Mahara Wayman [00:00:14]:
Welcome to another episode of the art of badassery. I'm your host, Mahara Wayman, and today, get ready to meet an extraordinary guest who's rewriting the rules and embracing life's wild journey with unapologetic flare, hailing from the heart of rural Canada. She humorously calls our hometown hemorrhoid, but don't let the playful name fool you. She's been a rebel since day 1. She had her sights set on greatness long before Bill Gates became a household name, dreaming not just of wealth, but of being a powerhouse in her own right. Today, she's carving her path in the stunning yet wildfire-stricken, Okanogan Valley in British Columbia, Canada. She's not your typical business coach. She's the older hand and kick your ass business coach. Her business is, of course, called KSA. Hicks a mouse. So get ready for an episode brimming with insights, revelations, and unfiltered wisdom. Our guest is on a mission to revolutionize how new businesses conquer the world, and she is infusing this journey with a healthy dose a fun and audacity. So whether you're an entrepreneur, a dreamer, or simply seeking a new perspective, This episode invites you to embrace your inner badass. So guys tighten your seat belts as we dive into audacious dreams unconventional past, and the art of living authentically. Please welcome my guest, Tammy Johnston, to the art of badassery. Hello, Tammy.
Tammy Johnston [00:01:47]:
Hello
Mahara Wayman [00:01:49]:
So first of all, I wanna thank you for agreeing to being a guest on my show. We've only just recently met And from the minute we started talking, I started to laugh. And, folks, it's kinda funny because I I swore, and I said, oh my goodness. I apologize. swearing so much. And she's like, oh, no, baby. We are gonna get long. Like, we're gonna get long, like, a house on fire. But, let's go back to the beginning. I live in Alberta, Canada, and I'm chuckling a bit because that's actually where you grew up. Can you tell us a bit about growing up in in, as you georgefully referred to it as hemorrhoid town?
Tammy Johnston [00:02:28]:
I grew up in a very, very small town, not even in town, so I was out of town, ten miles out of town, so we were literally in the middle of nowhere in the seventies eighties growing up and homogeneous would be an understatement. We had being from rural Alberta, we had the 1 mandatory Chinese family that ran the restaurant and everybody else was pasty white redneck.
Mahara Wayman [00:02:58]:
And I'm laughing because I've actually been to this town. But I'm curious. How did, like, what are some of the key things that you took away from your upbringing?
Tammy Johnston [00:03:10]:
Well, there there is definitely a few definitely learned hard work and having to, figure things out and workarounds and stuff like that being being a strong genx. And like I said, living in the middle of nowhere where your closest neighbor was two miles away, you had you had to figure out a lot of things. You had to take care of yourself. Yeah. That was that was a big one.
Mahara Wayman [00:03:39]:
Well, I mean, that's a good thing to take away. That's definitely a re a positive. Were there any things that you walked away from going never again? That doesn't work for me.
Tammy Johnston [00:03:49]:
yeah, like living in a small town. like, never. I was I was always a city girl and I going I'm a city girl stuck in the middle of part of my French, but fuck nowhere. and absolutely hated it. I left 2 hours after I finished my last department's exam and rarely go back. Like, I will see my mom. she used to come visit me in Calgary and and that we talk and stuff quite regularly, but I have no desire to go back there. It just yeah. There was a place that I fit in. I never ever fit in there. I always felt like the odd duck because it was. It it was quite the experience growing up, and it made me a whole heck of a lot stronger. Definitely let me figure out a lot more of what I wanted which has served me well. And for all the difficulties and challenges and stuff that I went through, like I still have some good friends from back then and people that I I would bump into, or we keep in contact a bit through Facebook that I love dearly, but I hated it there. And I look back at that and I'm going, you know what? I'm actually really glad that I did because if I had liked it or gotten comfortable, I would not have accomplished anywhere near as much in my life as I have, and I'm not I'm nowhere near finished.
