fills your cup" and maintaining open, honest communication with partners to ensure everyone’s needs and goals are being met.

This is an episode packed with heart, grit, and wisdom that you won't want to miss. Tune in to be inspired by Tara’s journey and gain valuable pieces of advice to live by.

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Transcript

0:00

Hi, I'm Tara Proskiw, and you are listening to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to another Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. It's a beautiful day today, Jennifer. Well, actually, it's a little chilly. It froze overnight. Yeah, but it's sunny. It did? Yeah. It froze? Minus two. I didn't know that. Oh, my window was open last night. I didn't even know this. Well, maybe you slept really well because it was cold. I think I, oh, I did sleep really well. I had weird dreams last night. Anyway, we won't get into that. But nonetheless, hey, welcome, everybody, and we are coming to you live from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson. So if you hear some noise in the background, coffee machines whirring, people talking, kids. No kids today. Screaming, no kids in the coffee shop today. But hey, we are in a functioning live coffee shop. Cam, we just saw them bring in new beans for roasting. Beans. They brought in beans. I know. That's a big day in the coffee shop when new beans arrive. That's right, I'm excited. It's like, new beans, everybody, new beans. They didn't do that, but they were very excited about it. And so hey, yeah, if you haven't been to the Wall Coffee Roasters, it's beautiful. Today is a little cool, but when it warms up, you can come sit on their patio. Some beautiful picnic tables out front. They got picnic tables. View of the gophers. We have gophers in Acheson, lots. They're kind of unique. We'll do a whole show on gophers because they really are unique. They're smart. Well, sometimes they are, and sometimes they're not. You see them looking both ways before they cross the road here. But here's the thing, they look both ways, and then they run and get hit. It's like, okay. Anyway, that's a whole show on gophers. We'll get into that another time. But hey, we need to let everybody know that Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam is brought to you by Wing Snob Canada. Where the wings are fresh, never frozen with 16 different flavors, four different rubs as Cam likes to say, parmesan fries, cornbread. Oh, I love the parmesan fries. I was at another restaurant the other day, which will remain nameless, and I ordered the parmesan fries. I was disappointed in comparison to the Wing Snob parmesan fries. That's right. Amazing. So hey, listen, if you don't know what to have for dinner tonight, and you're like, I don't know, what am I going to feed the kids? Go to Wing Snob, get like 45 wings, and away you go. And away you go. Tons of flavors. It's awesome. There are amazing people at Wing Snob. www.wingsnob.ca, 10 locations, 8 in Edmonton where we are, one in Grande Prairie, one in Calgary. I always point when I say that. I know, nobody can see you pointing. I don't know why I do that. Nobody can see me. I'm pointing to Calgary. I'm pointing to Grande Prairie, but that's the way it is. And so, hey, thank you, Wing Snob, for being so kind to us. That's right. They are. Mike Chadi. Mike Chadi. Very kind. I like Mike. I wish he'd answer my text. I'm trying to have lunch with him and he won't answer. I like how you're calling him out on this podcast. He probably left town because the Oilers lost and he's disappointed and he's on vacation. Well, we'll see. Yeah. If he listens to... He does. He listens to the podcast. I know he does. He told me. He says, I listen. So, Mike, text me. Okay. Anyway, I'm excited. I'm very excited about today. I'm excited about today's guest. This is going to be good. So, Jennifer, introduce today's guest. Cam, our guest today, and we talked about this on last week's podcast, my upcoming Women Leadership event. Yes, is this week? Is happening on Thursday, when the day we drop this. And it's sold out. Oh, of course it's sold out. Can't get a ticket. Hottest ticket in town. Let me tell you right now. You can go on StubHub, Ticketmaster, wherever you want. You won't find one. I hear they're scalping them on the street. I won't say for how much. In Acheson. In beautiful. People at the coffee shop. Hey want to buy a ticket. Anyway, I'm just saying, you won't get one. And I don't get to go because it's like a women only event. That's right. I go set up the sound and then I get kicked out. I have to leave. And this year, I don't even get, I get to clean up the next day. So I don't even get to come back and feast on the leftovers. Well, again, I'll pack you a doggy bag. It'll be OK. Should I give you Tupperware? Maybe Tupperware. Inside joke. Tupperware. Anyway, I'm very excited about your women in leadership. It really is an amazing event. Folks, listen, I'm telling you, ladies, listen to me honest, get in line for next years because this is one of the best events that happens for ladies. It's amazing. It's awesome. Guys, too bad