Episode 30: The Importance of Authentic Storytelling with Tina Brigley | Cracking the Success Vault

In this episode of Cracking the Success Vault, Sean Penhale sits down with Tina Brigley, TEDx speaker and storytelling brand strategist, to unpack how your story can become one of the most powerful tools in your business and your life.

Tina has worked with more than 3,000 entrepreneurs, helping them move beyond surface-level marketing and step into authentic storytelling that builds trust, connection, and long-term growth. Her belief is simple but powerful: when you truly own your story, people don’t just listen — they choose you.

This conversation goes far beyond branding.

Tina shares her personal journey from teacher to entrepreneur, the pivotal role personal development played in her transformation, and how experiences like the Landmark Forum helped her uncover a deeper sense of purpose, self-awareness, and alignment.

In this episode, Tina and Sean explore:
• Why your story is your most valuable business asset
• How authentic storytelling helps build trust and attract the right people
• Overcoming fear of rejection in sales, business, and life
• The lessons that come from pivots, failure, and reinvention
• Why self-love, consciousness, and alignment matter in real success

Whether you are growing a brand, navigating a transition, or trying to show up more authentically in your business, this episode offers powerful insight into the connection between story, identity, and success.

🔑 Topics Covered

🎤 Storytelling as a business tool
🧠 Personal development and mindset shifts
📖 The impact of Landmark Forum
🚀 Entrepreneurship, pivots, and reinvention
💬 Fear of rejection and taking action
❤️ Self-love, consciousness, and alignment
🤝 Building trust through authenticity

⏱ Chapters

00:00 – Embracing Change and Transformation
07:10 – The Power of Personal Narrative
14:01 – The Journey of Self-Discovery
21:14 – Overcoming Fear and Taking Action
28:04 – Human Connection in a Tech-Driven World
29:49 – Finding the Heart of Coaching
32:08 – Business Partnerships and Challenges
35:57 – Ego vs Soul Alignment
43:08 – Consciousness and Self-Love
48:56 – Lessons Learned from Failure
55:29 – Embracing the Journey and Future Aspirations

🔗 Guest Links

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinabrigley/

Website
https://tinabrigley.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We're problem solvers. Figure out what problem you solve and figure out a way to be unforgettable.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

I am done with this thing and I'm no longer going down this path. The other path is going to open up and you're going to be like, wow, like everything's just going so well.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

And I got rear-ended. I'm like, pause. What a pleasure. You know, because I get to practice being a certain way that is going to overcome that, right? I see that nothing is coincidental. Everything is happening for me, and I gotta trust that.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Our guest today is Tina Brigley, a recognized TEDx speaker and storytelling brands strategist. With a focus on turning personal narratives into powerful assets, Tina has got over 3,000 business owners. Her work empowers entrepreneurs to authentically connect with their audience, building trust that goes far beyond their products or services. Tina's core belief is that your story is your most valuable tool, and when you embrace it fully, people are not just engaged, they are actively choosing you. Her mission is to help entrepreneurs align their brand identity with their authentic story, enabling them to build businesses that truly reflect who they are. Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of Cracking the Success Bolt here with Spectre Group. Uh today we are joined by Tina Brigley. Um I don't know too much about your story. We had a couple phone calls, but the thing that I loved uh about your story, uh, which is something that I've actually taken, which is landmark forum. That was one thing that we really connected on when I saw um sort of your website and all of that kind of stuff. But um, let's kind of dive in a little bit as to sort of like where you grew up, where you sort of you started, and how you got on this like success coaching journey.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Okay, that that's a loaded question.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

It's a loaded question. There's a lot. So we'll take it piece by piece, but let's start at the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Yeah. So I'm Windsor, born and bred. And uh growing up, I loved my grade one teacher. Mrs. Beaton, she was like Wonder Woman. I wanted to embody her, I wanted to be her, and I knew in grade one I wanted to be a teacher. So I started um down this path as a teacher, actually. And one day I just woke up and I felt like I was wishing my life away. On Monday, wishing it was Friday, Friday, wishing it was the weekend, Sunday, wishing it was anything but Sunday, and uh wishing for the next break. And I thought, I'm not supposed to be here. And um, one day I was sitting on my computer and there was a pop-up to become a health coach. And I thought, what the heck is that? I used to be healthy. I think that this is something that I want to learn more about. And I clicked the button and the rest is history.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

So what okay, so you were a teacher?

SPEAKER_02 2:44

I was 14 years.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

And you were okay, teaching what, teaching what grade? Uh, special education. Special education. Okay. Yeah. And so why do you think you had this like wishing for the weekend or wishing for the weekend not to be over? I think a lot of people can sort of relate to that. Um my business partner and I are the opposite. We kind of uh we we hate that it's Friday because Friday uh sometimes you can't you you can't do more sales, you can't hit more goals, you have to wait for the weekend to just relax and then start again on Monday. So we're kind of the opposite. But why do you think that kind of king? Was it just you obviously love teaching because you still kind of teach, right? Obviously, um, in a different facet. But what was it about the teaching that made you feel like that?