Mahara Wayman [00:05:21]:
Okay. I love that observation, but I am really curious because you now live in a much bigger city, obviously. Do you fit in now? And the reason I asked that is Is it that you fit in now? If the answer is yes, is it because it's so big nobody notices or that there's so many other people that you're just like everybody else? Does that make sense?
Tammy Johnston [00:05:43]:
It's it's more that it was an awful lot easier to find people that I share common interests with when you're in a larger center. there there's there's a there's a few pluses. Like, when I first moved into Edmonton for a little bit and then I was in Calgary for, like, 31 years before we just recently moved out to the Oak Noggin here is because there's so many people you're able to go through and find your tribe. Like, when you live in the middle of nowhere, like the internet didn't exist when I growing up, and there weren't cell phones that your your community was literally who you were geographically tied to. And while they have wonderful things, I could never really talk to very many of them because we just had such completely different interests where when I moved into Calgary, especially it's a I was able to find out all sorts of amazing people I could geek out with and they would we'd be talking about the same things. and their face would light up my face and it was absolutely wonderful. And the other thing that I like is because there were so many people and stuff, you actually have a lot more privacy, like the the gossip mill and the rumor mill from where it was first to grow up is absolutely ridiculous. They have nothing better to do with their time, except make up freaking stories about you. if if you ask depending on who you ask, I have like 40 kids from all the gossip that they've got going on back there.
Mahara Wayman [00:07:13]:
Awesome. Yeah. You know, it's it's so true, but I I think it's wonderful that you were able to find your tribe. And I do think that's part of -- part of feeling comfortable in ourselves is recognizing ourselves and other people. Right? So when you can see the geekness, as you mentioned, in someone else, you're like, hey. I'm free to be a geek because you're to be a geek. I love it. Let's geek out together. But let's talk about it a little bit. The, you said you had lots of challenges. along the way. Can you can you share, or 1 or 2 of them with us and how it's shaped you to be this kickass business coach today?
Tammy Johnston [00:07:48]:
Oh, there's definitely been a lot of challenges. Like I said, grow growing up and stuff like that. So, my last name my maiden name is Hawk. So I've heard every pig joke that there is, and, like, that's how that's that's how I that's how I grew up And because I would never force myself to try and fit in, I didn't fit in. Like I said, still had friends and stuff, but was I ever all that popular? No. I was a force to be reckoned with because if I put my mind to something, that was it. There is no way. I remember they put in a really stupid rule at my at my high school that students weren't supposed to sit on the back counters, well, students used to sit on the back counters all the time. There's no problem with it. And thought it was an incredibly stupid rule, and I wasn't going to follow it. So I stared down a teacher for 45 minutes because she wasn't going dismissed the class until I got off the counter. She gave in. I don't.
Mahara Wayman [00:08:51]:
Okay. You sat on the counter for 45 minutes giving your teacher the evil eye just To prove a point.
Tammy Johnston [00:08:57]:
To prove a point. Yes.
Mahara Wayman [00:09:00]:
What did student think after that?
Tammy Johnston [00:09:03]:
most of them had known me for, like, almost 12 years because a lot of the people I went to kindergarten with are the ones that I graduate, like, I mean, small school. Like the town population I grew up in was 300 people. Like, I mean tiny. So they knew me and they're going they were talking to teacher going, she doesn't get a bunch. And then I heard about it because I was I was very I was a good student. I was well behaved. Like, I didn't get in trouble or anything, but if I put my foot down and then I was being told by another teacher, that the conversation came up afterwards in the teacher's lounge, and the other teachers just told the teacher just don't pick fights with Tammy because you won't win because she only her foot down when she knows she's right. So that that stupid school role didn't last one day.
Mahara Wayman [00:09:59]:
I can just picture it. I can just picture it. And how has that helped you today in your in your business? This this understanding that you can put your foot down and set strong boundaries, for example.