for us, but maybe we'll start our own men in leadership. No, we won't. No, you won't. I was going to say, we'll do that at the pub or a golf course or something like that. Anyway, we digress. I know. Our guest today is another one of the amazing panelists that I'm going to have on Thursday. It is my absolute pleasure to welcome today Tara Proskiw, the owner of Towne & Countree Kitchens along with a number of other companies. Yes. Welcome, Tara. Thank you. It's an absolute pleasure. I love being in person here and having the vibe of the coffee shop and the noises. It's cool, eh? It's super cool. Isn't it cool? Very cool. It's kind of, we were talking about it earlier. It's organic. It is. It's the buzzword these days. It's organic. So we just want you to feel at home. Coffee and conversation. That's what it's all about. That's right. So let's kick it off like we do with all of our guests. Tara, tell us about your childhood growing up. Did you grow up in this area or are you a transplant from somewhere or some other province? I actually grew up in Duffield, Alberta. Duffield. If you blink, you miss it. Yes. It's about 45 minutes west of Acheson. Yes, Duffield. You are our first guest from Duffield. That's right. I probably am the only person who would acknowledge it. Did you go to, did you finish high school in Duffield? It was K-9. Oh, K-9. Then I went to St. Thomas, the Catholic High School here in Spruce Grove. Oh, okay in Spruce. All right. Duffield. Why Duffield? Oh, actually, yes. I do know the answer to that. My dad... The look on her face was, that's a really stupid question. But then there's an answer to this. Exactly. My dad worked at the TransAlta Power Plant in Wabamun. In Wabamun. Okay. Yeah. That's really cool. Yes. Yes. We hear a lot about that these days. There's a lot of things happening out in Wabamun, and we hear about the power plant kind of closed down now. But yeah. Yeah. Cool. Wow. Duffield. Yeah. Pretty awesome. So then you bussed to Spruce Grove. Did you bus to Spruce Grove? Yeah, I was on the short bus. My brother would always remind me. There's a little tiny bus that picked me up and drove me to Spruce Grove. It's the short bus. The significance of the short bus. I know, right? Yes. In comparison to the long bus. Correct. You had the short bus. I did. Which I think is better. Yeah. It could be fitting. Yeah. All right. So you were done high school in Spruce Grove. Yes. Then what? What did you want to do? Yeah. Well, I wanted to be a police officer, but I am too spicy and it wouldn't go well for the public. Explain that because. Explain the too spicy. Explain that like you'd end up getting arrested rather than doing the arresting? Abuse, like animal abuse or child abuse. Like I would definitely be behind bars. I would never get out of academy. So I did the next best thing and I went to NAIT and I took the court stenography program. No, you didn't. I did. I was a really fast typer in another language and turned out I was still too spicy. Okay, but there's so many places we can go. These courts stenography people, they amaze me. Yeah, 225 words per minute with 98 percent accuracy with punctuation. Okay. I once was a volunteer for victim services for the police department and I had to go to some court dates and I would sit there and watch. That's not a regular typewriter, right? No, it's called a Steno machine. Yeah. But it's like chords on a piano. It's a made up language. So like TK,TP together with your left hand makes the f sound. Oh my gosh. It's literally learning a new language. I would say, so if somebody in the court said, that dog ran across the street, that'd be like a whole different way of doing that, right? Like that's a dog, you wouldn't type that. Correct. And it's a funny story. I've been out of it for, I don't know, 20 years and I still translate with my fingers. So as you said, the dog ran across the street, my fingers were pushing on the- And you made finger signs, right here. Under the table. But why don't they just use a regular typewriter? Because I can do dog with four fingers at the same time. Three fingers. So D-O-G, dog. Yes. This is fascinating. It really is. Because I've watched this and always wondered, why are they like, it's wow. So you're learning a whole new language. Yes. And how long do you go to school for that? Two years. Two plus years. Two years? Yeah. Holy smokes. That's a long time. And it's the rate of how fast you have to type, but the accuracy. Oh, yeah. Cause it has to be accurate, right? And they're like Madam Reporter, can you please read that back? And I'm like, I don't know. I'm scared he didn't say it out loud. I don't know what it said. I can write it, but I can't read it now. Okay. So listen, she's too spicy because she'd beat up criminals that she arrested. She wouldn't be partial. She was going to beat up criminals, yeah. And now you just said you were too spicy to be a court stenographer. Why? What did you do? Well, it was a divorce case in Calgary, and the gentleman was not very nice, and he was laughing when his ex-wife was giving testimony, and he wasn't very kind to her. And so I broke up the proceedings