SPEAKER_02 3:30

I think I just felt like there was more for me. You know, I used to be a child and youth worker, and I used to see the teachers and their job, and I thought, I can do that. I want to be, I want to be a teacher. I don't, I don't want to say just a child and youth worker, but I felt like I was doing everything that a teacher was doing, but I was always kind of, you know, that's a teacher's job, or that's, you know, you're not there yet. And I was like, I want to be there. And so when I was in education, I felt I like being a teacher, but there's gotta be more. And so I was always pushing to the next thing, um, being on track to be a special education consultant. And uh, because I was never the type of person to just settle. And I I can't even explain it, but I just knew there was more for me. And every day it felt like groundhog day. And I said, this can't be my life. This can't be my life. Um, and so I feel like that it was like a whisper that was guiding me. And then the whispers started turning into bricks, you know, when you just feel you can't be there anymore. And I could I couldn't explain it, but I just knew that I didn't want to wake up when I was 80 years old and say, what if?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Right. Yeah, I think a lot of people need to take a little bit more, sort of, I'll call it inventory of their life, how they're feeling, because there's so many different opportunities out there for so many different people. Uh, but most people just aren't willing to take that jump, do something different, right? Um, and so the drive that you're I guess I'll call it, I'll call it drive. Uh, the drive to want something more, that there's something gotta be something better out there. Um, is that something your parents instilled in you? Is that something that you just kind of always felt? Like, where does it come from? Because some people, it's parents instill this drive, go after these big goals, go after these things. And other people just kind of like have this desire.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

So uh funny story. When I was in 11th grade, my there was this bring your kid to work day. My mom worked at a factory, so she took me to work. I'm working on the line. All of these parts are coming down the conveyor belt at so like so quickly. I couldn't keep up. I was dripping sweat. It was so hot. And I remember leaving after that eight-hour shift and saying, never again. I am never going to do this again. It was set in stone. I don't care what I have to do in life, but I don't want to settle for this. And my parents weren't educated, they didn't even finish high school. A lot of my family, my dad's family, my mom's family, uh, you know, they lived that life, the factory life. And I just knew that that wasn't for me. But it took being on that line to realize this isn't for me. So I feel inside um this desire to keep moving. Now, my parents were very hard workers, you know, they worked really, really hard, but they worked really, really hard and didn't have a lot to show for it. And I thought I'm working really, really hard and I have a great life, but I didn't feel like I was living my purpose. I didn't feel almost like I was running away from something, you know, running away from the assembly line. But what if I ran towards something? Yeah.

unknown 6:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

I mean, that's a big thing I learned a lot. It's it's okay to have that thing you're running from, whether it's I, you know, I don't want to be broke. I don't want to have this relationship, I don't want to run this job, I don't want to do these things. But the thing that actually is when a person can find their purpose and what they love doing, um, running towards that thing is so much more powerful than running away from something. Running away can work for a period of time, but sooner or later you're no longer going to be in that place. I can run away from being broke once I have money. Okay, well, what's what's the purpose now? Yeah. You're no longer running from something, but you don't have something running towards either. Right. So I can definitely understand that part. Um, and so, okay, so teacher for 14 years, then you start to see a little pop-up for being a health coach. Yep. Um, what was that like? What kind of spurred you onto that? Is that where you met landmark forum? Sort of what what happened at that 14-year mark?

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Yeah, so uh a teacher signed up to become a health coach. Actually, I went to a psychic and she said she she could not. I know it's so funny, but she basically was asking me, Are you a nurse? Are you a doctor? Are you in health care? Nope, nope, no. And I was adamant, I am not telling her anything. Like you're gonna, she said, I'm having a hard time reading you. She said, I just keep seeing you in health. And I said, Well, I just signed up to become a health coach. And she said, Oh yeah. She said, strap on your seatbelt because you're about ready to take off. She said, You're not going to be a teacher for long. I literally laughed out loud. Nobody quits teaching. You don't make$100,000 a year with the best pension in the country and benefits and quit. Um, literally, less than eight months later, I quit teaching. So I didn't see that, you know. Um, but I started becoming a health coach, but then coaches started coming to me saying, How are you growing your business? And I said, I don't really know. People are just coming to me. What do you mean people are just coming to you? And I didn't realize that I was just sharing my stories. I was sharing my health journey, my divorce journey. And um, I was really struggling with my divorce at that time. We weren't completely divorced, we were separated. But my friend said, you know, there's this program called the landmark forum. I think it would really do good for you, especially with you coaching now and leaving teaching and all of this stuff. So I went and I registered and it changed my life, literally changed my life. So uh that's how that got started, really.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Yeah, yeah. And we'll talk about landmark because I I want to do, I do want to touch on it. Um, because I had a similar experience. So I uh grew up in Alberta, was a competitive swimmer my entire life, uh, finished university, retire from swimming, and I'm going through this. Like, I don't even know what I'm gonna do with my life. I had already found financial services, so I was already learning the business, but I didn't know if this was truly what I wanted to do. And I came across a client. Uh, she ended up becoming a client of mine, and she was going through the process that you were going through, which was becoming a teacher to actually teach landmark forum. And she's like, you know, you're you you seem to like this industry, but you just retired from this thing that you've done your entire life. You seem very conflicted about lots of things. You should go to landmark forum. And I was like, I don't know, like, you know, it's a weekend and I don't know if I want to do it. And she's like, you would benefit from it, trust me, don't worry. She's like, and she was like very graciously, she's like, I'll I'll I'll pay for your ticket. Don't worry about it. It's on on complimentary. And I was like, okay, complimentary, uh, that's fantastic. I'll I'll take it. And after three, after three days of Landmark Forum, like my my my entire like psyche was just opened up to so many possibilities that I had cut off, or relationships that I had ended, and stories that I had told myself that weren't true, and all these things. So tell the audience who's listening, uh, because you'll do it better than me, uh, what is the landmark forum and who would it be for uh if someone is you know listening and and and wants to sort of uh get into that personal development world?