Tammy Johnston [00:10:11]:
It it serves me in business. It serves me in in everything. I remember one time it served me, my last parent teacher association meeting. So I had been roped into being the treasurer for my daughter's school when she was in elementary school. And it was actually the last meeting before my daughter went on to the next school. and they were trying to get us to pass, emotion that I knew wasn't proper, the proper way of doing it. And the principal is trying, and everybody else is just kinda and I'm going, no, it is not gonna happen. These are the rules. This is it goes. We cannot do what you're asking us to do because that's a gate. Like, you're caught we could lose our charitable status. because this is how wasn't that we're trying to do everything wrong. We're trying to simplify things going forward, but I'm just going, no, it isn't gonna happen. Once again, principal back now because I'm going, I'm I know I know where I am right, and we are not budging on that. if you wanna try and bring it up after I'm gone, well, then there's nothing I can do about it, but you are not going to get me to do something that I will want to.
Mahara Wayman [00:11:26]:
So it's tied in so tightly to your values, obviously.
Tammy Johnston [00:11:28]:
Oh, exactly. I I put I put up with no crap. I have never tolerated bullies, and I have put those down as a kid, as a teenager, as a young adult, and now as a cranky ass manopausal white woman.
Mahara Wayman [00:11:48]:
I can join that parade. So but I'm curious. Has it it's beautiful to hear your story so strong, close to your values, your kick ass, you obviously have been badass from for a long time. Has there ever been an instant time in your life when you chose to back down for some reason?
Tammy Johnston [00:12:10]:
Back down, no, but there have been times where I wasn't as strong as I wanted to be and would try to fit in or try to please, as as anybody who's made it to my age of life, We've been through a relation. I've been happily married for for 26 years now, but we all we all hit our share of toads before we found the right ones. And when I look back at at those times and I'm just going, Oh, dear god. Why did I tolerate? Why did I do that stuff? Why did I work so hard to try to please and win somebody's love? that wasn't being worth it.
Mahara Wayman [00:12:59]:
What a great observation. So many of us have done that. And not just in romantic you know, in romantic lives. But in general, so much in our work life, I think women in general, we've grown up thinking that we need to be somebody, please someone else first. And that's the whole idea behind this podcast is learning that, hey. We can be selves and and be very successful and happy and loving being who we are. Right? We don't have to bend our bodies for for someone else. But it's so interesting that even a born and bred badass can feel the need to conform and the need to what's the word I'm looking for? Daim Pinar Light. Lightener, you know.
Tammy Johnston [00:13:44]:
Welcome to being human.
Mahara Wayman [00:13:46]:
it's it's I I'd say this all the time with my clients, you know, where spiritual beings have in a human existence, and it is okay. That's what we're here for. But I really like the fact that you can look back and recognize that there were times that you did it and question why. has there been anything recently because I do agree. When you hit your fifties, you've lit we've lived a lot. We've done we've made lots of, we've had lots of opportunities for growth. Let's put it that way. Has anything re you're laughing at that one? Have you had anything like that recently where you found yourself maybe almost fallen into the habit of
Tammy Johnston [00:14:26]:
Well, I like I said, I've been married for 26 years, and my husband is is is wonderful. We are very well matched, but I am living with another human being, and that is challenging, dear. And and and and I know I am not the easiest person to live with either and being among my my beautiful daughter is is 20 and she's wonderful but some days it'd be just so much easier to be just by myself. And we all go we all go through that. And like I said, we love them and it's it's it's it's it's learning to deal with the ebb and ebb and flow of of life and there's a lot of time where I always make the joke with it with my clients and stuff like that. I'm going, there's only two people in the world who are gonna have problems with, and they all involve blood. They either made you or you're sleeping with them. That's it. I'm going I've had more grief of with it it took me 9 years after I started my business for my mom to trust me enough to become a client of mine. And then it took another 5 years after that where she would actually freaking listen to me. Why? How can I possibly know anything even though I'd already be in the industry for well over a decade by that point? She changed my diapers. What could I possibly know about anything? And then I have my husband who I sleep with has seen me naked many times, has seen me push a baby out of my kazoo. And she gives me grief all the time and people go, How do you how do you do it, Tammy? We know you. You bite your tongue. Like, we could see you bite your tongue, and I'm going, because I don't really come with a control valve. It's on or off and I love him and I want there to be a relationship afterwards So we're just gonna shut up.