and asked the lawyer to make his client be quiet, or things were going to happen, and you're like super not allowed to do that. I was going to say, I could see the judge or the other lawyer, or somebody, but the stenographer saying that can cause issue. And I had visualized leaping across the table and like, oh yeah, it was horrible. It was a horrible testimony, but that's really frowned upon. How did that go over in the courtroom? Well, they'd never seen it before. It was the first. The judge was in shock. But I took that as a universal sign to exit the industry. So did the judge say anything to you? Well, it was two lawyers, and he did ask his client to get more professional. To smarten up yeah. But I was quite angry. You were done. I was super planning on meeting him in the back alley if I had to, or writing the wrongs of the world. I'm like Robin Hood for the court stenographers. No, definitely. You are the Robin Hood of the court stenographers. This is great. I'm having these. This would be a movie. This would be a good movie. The Robin Hood court stenographer beats the crap out of people. Standing up for the little person. Yeah, that's right. Wow. So was that the last court? Not long after that. It was you were done. Yeah. I wanted to exit before I got exited. Yeah. Before she ends up in handcuffs. Did word get out amongst other court stenographers? Tara's kind of like that. Did they kind of like, were you talked about in places where? Could be. Yeah. It wouldn't be surprising for people that I can't be quiet if there's a wrongful something. Who does a court stenographer work for? Do you work for the? Themselves. Oh, okay. Self employed. And you're contracted to the court. Yup. Oh, it's self-employed. Oh, okay. Or you would work under an agency. Right, right, right. So they would be like, I need so and so. Really? It's not like a provincial kind of work. Oh, I thought it was. But there was a lot of tapes, like recordings. So they didn't always keep a live reporter. Right. I did get to travel the whole Arctic. I followed the Jericho diamond mine and reported the public hearings. Really? I have some pretty cool experiences. That's cool. Yeah. It is cool. That's really cool. And in dramatic fashion, that career ended because I turned out I was allergic to the fur coats on the airplane and went into anaphylaxis and had to get Medivac. I'm sorry. I just think, yeah, they're signs. Another reason to maybe move out of court stenography. Yeah. Yeah. Allergic to the fur. Yeah. The thing is, that's not even dog fur. That's like polar bear or seal fur. Yeah. So you're allergic to seals. Yeah. So wow. Wow. Who would have thought? Well, could I just say, you are the first person I've ever met in my life who knows they're allergic to seals. I just like this because I've never heard of anybody who's allergic to seals. Probably most people don't get that close so they wouldn't know. No. Yeah. But I can't, what a death. Did they have to give you the EpiPen on the plane? Oh yeah. We were close to Cambridge Bay, so they had the MediVac ready. It was like 2 AM and the community center was open and they had to do some stuff to me. I don't really remember. This is amazing. I'm kind of dramatic, I think. Yeah. No. Well, but I could see. This is incredible. I've never in my life heard of this. This is, wow. And, you know, so when you want to transfer out of court stenography, you go to accounts payable because nothing relates. It's a leap, for sure. Yeah, it's not really applicable to a lot of other. The beauty is not a lot of seals in accounts payable. So you're like, okay. Well, maybe. Well, maybe. Maybe there's a, I bet you there's a story. Okay, so accounts payable. Yeah, it probably is. I better not rule that out. So, okay, so you left court stenography, went into accounts payable. Why? Just because? Because it's not applicable anywhere else. I had no transferable skills, other than I could type really fast. Yeah. So when I had to leave, the self-employed world, had a bit of an ego too. Like I pull this really cool machine behind me and I wear fancy clothes. And then I had to start all over again. So yeah, accounts payable. But that whole persona gets kind of shot when you're allergic to the seal. But anyway, yeah, it's like, okay. And where? I went to a company called Gateway Mechanical and they were lovely. In where? In Edmonton. In Edmonton, Gateway Mechanical. Okay. And then was blessed I met my husband, was engaged two months and 11 days after we met. Come on. Yeah. I'd like to joke that we were old and desperate, but I think it was just true love. Yeah. And then, yeah, welcomed a baby the next year and then had to start again. I went to a company called FloForm Countertops, and I worked there for 11 years. I started part-time in the showroom, took over as the first female branch manager in year seven. Really? And then wanted to be in maybe a less large company where there's more tangible connection, not just moving numbers. Yeah. So I ended up at Towne & Countree Kitchens. This is still amazing me, this flow of court stenographer to accounts payable to... FloForm Countertops. FloForm