SPEAKER_02 10:59

I would I would explain it as uh personal development on steroids. You it uncovers the genesis of your identity, how your identity got constructed and three pivotal moments in your life where you made decisions and you lived into those decisions. That's the easiest way I can see it, but it's you almost got to experience it to know what it's like. Uh for me, I walked in. I'm a teacher, I'm a coach, I'm smarter than everybody in the room. I don't really need this. These people over here need it, but not me. And right away, I was cracked open to the point where I was walking out of the room on that Friday afternoon saying, I'm out of here. Well, this, I don't know who you guys are. You guys are a bunch of whack jobs, but I'm out. And I'm like, listen, trust the process, stay in it. This is really good that you're having this reaction because you're starting to see things that were in your blind spots. You're starting to become an observer of who you are. That was so uncomfortable for me because I already knew who I was. I already knew, you know, the way my life was gonna turn out. And um, and I just started becoming an observer of myself and responsible for how I show up in the world. And I didn't know what it meant to create a world of possibility, you know, where you could create your life. And so when you create your life, anything is possible. So I that's what it is, and that's what it gave me is this language and this way of being that makes me unstoppable.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Yeah. Yeah, and I can a hundred percent get behind that because the amount of possibilities that are in the world that most people just don't even think about because they're so stuck in well, this is where I would, this is where I grew up, and this is how I was raised, and this is what I was taught to believe, and this is the job that I'm supposed to have. But the possibilities are endless if you give yourself the ability to think and uh go after something you actually want. But if you don't know what you want, how are you supposed to go after it?

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

It was such a such a great possibility, and I've actually, it's funny you you said that and that we're connected because I think over the last like two, three years, um I'm running a sales team now, and I'm like every time I every time we we bring people in that just have these um uh beliefs that are constrained on, you know, they're just really stuck. I'm always like, man, I wonder if there's a landmark form around, or I wonder if there's this course around that they could take, because just being able to like get them outside of themselves would just be so impactful to learning more about who they are and putting them on a better trajectory.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Yeah. Right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

So what then? So you took landmark, uh, which opened up a lot of possibilities for you.

SPEAKER_04 13:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

And then you started going down the path of actually wanting to teach the course. So what you went from like health coach to potentially landmark forum coach. Um, what kind of spurred wanting to teach the course?

SPEAKER_02 14:14

You know, I was just really inspired by this world of possibility. And I, it was almost like I was a sponge for transformation. I just wanted to give me more, give me more, give me more. Like I once I started seeing myself, I just didn't want to stop, but I realized that there's different addictions. People can have sex addictions, alcohol addictions. I had a personal development addiction. And I'm not even joking about that. I mean, I did close to 5,000 hours in seven years of personal development training. And I didn't realize that I thought, even though I heard you're not broken, you don't need to be fixed. I really thought that those parts of myself that I didn't like, I needed to change them. And something out there was going to help me change them. And I realized, no, it's all in here. And so um, you know, I quit. And I say I quit because I quit. I made a choice. Um, no past, no future. Just I had to start listening to my own internal voice and stop outsourcing my voice, you know. And I think personal development is great, but there's a slippery slope where you can use it as an exit to not fulfill on what you want in your life. And so uh I ended up leaving and then I had an opportunity to join a coaching company in that was based in the UK. And um I was a client of theirs, and they asked me if I wanted to be a co-founder right before the pandemic. And I thought, okay, if we're living in a world of possibility, I did the training, I did the development, let's see what happens. And that business really took off quickly during the pandemic. And um, you know, all of my training that I had up until that point, I needed in this position.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Yeah, right. Yeah, it's interesting. I always tell people you can always connect the dots backwards, but you'll never be able to connect them forwards, right? Um, but let's come back to that personal development thing because I'm I'm a very big personal development advocate as well. I think a lot of people need some amount of personal development, but there are those people that are like career personal development people. Um, you know, a lot of the big guys, the the Tony Robbinses, etc., they, you know, they see the same people at every single seminar sitting in the front row all the time. And what do you think is the difference between a person who, you know, always goes to the seminars feeling like they always need more, versus somebody that's like, I'm gonna go actually take some action now, because um there's always more that we can do. There's always a better version of ourselves, whether it's sales, whether it's family, whether it's money habits, whatever it is. There's always a better version.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

But you actually have to implement some things at the same time. You can't just not, it's not gonna be like one day and then all of a sudden click, and I'm just this great version of myself. We actually have to implement some things.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

So what do you think sort of causes people to actually go and actually implement these things versus just being the career student of personal development?

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Well, I think we talk about comfort zones a lot, and people don't realize that there's different comfort zones. And comfort zones are anything but comfortable, they are where we operate our life from. So, two comfort zones that I think keep people in those seminars without taking action are striving without receiving and processes without results. And striving without receiving is when you go, go, go, you do all these things, but you don't actually produce results in your life, not just business, but you know, you go to all these seminars and you never implement what you learn. So you never embody it. It doesn't transform you. But then you keep going, you keep going. The other one, um, processes without results. Um when you are going to all of these things, you know, I did Tony Robbins Business Mastery, you get this feeling of euphoria, like you can take on the world when you're there. You're so motivated and you're inspired. But as soon as you leave the room, that motivation and inspiration goes away. And you need to take action to be able to ride that wave, you know. And Tony Robbins talks about this all the time. This is great. You're here for the weekend, but what are you going to do in your life? And that's why a lot of programs will have seminars after to keep you in the conversation because when left to our own devices, our brain doesn't like to get out of our comfort zone. It likes to stay there.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yeah. And I I love the fact that you say that. Um, what were the what were how did you phrase those two things again?

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Striving without receiving, striving without receiving, and processes without results.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

And so do you find that then a lot of people maybe go to these, go to the weekend seminars or take that online course or whatever? Do you think it's that they just don't have the big goal? Do you think it's that they don't want to put a goal or a result on the things that they're trying to achieve? Like I talk, you know, we talk a lot in financial services with ourselves and our company, like we're we're building this great team, and a lot of people are they wanna most people in life want to make more money or have a freedom, more freedom of time or flexibility. But when you're actually like, okay, how much money do you want to make this year? And they're like, uh I don't know, 100 grand. Okay. What's gonna take you to get there? Oh, it's gonna take A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Yeah, okay, I think I can do it. And you're like, I think you can do it. Like, why like can't you just like like this is the thing you have to do on a daily basis. You have to show up on time, you have to make two calls a day, you have to meet one person that you don't know already. You know, go prospect one person, right? Uh, get one referral. Like it the business is easy and it's also easy not to do, right? And I think it's like anything in life. It's easy to save money, but it's easy not to say not to save money, right? It's easy to take a course, but it's easy not to take a course. Um, do you think it's that people just don't have the they don't know what it is that they want, and that's why there's no result to what they're doing? Or like, is it just they just don't know how to get there?