Countertops. This is pretty incredible. My mom used to joke, she had like, remember back in the old days where you'd have like you write the phone numbers down? Yeah. She had a book just dedicated to me. I was Saskatoon, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, the Arctic, you know, just bounced around. My mom was the same because I moved around a lot. She would show me her address book and crossed off, crossed off. And look, this was the latest. And she'd look and go, and when will that one be crossed off? Yeah. Wow. That's pretty incredible. So that's quite a journey. That's just an amazing journey to me. It is. And obviously, you like kitchens and countertops. I love the transformational power. Right. And yeah, I think it's very hands-on. Yeah. It's very before and after. This was my ugly kitchen before, and this is my new one now. Right. And I think certainly with COVID, we learned the power of home and connection. Yes, yes. And so I want people to be proud of their homes, to bring in their loved ones and let's cook together. Let's make bread. Let's have that really warm, happy connection that we need. I love that. That's really awesome. Okay. So you were at Free FloForm. Countertops. That's a FloForm. And why, so then why the jump from FloForm to Towne & Countree? So I knew the owner of Towne & Countree for years, and they were a very well-known, high-end cabinet company. Right. And I was looking for a change, and his GM had just resigned. And I wanted the ability to maybe be an owner. It was never something that I thought of, but I've always been a workaholic. So if a company sold, or if there was leadership that came in and didn't see your value, you might not get to stay. Yeah. And I don't really like being told what to do at all. Actually, I'm allergic to that too. So I needed to- You carry an EpiPen for that too? People telling you what to do? Okay. I'll just slow down here. Okay. Okay. The gentleman that I worked with, he was in his late 60s. So we committed on day one to see if I had the chops for it, if I could get my financial house in order. Did you know him before this? I did, because I sold him countertops. Okay. So you knew him. And I knew most of the staff. So he saw something in you and thought, this is the kind of person I want to be my successor as I move on. If I learned the business. Right. Yeah. And it's probably not as simple as just walking in and selling a countertop. Well, I thought it was simple. He graciously realigned me, reframed that thinking. But it is incredibly complex actually. You know, the restrictions of appliances and this hits that. Or when I bend down to the dishwasher, there's clearances and all kinds of things. So, yeah, so I just, even though I didn't believe it, I just kept saying to the universe and to everyone, when I buy Towne & Countree, when I buy Towne & Countree and four years later, I bought Towne & Countree and it'll be my fifth year as the owner now. I love that. I love what you just said in that you didn't say it to anybody else, but you said it to yourself, to the universe, I'm going to buy Towne & Countree. Oh, and I told it every person. And that was your goal, right? That was what you wanted. Even though I was absolutely terrified and I didn't know if I could do it. It just was, I think that was before I really knew about manifesting, but speaking the intention out loud. Yeah, I love that because I think that's really important. If you have a vision and a dream and a goal, you got to speak that, you've got to do that, and you've got to say, I want to do this. Yeah. I think we miss out a lot because we won't speak it. So I think that's great. We're afraid. It's scary, but that's a big leap. It is a big leap. I also had no idea what I was doing. How long had Towne & Countree been around? 1978. Wow. So it's approaching its 48th year. Yeah. So they were established. They were. And you could come in and take it to the next level, either up or down. And that, yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I was just joking earlier that I have a PhD in roller coaster rides. That's right. You know, because when you enter into a purchase, you have hefty payment schedules and the repayment. And then if you're at all economically driven or impacted, you know, the ups and the downs of the market are challenging. And I've probably read a hundred business books in the last 10 years, and not a lot of them talk about when the economy sucks. This is what you do. Or when COVID hits, because nobody knew about that, right? Nobody. So yeah. So tell us about that. So how do you deal with the roller coaster? How do you deal when you're at the bottom and... So I do a lot of work on mindset. I've had to. Otherwise, I think I would have had multiple nervous breakdowns over the years. Because I think I have probably close to 30 employees that I'm responsible for their pay. Right. Can they make them mortgage payments? Right. And so I, you know, really am an operations-based person. Where are the friction points that our clients go through? Where do we create friction? And so the last six months or so, I've been in a program