SPEAKER_02 20:44

No, I I I truly believe our primary human needs are love, safety, and belonging. When people put themselves out there, they risk putting their butt on the line for something bigger than themselves. They risk rejection, they risk failure. And at a psychological, deep, you know, emotional level, they're afraid of being rejected. They're afraid of failure, they're afraid of hearing the no's. And so, you know, it might show up as, oh, I don't have clarity, I don't really know what to do. That's not the truth. It's that we're afraid. And I think most people operate in life being afraid. And that's why they're not willing to take risks. And if we could just be, you know, okay with that. You know, I see I did a talk for a hundred people one time. They were all real estate agents. And this one man who's, you know, this larger than life alpha kind of guy, he was breaking down crying. And he said, I I just want X, Y, and Z. And I don't think people actually really see me. And he was actually expressing, I'm afraid of not being seen for who I am without saying that. But we all have these fears, but sometimes we it's not socially acceptable to admit that or to talk about. It or to be vulnerable. It's like, but what if you could get over those fears? And what if you're just having a conversation and people say yes or they say no? And that's okay. There's billions of people in the world. You know, I run workshops every week. I reach out to a hundred people. 80 people say no to me. 20 people say yes, rinse, repeat. I know most people won't do that. They'll say there's got to be an easier way.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Correct. Yes, so many people are looking for the easy route, the fastest route, the uh the new course that's gonna obviously help them do this thing. And I've seen it before because again, I've been around personal development with the different companies that I've been with, where every annual uh uh every annual conference or convention, you know, it's three days or four days of rah-rah-rah and win awards and go back home and do your stuff, and then people go back home and it's the same stuff over and over again. Um, but I like the way that you said that is um it's it because it really does come down to just a fear of rejection, yeah. Um the amount of time where I'm like, like just uh I I use the analogy of um rather than making it about one person, just try and like throw a dart and just hit the dartboard. Just say, hey, listen, Tina, this is who I am, this is what I do, uh, you know, would love to introduce you to what it is that I do. Oh, okay, cool. Yeah, let's grab coffee. Right. And it's like I threw a dart, I hit the dartboard, I'm guiding coffee with this person, and it doesn't matter if a sale happens, it doesn't matter if it's just a good fun conversation, it doesn't matter if it's just this podcast and that's all it is. Like, who knows? Right. But the nice part is is once you have a connection and you actually can talk to a person, right? Then something else could potentially happen, right? Whether it's, and again, this is me spitballing, whether it's I get back involved in landmark form or I become a client of yours or you become a client of mine, until we meet and have a coffee and get to know each other. None of those things are possibilities.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

No.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

But you have to face that rejection to even just allow the possibilities to happen.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Right. It's interesting you say that about fear.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yeah. And I think sometimes too, people are not clear on the problems that they solve because people I find used to buy solutions or outcomes. Now people pay for their pain to be relieved, whether it's finances, whether it's emotional, relationships, when do people take action when there's some pain there? And I know maybe in your financial business it's not, but it's maybe relieving some future pain, solving, leaving a legacy, making sure you know where your money's going. So unless we know how to really help people see that they have a pain or a potential pain that we can solve, a lot of people won't take action. And I think people miss that. And the clarity part is what we're we're problem solvers. Figure out what problem you solve and figure out a way to be unforgettable in that problem. You know, what you want people to think about you long after you've left the room. You want people to feel who you are, not just go through the motions of, oh, I'm selling this or I'm doing this. No, who are you as a human? Because people want to do business with other humans and they want to be seen, they want to be heard, they want to be validated. And sometimes, especially in sales positions, I feel that sometimes we have the intention to sell instead of the intention to really truly serve. And I always say, what would happen if we went into every convers conversation with the intention to serve and not sell? And that's what you're talking about, the connection. We don't know where it's gonna go, but let me serve you. You serve me, let's see who we can serve together. What kind of an impact can we make?

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Yeah, I love that. I I learned a long time ago, uh, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And I can be the smartest person with the best returns or the cheapest insurance, whatever it is. But until they actually know that I care about them, their family, making sure that they're ahead of where they want to go, making sure that their dreams and goals are going to be achieved, they don't care how much I know. They don't care how smart I am or my designation is if I have it, like they don't care. No, they want to know that I actually care about them as people, not just a number. And it's funny that and it's and it's funny that I say that just now because the amount of people that I've met who are like, yeah, I need to leave the bank or I need to leave because I'm just a number. Nobody gives me advice, nobody helps, nobody cares. I'm just an account number, right? There's no personality, there's no how's your dog? How's your wife? How's your new baby? Like, there's none of that. It's just, what do you want to do today? You want to take some money out? You want to put some money in? Okay, cool. Let's do that. And then you're gone.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

And so so many people just they they they want that. They want someone to actually care.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Well, I I put in a little kitchenette in my basement just recently and I bought all new appliances. Well, my fridge, I won't tell you what brand it is, but it went on the fritz already. It's three weeks old. So I went online, I had to go through warranty. There are four options text, email, WhatsApp, or live chat. Live chat was not with a live person. So I'm going through all these bells and whistles and hoops, and I felt like, can I just speak to a real person? And I couldn't get that. Then finally, with this robot that I'm talking to, I said, I need a number where I can talk to somebody. And finally, I got a hold of somebody, but I feel like this is the way that the world is moving towards. AI is, you know, taking away some of that human element. But what do people want more than anything? You and me, a real live agent, a real live person to have a conversation with. Uh, Chat GPT can give you some advice, but not the same as let me hold your hand, let me really ask you about your family, ask you how you're doing, what's your emotional state? What can I do? And that is gonna become more important in the future.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

I mean, and and that's exactly what you're speaking into. Yeah. Do you care about me?