with Stacey Berger called Mastery of Mind, and I start my day with my intentions, and I finish my day with my gratitudes. And some days, if I've had a bad day, I write two pages of gratitudes. Yeah. I like that, that's good. So that I can kind of clear my brain before sleep. Yeah. And probably the biggest thing in the last year is I consume no television news. Zero. Okay. That right there. Like that's, I'm telling you, that's it, right? Because when we say this often, there's no good news anymore. No. None. There's nothing positive anymore. How do you even know if it's authentically true? Right. That's the thing. But I want to go back to something you said about you end your day with your gratitudes. Yes. I kind of do the same thing because you can look at it two ways. I find if I don't end my day thinking about something positive or some things positive, I'm not going to sleep very well. But if I start thinking about some of the good things that happened, I sleep much better. Yes. And no matter how your day was, I don't know about you, and we all have some pretty rocky days. We all do. There is still somewhere in there something good about your day. And I have less rocky days than I used to. Right. Even though, again, the economics is challenging, I've really tried to separate myself from, I don't use the term failure, I use the term feedback. Right. What was the feedback? Yeah. And I'm very clear with the words that I use and the energy that I say them with, and I will also correct my teammates. Yeah. I think we've really devalued an emergency or a fire, oh, this is on fire. Well, is it like literally on fire? Because that's a big deal. Yeah. That's a big deal. Or did we not action something, or did we communicate properly? Right. Because really people don't escalate, or they're not upset if we've done everything that we can. I love that. I think that's fabulous. It is. Because I agree with you. I think people give up too easy. I think if something, they feel something, if they feel, and I'm using air quotes there, if they feel something fails, they just walk away from it. I don't look at it that way. I've learned from it, so how do I make it better the next time? Well, when did we become a society where, if you think about a child learning to walk, they don't just stand up and walk. No. They fall down 800 times. I don't care how great you think your child is, that doesn't happen to nobody. Right? But we've lost the resilience or the curiosity on mastery. It's resilience. We've lost resilience. Because we live in a society that doesn't teach resilience anymore. They don't even teach it. They don't even come close to teaching it with our kids. Like I say, it's not a failure. It's you learn from it and move on. It doesn't mean you stop doing it because you failed at it. It means you re-examine it, maybe, depending on the situation, and pick up and learn from that and make it better next time. Then it can be very successful. I love stories like that. That's amazing. Tara, I know that because we've talked about this and we had the ladies together for the women in leadership group. You have said yourself that you are an introvert a bit. Absolutely. Right? How does that play into your leadership style, being that introvert in that communication piece? Well, it's been amazing now that I've embraced it, because I have two ears and one mouth, and I try to listen double to what I speak. I think oftentimes we feel like we need the validation, so we just talk and talk and talk, and it provides little value, so I've really learned like tell me more, and so I'm very curious. I have committed to putting myself in very uncomfortable positions. I used to have a terrible fear of public speaking, so I say yes to everything, and I joined a BNI group, and I literally have to stand every single week. And now I said yes to being the VP of my BNI group, and now I have to give a presentation on top of my public speaking. Yeah, that's fabulous. So it's getting out of my own way, and why do we attach so much energy and fear to things? What is that serving? And so what I do know, when I get home from work, which I absolutely love, I have to go outside. I have to have a little download of fresh air, and I love my family, my kids, but I need to go outside with my pets and just take 10. Yes, absolutely. That's phenomenal. It is. It's okay. You can take it if you need to. We'll just talk amongst ourselves till you're done. It's okay. Because if it's a sale on a big deal, you go ahead. I don't want you to lose the sale because of the podcast. We don't have insurance. So I'm just saying. That's my college-aged son probably asking me for food money. Right. I was going to say, yeah, can I, I'm hungry? It never ends, by the way. I have it on silent, the emergency contacts can fly through. Me too, yeah. But that'll never end, by the way. He'll get married and be a lawyer and he'll still phone you and ask for food, I guarantee it. But anyway. So let's actually, let's talk about that. Your family. Yeah. You've said yourself on this podcast that you're a workaholic. Yes. How did that fit in with your being an introvert, but being very driven and your family? So I don't believe I gave my husband the kudos enough throughout our marriage. So we're working on year 21 and he never wanted anything that we are doing. He never wanted to be a business owner, let alone three businesses. Yes. And so we actually had a role reversal. When I started to climb the ladder at FloForm, where he turned into the person who was cooking for the kids. He got them to their doctor's appointments. And we had a traditional marriage, where the man is the breadwinner, all of that, and it's reversed. Right. So that took some time. And I would have some do-overs if I could, to really give him more kudos. Yeah, we all, yeah. But my husband is the glue, and gives me the space to follow this drive. Right. Does he work with you? He does. He does. Yeah. So he's a total introvert, and he installs cabinets for us. Oh, really? And he helps on the reno side at times. Yeah. And that's one of the things that I really did wrong over the years was, when I put him in roles within the company, I put him in what I felt he should be doing. Not what he. Not what, he would never have put it on his resume. He never would have applied for the jobs. Right. I never would have hired him, but all of a sudden I forced him into leadership roles over the years. So that's where it got the spiciest for us. Now, I honor him and who he is and his personality. It's really lovely. I love that. Not only within your marriage, but for anybody, it's just finding what you're good at and what you do. I think that's huge these days. It is. It's massive. A lot of people are very unhappy in their jobs and in their relationships and in what they do, because they're not doing what they love doing. Well, and how many times do we actually have those conversations? Right. Honey, Cam, let's pretend I'm married to you. What do you want your future to look like? What fills your cup? Right. Then I'll say, do I fill your cup or do I empty it? Right. Yeah. For a while, I worked, well, my past, but when I came to Genics here, I worked in HR and often you'd have to let people go. But I'd say to them, this isn't the end, this is the beginning. Go and find. Obviously, this isn't your passion, so go and find your passion. Yes. Now, nine times out of 10, they'd look at me and go, I don't know. Well, go and find it because until then, you're not going to be happy in your relationships, in your job, in whatever you do. Be passionate about it. Well, and what I'm learning in this course I'm taking, there's four quadrants, vocation, spirituality, time and money freedom, and relationships. We often are going to be like the workaholic, didn't put a lot of time into the relationships. It's really learning and the curiosity to find out what does he want. Then having the kids, so we've got a 15-year-old daughter and a 19-year-old son. I'm hoping that they'll respect me in all the time I was away. But that was a thing. The teachers would be like, oh my God, thank you for reaching out. We heard that you work a lot. Yeah. And I'm like, Charlie, what did you say? That's supposed to make you feel better, right? No, that doesn't. It makes me feel good. Yeah. I can relate to that 100 percent. Yeah. Wow. That's incredible. I love this. I love this because that's my thing these days, is that people just, they're not happy in what they do. And I think we miss it in saying, you know, we want to release people to find, like I say, their passions. And what really floats your boat? What makes you happy? And why are we making judgment calls on what We think their happiness is. And why are we making decisions for them if we're in that position, to think, oh, you're going to love this. Oh, yeah. I hate that. That sucks. I'm not doing that. My husband absolutely does not work well with others. He's great. He's meticulous. That's his superpower. Yeah. He's a craftsman. Yeah. They don't. But leave him alone to do his job. That's right. Yes. That's right. You start micromanaging him. He's not going to do a very good job. Or having him. And then me being like passive aggressive, judging him. That he did that wrong. This is great. And so we've been talking about your husband and that relationship. How do you forge that into your company with your employees? Like how do you... Because I'm sure that listening to you talk, there's a carry over into the culture of your company. It's no different than my marriage at home. I try to come to the plate with, what can I hold for you? What can I support you with? These are the rules and restrictions. Or this is the job description. I do like fluidity. So we have a lot of unique personalities having kitchen designers and creative minds. Oh, I bet. That's probably an interesting dynamic right there. It's, you can eat some popcorn and watch that unfold at times. But it's also the magic sauce. So when people are acting out of character, I'm typically trying to be curious without attaching too much to whatever that story is. And I think the big thing is I show up as the same leader every single day. Yeah, that's right. Consistency. Yeah. The ego is left at the door. That's got to be hard. Yeah. It's not, it's not now. Yeah. But that's why I have to do all the mindset work. Sure. Yeah. I see that I am the energy provider at home and at work. So if I'm off, if my, you know, like vibration is off, it affects everyone. So my job is to suit up and show up every day as the person that they need to be. And then if I have to go have a boohoo, it's in the privacy of my office or trusted confidants or something. Oh, I have a boohoo. I have a few boohoos. We talked about starting a crying room at work, but that hasn't happened yet. But then I'd be in there all the time. So just kidding. I do love my job. Okay. So you have three companies. Yes. Towne & Countree Kitchens, Towne Renovations, Redl Kitchens, Redl. It's on 124th Street. 