SPEAKER_00 28:36

Yeah, and and I 100% agree with all that because I was listening, I think I can't remember what podcast I was listening to. And the guy said that AI is great and it's gonna be able to like cut costs and certain things, but the thing that it's not gonna be able to do is actually make an emotional connection. Yes, people need logic and they need to know that it's the right thing, but they also need more importantly than knowing it's the right thing, they need to feel that it's the right thing. So it's gonna be really interesting to see where we go in this whole AI world because you can tell me all the things that you're gonna do for me. But I, if I don't feel like you're gonna do it for me, I'm not doing business with you, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Yeah, you know, it's interesting because I used to say that I was not a techie person, but over the last couple of years, I've had to learn how to become a techie person. And one thing that I realized about AI is it's only as good as the person programming it. And so I remember years ago, I went to do a uh craft my signature talk, right? I flew to Milwaukee, I paid$7,000 for the program. I was in a room full of amazing people and they said, come with a talk and we'll refine it, we'll craft it. I got on that airplane uh two days later with the same talk that I left with, but it cost me$7,000. And I thought, I don't know if this is the heart of what I'm doing. Is this the story I should be sharing? I have the structure, I have the framework, but I felt like I don't have the heart. And so recently I was on Chat GPT after I left my business partnership. And um I said, okay, I know that I'm a good coach, but you can't sell good coaching. What's the problem that I solve? And I really didn't know because people would always come to me, but I didn't know why they were coming to me. So I found somebody who could help me code, train Chat GPT to implement the structure and the system that I had from all of my training,$17,000 of training. And I actually programmed it to ask intuitive questions. I said, if this happens, ask this. And it one of the things that it asked me is, why is this important to you? So I was just spilling my guts to chat GPT. And then at the end of me programming this GPT, it said, you help people take the messy moments in their life and turn it into marketing gold. I was like, said you use powerful stories to really build connections with people. I'm like, yes, I do. It was right under my nose the whole time. I didn't need to spend$17,000 to figure it out, but I couldn't see it because I was in the weeds. I didn't really know how to communicate. And so uh when I created this, it's AI, but with heart, I feel. And I think if you can program a GPT or Gemini or Claude to really ask you those intuitive questions, yeah, it can be super beneficial, but it's never gonna replace, you know, even though I have this GPT that helps people create their signature talk in minutes instead of hours or a weekend. They still need my support to really get at what's the story though? Tell me what you have been through, which one connects it. Yeah, that will never go away. People AI is never gonna replace humans. Right. It's just gonna amplify what we can do with other humans.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Right. Yeah, it's interesting you say that. And so you mentioned something there, um, saying left your business partnership. So you were with a company based out of the UK, still with them? No. What's sort of the new, what's this new thing? What's this uh what's going on now?

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Yeah, so I mean, most people have probably already heard my story, but I spent um almost three years building out this company. And um, when all the systems and processes and everything was put in place, I showed up to a meeting one Monday morning and they basically said to me, you know, Tina, um you're the chokehold of our business. You're the reason why we're not hitting eight figures. We hit seven figures in seven months. Um, but they thought that I was the reason why they weren't hitting eight figures. They wanted me to keep doing what I was doing, but step down, remove myself from operations, and take a salaried position instead of shares of the company. Um, and at this point, I was taking home multi-five figures a month. And they wanted to give me less than five figures a month. And I said, or or what? And they said, Well, you can quit. Well, I had just got a separation. Well, actually, I was on in the process of getting a divorce, just bought a big ass house, driving a Cadillac Escalade, had a house manager. I mean, I was living this life, a dream life. And in that moment, I realized I actually can't grow in this environment. They're never gonna see me as who I actually am, and they're not gonna see what I've been doing behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

So I wished them well. And I said, if you really believe that you can do this without me, then I seriously hope that you have, you know, unlimited success. But I I'm gonna go do my own thing. And um, and so I did. I left and I did my own thing and started helping people craft a signature talk that basically sells without selling. I started doing events, in-person workshops, doing retreats, doing things that I love.

SPEAKER_04 34:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Um, and eight months later, that business that was multi-seven figures was$100,000 in the hole. And they asked me to come back to pull them out of the hole.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 34:21

Yeah. And so I ended up for a short time partnering with one of my business partners. The other two left that business. That business? Yeah, that business went under. And I said, You can't take the heart away from a business and expect it to thrive. You can't take the soul out of a business. Yeah. And I said, You got to burn it down and rebrand and start over. And so that's what my business partner and I did. Um, but then he had a heart attack a couple years later, and he said, I can't work this hard. I don't, I don't want to do this anymore. You're gonna have to basically do it, you know. And I thought, okay, here I am teaching funnels, automations, all this stuff that doesn't light me up. I'm a storyteller, I'm a people person. I believe building a personal brand is the one thing that you need. And the rest is just, you know, I'm like, I I can't do this anymore. He's like, What? I said, No, I am not, and I have not been aligned. I've been trying to rebuild something that I should have left two years ago. And um, I said so, and it's interesting, right? Because it's easy to see all these things as failures. And I felt like an imposter. And why do I keep changing and why do I keep letting things burn? But I realize when you live a life of possibility, if it's not an alignment, it actually feels really awful to stay in that place where you know you're not meant to be. And I'm never afraid of trying new things.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Yeah, and it's and it's interesting you just said that because this entire time that you're telling that story in the last couple minutes, I was like, she she lives this life life of possibility. She knows what her why is, she knows what lights her up. And I have, and I I hope this question doesn't come across, you know, too disrespectful, but like, what made you want to go back to the thing that you left to when you did the thing that lit you up, even though they asked you to come back, why go back in the first place?