124th Street? It's like a bougie little... Really? Yeah. It's a lovely, lovely high-end cabinet company. I grew up on 124th. At the time, it wasn't very bougie, but anyway... Well, the doors are locked. You have to ring the buzzer to get in. But it is bougie once you get inside the door. It wasn't bougie when I was there either. Well, now it is. Okay. Three companies. That's pretty... Wow. You started... It's a lot. You started two of them or you started... So Towne Renos, we started when I was the GM. Oh, okay. Just not a lot of contractors wanted small jobs. So to kitchen out, bathroom out, and so that started to filling the need for the clients, and also protecting the schedule. Then, Redl was an acquisition about two and a half years ago. But the cool thing was, I already had the warehouse, I already had the delivery van, I already had the team. Really, it was just a play on gaining market share without competing with my own brand. Wow, that's cool. I know. Yeah. So, we talked about, you know, I just want to go back just a minute to you talking about being that same leader and putting on your suit. So Tara, you talked about everybody else, but what fills your bucket? Watching people reach their potential. It is just, it's so magical. And knowing, I have a lot of conversations inside my head, and I can be like, oh, old Tara would have said this, and new Tara said this, and you just watch people stand taller. And we're so hungry for connection. And I love seeing people in love with their kitchens. Like that. But it's transformation, people-wise, and also homes. I love that. Because I feel this, I love watching people succeed. And whatever role I can play in that, I get to play in that. But I just love watching them succeed and them becoming. And that sounds strange for me because my whole life was a public persona. But I was happier to see people succeed. And I love that. And every day, I'm like, how did I show up today? Was I kind? Was I quick-tempered? And if I was, last week, I had to go down to my kids twice and said, I am not sorry for the topic, but I'm sorry for how I delivered it. Because I also have to teach them to be quick to acknowledge, hey, I was a bit of a jerk there. You still need to pick up your stuff. But I don't like how I presented that. And that's not gentle parenting, it's respect. No. And it's that way with every aspect of our life. It's not, again, it's the people we work with, all of that, to be able to do that. But it's only making us and them better, is what it's doing. And then watching them, okay, wow, the boss said they were sorry to me. Okay, like you say, the topic, I'm not sorry for the topic, but I'm maybe sorry for how I, yeah, the delivery. And so, but then to see them grasp that and take hold of that and them grow out of that. And it's like, okay, this is good. Some of the things we're working on right now, I like to wordsmith. I do not like when people exaggerate. So if I hear like someone yelled at me, like a client yelled at one of my staff, my first instinct would be to drive to the house and let's go have a face to face conversation. But don't say that if they were just irritated because we showed up at 10, not at eight. So we do a deep dive into being accountable to the words that we use, because I don't want to get mud on my face defending someone. And I find we exaggerate when we feel offended or hurt by people. We exaggerate. And also when we didn't do what we said we were going to do. It's a deflection. Yeah, 100 percent. Because it's getting that energy out of us. That I was hurt, I was offended, you made me angry, you upset me, you did this. So now I'm going to, well, they yelled at me. Well, they didn't really yell at you. They might have been a little rude, but they didn't really yell. But that's my way of expressing. And I agree with you on that. I think we have to be careful the words we use and how we use them. Well, and we've even taken it inside when we have inter-office conflict. Yeah. We'll just get everybody in the same room. Sure. Okay. You said this. Yeah. Do you hold yourself to that? Yeah, and then it's like... I'm big on that. Talk it out. No. Talk it out. Yeah. And did you add a little extra flair there? Yeah, sure. Right. Yeah, just talk it out and then just get it out. And then, yeah, the truth comes out. But if it's done in like that way, in the right way, in a constructive way, at the end of the day, it's better. It only makes things better. Yeah. It only makes things more positive. For sure. Wow. Any hobbies? I'm trying to learn how to garden. Yeah. Yeah. Talk to her. She does a lot of that flower thing. I'm also a reformed animal adopter. I have three cats and three dogs. Come on. Well, I like to see things in ditches and then I'm like, oh, God gave that to me. Well, there's a few animals out here that are in the ditches you could probably have. But anyway, wow, that's great. I have to scale that back. Yeah. But yeah. Well, yeah. I could see where that's a bit of an issue. I brought another one home. Yeah. My husband said, keep your eyes on the road. Stop looking in the ditches. You bring that wounded squirrel home. That's a little hot. Yeah, that's right. Anyway, this is fabulous. See, now I want to come to the women's leadership thing, but I know I can't. But this is really incredible. This is fabulous. We could go on and on and on, and we're well into time here. This is fantastic. And I appreciate everything you've said. Thank you. Because, I agree with most of it, but mostly because I think it's stuff we just need to hear. Because I'm- I think it's something, yeah, everybody needs to hear. Today, I'm totally convinced that people just, they're just so many unhappy people. And there's so many reasons why, but we need to do things to just change that tide a little bit. Well, and naturally, our brains have not evolved. Yeah. So we could have 60 to 80,000 negative thoughts as our first activity. So you have to do a lot of work to reframe that. Yeah. And I'm going to say one thing here because this is what I've been working on lately, is that for me, it's really important to focus on the people around me who bring positivity into my life. And it doesn't always mean it's good, but they bring positivity into my life. And the very fact that I get to know them and be around them and be with them, that's a very positive thing. And I'm trying to focus on that more because I think we need to do that. And when you do your gratitude, send love their way. If they're feeling like they're maybe not there, just send a mental hug and wish you happiness and health. And tell them they did a great job today or you were awesome today. I mean, don't make it up, but just tell them they were amazing. I love it. It's good. It's good. This is good. This is good. I can't believe we're at the final question. Oh, this is so good. Man, and live. We need to start another podcast. Just on this. No? Okay. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there, but you know. Okay, Tara, what is the best piece of advice you've been given either personally or professionally that you carry with you to this day? My friend Larry, who's in his 70s, we're talking about people in your circle. If you have a hole in your boat, are they pouring water into your boat or emptying it out? That sits with me a lot because a lot of times, especially as we become more successful, I think people can look and see opportunities. I need the authenticity that if we're going to go down, we're going down emptying each other's boats. Yeah. That's great. That's great advice. Yeah. That's fabulous advice. So hey, everybody, check out your boat and check out other people's boats because yeah, that's good. Wow. Good, good, good stuff. Just fabulous. Tara, where can they find all of your companies? Yeah. On social media, at Towne Co. Yeg, I believe, towneco.com, towneco.com. And we're on the west end of Edmonton, so. Right on. Towne. T-O-W-N-E. Yes. And countree with the tree. Towne. Countree. Yeah, with the tree. Okay. There's so many E's. Check it out, everybody. Check it out. Go. If you're listening to this today and thinking about doing that reno, that renovation, check it out. And then walk in and go, hey, we heard you on the podcast. That'd be really cool. And that would be, yeah. So check it out. Towne & Countree. That's really wild. Love it. Great podcast. Absolutely. I want to say thanks again to Wing Snob. Thank you, Wing Snob, for supporting us. Appreciate it. www.wingsnob.ca And hey, listen, this is one podcast you need to tell everybody about. Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your coworkers, tell your enemies, because we've talked about some things today. Maybe you won't be enemies after you've listened to this. And if you don't have any friends and you're sitting there going, hey, I just listened to this amazing podcast with Tara. You got to listen to this. You'll make a friend and it'll be awesome. So check it out. And you need to... We want you to subscribe so that you do not miss a new episode of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam every Thursday at noon. That's right. Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. I love saying that. It's a jaw exercise. Subscribe. And for those of you who don't get to go to the Women in Leadership, sign up for next year. And those of you who are going. It's going to be awesome. You are in for a treat. Good stuff. Thanks everybody. We'll see you next time around. Thanks Tara and we'll see you next week everyone.