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Ego.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

I I I feel that we there's ego and there's soul alignment. Ego is okay, this is my opportunity to prove, right? Because what they said is you're the chokehold of the business, and I wasn't you're the reason why. I'm gonna show you that I wasn't, and I'm gonna rebuild, and I'm gonna come in and I'm gonna save the day. That's all ego. And it took me that process to see that it was ego and not soul alignment because people ask me that all the time. And I couldn't explain why until I actually got real with myself. And the reality was my ego said, prove them wrong.

SPEAKER_04 37:11

Right.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

You know, and um and I I had this pattern showing up in my life too, you know. Um, when I was in seventh grade, my dad tried to take his own life. And when I came back to school, I heard a group of teachers saying, Oh, that poor girl, she doesn't have a chance. And I said, Oh no, I'll prove you wrong. And I think that's where my hustle and grind came from. I'm not gonna go to the factory. I'm not, I'm gonna do whatever it takes. I'm gonna work my way to the top. But every time I got to the top, it's like, but is this it?

SPEAKER_03 37:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Is this, but it wasn't that I was trying to get to the top. I was just trying to prove people wrong that no, I'm not that broken little girl. That, you know, I am, I am somebody, I'm meaningful, I'm I'm somebody that has purpose. But what I realized is that is really all ego trying to prove somebody wrong. And I realize I don't have to prove anybody wrong, not even myself. And I get to live a life that I feel joy, I feel excitement, I feel purpose. And it didn't, you know, when I'm creating events and there's not a lot of people that register that used to really bother me. Why don't I have 50 people in the room? I had rooms with 200 people speaking on stage with Marissa Peer and Dan Priestley and Harville Hendricks, and like what happened to me? No, that's you know, I feel my process is you're more than just those things. You don't need those things. Um, and that's been humbling, and it's been scary to let that go too of the ego. And now like, eh, I created a workshop next week. I'm like, I don't really, my heart's not in it. I canceled it. And normally interesting, that would be like, what? What do you mean you canceled it? And I felt like it was in alignment with what I really wanted. I felt like I was pushing, I was chasing people. People were coming in, but they didn't really want to be there. They just wanted to network. Like, no, what I'm creating is really valuable. And I want people in the room that see it as value.

SPEAKER_04 39:19

Right.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

And so I canceled it because I'm also clear about who I want to work with and who I don't. And if I'm feeling like that's not it, I don't worry about what people think. I worry more about not being aligned. And as soon as I made that choice, I went to a networking opportunity. I booked six enrollment calls. You reached out to me to be on this podcast, like literally yesterday. Uh, and opportunities opened, and that's what I saw.

SPEAKER_04 39:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

If you are doing something that you really truly don't want to do, you close the doors of what you're supposed to be receiving.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

Yeah, I 100% understand. I get that too, because there's and and whether you want to call it like faith or just uh coincidence or it's not, it's not faith. I mean, it could be faith, it's not coincidence. It doesn't just happen by accident, it happens because we as human beings are atoms, and atoms have vibrations, and vibrations pull things together when they're attracted. And so when you're like, okay, I am done with this thing, and I'm no longer going down this path, the other path is going to open up and you're gonna be like, wow, like everything's just going so well. And whether it's I'm making money or I'm meeting people or I'm booking calls, or it's because you chose not to go down the path that you weren't supposed to, and that allowed you to actually focus time and energy on the thing that you actually wanted, right? And we were having this conversation at our sales meeting this morning where when clients are or or prospects are like, well, this is what I want to do, and this is what I believe, and this is how I'm gonna run a financial plan, I'm like, great, you can do it. Just go do it with somebody else. Exactly. It doesn't fit me, it doesn't fit my alignment, it's not the thing that I think that you should do. And if I'm trying to convince you to do it for a paycheck or for another client or whatever, it's not going to work very well. We are always gonna be butting heads, we're always gonna be in a disagreement about what should and shouldn't happen. And it's not worth it. If you believe that, that's okay. Uh no hard feelings, you know, take the ego out of it. It's not me, it's not you. It's just that's what you want to do. Yeah. Right. And um, it's just not going to be done with me. And that's okay because I'm not for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 41:40

It takes courage to do that too, to know that it's okay to let people go. Because when we let people go, the people that are meant to come on our path and do business with us, they're already there waiting for us. But there's something that we need to learn that it's acceptable and it's okay because we're not just doing ourselves a service, we're doing them a service too, because they'll go find somebody else that's gonna be a better match, that's gonna feed their ego and tell them what they want to hear. And this is part of their process. And that's what I realized. We're all on a journey, we're all on a process. We can't speed up or manipulate somebody else's process. If they don't want to listen to the guidance, that's okay. Maybe they're not supposed to because there's another lesson that they need to learn, and it might be painful, but when we try and push ourselves on them, then what happens is we're delaying their process.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Yeah. Yeah. And when you say that, I think there's the saying of like, most people won't change until they actually hit rock bottom. What do you think separates people that realize I don't need to hit rock bottom to change as a coach? Like there's gotta be there's people out there that are like, I don't need to go through all of the weeds and you know, get to the lowest of lowest of low before I change and do something different. What do you think separates those two people? You think it is just ego? Is that the biggest thing?

SPEAKER_02 43:08

I think it's consciousness and self-love. And I know self-love sounds a little bit weird, right? You know, like woo, self-love. But really, when we love ourselves enough to notice where we're at and notice that okay, we're here. We're at rock. Well, maybe not complete. Everybody's rock bottom is different, right? Um, but to love yourself enough to say, I really don't need to stay here. I mean, this week was a heavy week for me. Not for any particular reason. It was just a comp um, I like say that things just stack on top of each other, you know? And um and when it was feeling really heavy, that's a sign for me that there's a misalignment. Now I know that my job is to figure out where in my life I am out of alignment, where am I not. Not being in integrity with myself, with what I want, what with what I say, with who I am for the world. And I go and talk to people. I know I'm at because I love myself enough to know that when I'm stopped, so is the world, so to speak. I mean, I do believe that. I believe that my purpose here is bigger than my upset, my breakdown. I love myself enough to know I'm going to give myself space to feel how I'm feeling. But then I'm also going to not make this about me, but make it about the impact that I want in the world and who I am for the world and the commitment that I am. If I'm staying low for too long, how many other people in the world are staying there too? You know, so I feel like it's my job to recognize when I'm in the low, to love myself enough to get out of it. And that's a practice. And that takes a high level of awareness and consciousness and a real sense of purpose.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

And this obviously isn't a this isn't a plug for landmark form or anything else, but like what what kind of um maybe tips or tricks would you give for people uh that might be listening to uh how they can have that consciousness, how they can get out of their ego and actually pay attention to themselves? Like what kind of things would you say? Uh and I don't I don't expect the answer to be go to the Latmark Forum uh or anything else, but like what kind of tips or tricks would you give people to help them find that path that's going to put them on the right trajectory?

SPEAKER_02 45:39

So there's three things that I do when I'm stuck in that state. One, I practice the pause, and I actually say two words, well, a phrase, pause, and then I say, What a pleasure. So when I'm low, when I'm like, this is a pleasure because I know I get to practice being the person that can pull myself out. This happens if I got rear-ended, like pause, what a pleasure. You know, because I get to practice being a certain way that is going to overcome that, right? I see that nothing is coincidental. Everything is happening for me, and I gotta trust that. Um, the other thing is I practice restriction. And what I mean by that is when we're feeling low, when we're feeling sad, when we're feeling the feels, what do we do? We go on our phones, we go to Netflix, we go to the bottle of wine or the drugs or whatever it is. I practice actually restricting and just being with my feelings. And it's not easy for me to be with my feelings sometimes. I don't like feeling strong emotions, but I know that when I just sit in the feeling, even if it's painful, even if it's physical pain, instead of going and rushing and getting a Tylenol, okay, what's this pain trying to tell me? Let me sit with it. So I practice restriction with alcohol, with a lot of things in my life. And I think the third thing is be mindful of what you're consuming. And that means social media, because if you're feeling disempowered, what you will do maybe is find a video that is disempowering. Then the algorithm will keep feeding you more and more and more of the same stuff that brings you down lower and lower and lower. And I feel that that's the job of the algorithm is to give you what you want. And sometimes we unconsciously want to stay in that disempowered state. Nobody wants to stay there, but we get something from it. So I always say, Well, what are we getting? When I was negative all week, what's the payoff? What am I getting from staying here? Oh, I get to feel significant, I get attention. I'm like, ugh, like I don't want this anymore, you know? I get to manipulate the situation. There's all these things that we do unconsciously. I just try and bring the conscious, the unconscious into my conscious mind.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

Yeah. Yeah, no, I love all three of those things. I mean, especially sitting with the feeling, right? Whether you're whether you're feeling upset or sad or hurt or just frustrated or irritated or whatever it is, right? Like sometimes you just really truly have to sit with them and be like, okay, like let me understand why am I feeling this way, right? What is it that's bothering me? Why is it bothering me? And how to move on. Yeah. Um, so I totally understand that. Throughout this entire sort of career from teacher to coach to now running your own business, being let go from a different business and going back and all that kind of stuff. What would you say would be like three, let's say three things where maybe not three, two or three things where maybe you you failed at something, but like what lesson did you learn outside of the the ego going back to something you didn't need to go to? Other than that, what do you think would be a couple other lessons that maybe you learned along this path that um somebody could learn from?

SPEAKER_02 49:06

One, I learned to trust the process. When you think that you're going backwards, it's actually not backwards at all. It's actually completely aligned with where you're supposed to be. And a lot of times those failures are opportunities to learn something and to grow. Setbacks sometimes are set ups for something bigger. And we don't know. I think you said it earlier, right? You don't connect the dots when you're going through it. But when you look back in hindsight, you're like, ah, okay, this is what I needed to learn. So I think that was one of my biggest lessons. Trust the process. And I think the other one, I am very spiritual, but I wasn't for a very long time. I was very skeptical of anything spirituality, anything woo-woo, you know, religion. I went to university. I wanted to learn about religion so that I can debunk, you know. Um, but I learned that there is something bigger than me at play here. And I have certainty that uh I can tap into an unlimited energy source. And I need to be okay with letting go of control, just like, okay, I'm gonna not do that workshop. What? What do you mean? No, you have to. This programming is you you have to, and people need you. And no, I'm gonna have certainty that if I'm feeling this way, it's okay. I'm supposed to feel it, I'm supposed to follow the guidance, and I don't know why, but I need to trust it. And I think part of that is trusting your internal voice. Uh, we are always looking to outsource everything. If we're having a problem, who can find who can fix this for me? Who can I go to that has a solution? Sometimes the solution is inside. You just got to sit long enough to really listen for what it is that you need. And then in that clarity, then yeah, if you need to outsource some help, fine. But we're too quick to try and get somebody else to solve our problems instead of just being in the problem and listening for a solution ourselves. So those are the three things that I learned that I'm still practicing. It's still a challenge to trust and have certainty that there's something bigger going on, especially when people aren't making a lot of money or like, okay, easy for you to say, you have money and you have this and that. It's like I've been in that situation where I didn't know how I was gonna pay my mortgage. And you know, when I left that business, I went from making$40,000 a month to nothing living in a overnight one million dollar house, single mom, no pension, no benefits, no retirement. You know what it's like to sit in that space? It's uncomfortable. But having certainty that, okay, God, source, creator, whoever work itself out. Yeah, okay, what's next? Where do I need to go? Who do I need to be? What do I need to do? That was the hardest thing for me to just throw my hands up and say, okay, let's just recenter, refocus, get grounded. And I I also realized, especially with social media and things that are happening, you can lose your YouTube, your email list, your Instagram, your Facebook like that. But nobody can ever take you away. You know, when you build a personal brand where people know, like, and trust you, and when you do the personal work to be able to navigate life, because life is going to happen to everybody, nobody can take that away from you. And that's why I believe in personal development and growth, because those skills that you learn for living are going to be necessary when life throws curveballs. And if life isn't throwing you curveballs, you're not playing a big enough game.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

I would agree.

SPEAKER_02 53:00

You're playing a safe game, you're sliding under the radar, but your purpose is probably bigger than the game you're playing.

SPEAKER_00 53:08

Yeah, and I've always heard or been told, um, like you're either growing or you're dying, right? There is no like stagnation. You might not have problems or challenges, and I would agree with you. If you don't have problems or challenges that you're trying to solve in your life, then you're definitely not playing a big enough game. There's more out there for you, but just wait, right? Whether whether you're trying to grow something or not, a problem is going to come up, right? And so, um, and I and I love that analogy. Uh, you know, sometimes the the the setback is a I don't know, setup for a comeback or whatever they say, right? Um, I always use the analogy of uh like video games, right? Like video games are really fun because you can and um Super Mario is always the one I use, but you know where you learn as you play the game. Yeah, I don't jump here, I don't go down this tube, I don't step on this thing, yeah, and you can, yeah, you die and then you come back and you get another chance at life. Uh, you know, as long as we're safe and you know, we are just the same. We can go down a path and we oh, that didn't work. Okay, reset. Okay, not make that mistake, let's keep going. And people who are farther down the path have just made more mistakes than us.

SPEAKER_01 54:26

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

Right? They've learned more, they've failed more, they've had bigger challenges, bigger problems to solve, and that's why they're farther down the path, right? And being able to take somebody like yourself who's gone down that path, can share some of those things that they have gone through so that maybe other people don't have to go through them. Um that's kind of really what this whole podcast is about, is just sharing all those things so that whether it's a sales or family or life or whatever, right? People can, you know what? Tina said that's going back to something like that's ego. Maybe I should just listen and just sit and maybe I won't go back to that thing because maybe that doesn't serve me anymore.

SPEAKER_03 55:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:10

Right. So it's really interesting. Uh uh, I love the story, it's fantastic. So um, we're running out of a little bit of time here. Um, what's next for you? Obviously, you got your own company and you're growing your own thing. What's sort of the next plan? Are you I'll say uh letting things just happen, or is there a goal in mind that you're trying to get to?

SPEAKER_02 55:29

Well, I'm writing a book of all my experiences and lessons, and you know, basically I like to say I'm I'm getting to nothing. And people are like, what do you mean by that? Like all of these facades and all these masks and all these ways of being that I had to be, like the hyperachiever and this and that. I I don't know what's completely next. I feel like I'm just in flow of life and looking for opportunities. I want to do a big storytelling circuit where I get people on stages sharing their stories. Uh I uh there's so many ideas that I have, but one thing that I know to be true is I don't want to be put in a box. I want to really follow that guidance and what my heart is saying. And I want to build connection with people in a different way. And I want other people to build connections with others too. So storytelling is a big part of that. Um and making a difference in the world. That's where I'm heading.

SPEAKER_00 56:30

Yeah, that's awesome. That's exciting. Yeah, I mean, there's so many different ways to make a difference, but yeah, I find, you know, helping people uncover what is truly important to them is a huge difference in the world.

SPEAKER_02 56:44

Oh, yeah. And don't be afraid of the messy moments. I was very ashamed of, you know, getting kicked out of the business, basically. Well, what are people gonna think of me and what are they gonna say? And how am I gonna look? And I realize now that it couldn't have happened any other way. It had to happen that way for me to see all these things that I've been seeing. So it's like I take that messy moment and I help others because there's a lot of people that are in those health relationships, business. They're stuck in it and they don't know how to get out. So now I say, listen, this is just a little blip. Life is a cycle.

SPEAKER_03 57:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 57:23

High, low, mess, turnaround, a new outcome, rinse, repeat, see it as a pattern and keep moving forward. That's it. It's just a pattern.

SPEAKER_00 57:32

I agree. I would 100% agree. Um, and so we always end the podcast asking our guest uh one question, which I didn't prepare you for. Um, and so to yourself, Tina, who's gone through teaching to health coach to potentially landmark to running a business to being kicked out of it to running her own thing, what does success mean to you?

SPEAKER_02 57:55

Success means to me being aligned with what you love and who you are. And if you can do that, if you can just wake up every day feeling like you are uh living your best life, that's success. And if you can have a calm nervous system in the process, that's success. If you can honor your truth, that is success.

SPEAKER_00 58:21

I love that. Yeah, being able to being able to do what you want to do, how you want to do it, you know, have that confidence to walk through life, you know, shoulders back, it it's it's a huge relief because then you actually love what you do.

SPEAKER_04 58:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:36

Um, and it's it's funny, and it's it's not funny you say that. It's interesting that you say that because um my business partner and I constantly are like, man, like sometimes we work just crazy long days, you know, 12, 13, 14 hour days, but it doesn't feel like work. And it doesn't feel like work because we're aligned with what we want and what we love doing and how we like helping people. Um, so it just never feels like work.

SPEAKER_02 58:58

That's perfect. That's success.

SPEAKER_00 59:00

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:02

Cool. Uh well, Tina, thank you very much for the time today. I really appreciate you sharing your story, uh, all the tidbits um that you've had over the years being a coach, helping others, implementing them in your own life. Um, I really appreciate you sharing your story today.

SPEAKER_02 59:17

Yeah, thanks, Sean. It's been really fun.

SPEAKER_00 59:19

Good. Yeah, I'm sure we'll connect more later. Yeah. Um, that's it for today, guys. Uh, that's another episode of Cracking the Success Vault here with Spectre Group. Uh, as always, you can find us on wherever you listen, whether it's YouTube, uh, Apple, Podcasts, Spotify, you name it, you know where to find us. Uh, until next time.