Mahara Wayman [00:16:21]:
Well, part of being a badass, knowing yourself really well, is knowing when to shut up. Right? But, hey, we've jumped right into your business, but I'd like to have a little bit give us a little bit of background how you came to open up this business.
Tammy Johnston [00:16:36]:
Well, how I start so as I my my background is financial services. So I've been in financial services now for Oh dear god. I'm getting old. 31 years.
Mahara Wayman [00:16:48]:
31
Tammy Johnston [00:16:48]:
years. I I really have a hard time writing my head around that because I'm going I don't know how I got this old, but I did. And, I started out on the admin side, and I and I worked for a few different companies, and I kept, getting raises and moving around and learning more skills and stuff. And I had so many people tell me, Tammy, you'd be so good at this. Like, you need to go into sales. Like, you need to get your licenses and all this. So I started collecting all my licenses and that. And my last job, I hated it. Not that I hated the job, but I absolutely freaking hated where I was. Like, it was all I could do to drag myself into work at the end and not throw my idiot boss through a plate glass window. And I had already started looking for other jobs and I was interviewing because I had a very I've had a very good reputation. I knew my stuff, and I got called into my boss's office, and I was being fired. and I was literally sitting there and all of a sudden this wonderful warm feeling washed over me and it felt like this great big crushing weight was being lifted from my shoulders, and in that moment, I thought I never have to work for another creepy and competent old man again. I'm finally going to do it. I'm going to start my business and go into sales, and I just got this great big grin on my end. He was expecting me to be all shit and stuff like this. I'm like, I am free. And left and I'm going, that's the moment. The and it was actually one of the best things ever because if he hadn't I would have been in another job in a week, and I would have been making more money with another job. And I would have ended up paying anything out again too because I've been through almost 10 years of creepy and competent old men, and I was sick and tired of it. And seeing the stuff that was crossing my desk and how wrong it was and the different things that I'm going are they getting away? Because people have no idea what in the world it is. And I'm starting to get ideas on how would I start changing things and and and making it better. and that's why I started my business. And then I had to go home and tell my husband who is, absolutely wonderful and supportive but he is a very very different personality than me. He is he is like a dream employee. I'd tell him that I had been fired and I was starting my own business, and then to make things even more interesting, about 2 months after that, I got pregnant, and I don't like pregnancy. My hat's off to any woman who repeats that process. There's about 1800 reasons I have one child, and pregnancy only makes up about a 150 of those. Okay.
Mahara Wayman [00:19:34]:
So first off, thank you for sharing that story. And I think it's great that you were able to so quickly recognize this op this as an opportunity. And interestingly enough, the exact same thing happened to me. When I was let go up to about two and a half years ago, I was invited to leave I did a happy dance. I didn't even let the HR person finish. I'm like, I get to go. I'm done. Seriously?
Tammy Johnston [00:19:57]:
Yes. And you're paid?
Mahara Wayman [00:19:58]:
Like, now? Oh, okay. I gotta wait for the rest of the the talk. Okay. Yeah. You can you can finish.
Tammy Johnston [00:20:03]:
It was the mid it was
Mahara Wayman [00:20:04]:
in the midst of COVID and, you know, lots of changes And I took that as a sign. It's time to do my own thing. So I love that you did that as well. But for the people that are listening, Do you have any advice for when it happens to them yet they don't think this is a great thing? You and I were both ready for it. But what about the person that isn't ready for it and is a bit blindsided? Do you have any any thoughts or advice on how to sort of change your mindset to be more caring
Tammy Johnston [00:20:35]:
and find someone like you or me. Okay. Breathe and find the cup.
Mahara Wayman [00:20:38]:
--
Tammy Johnston [00:20:38]:
like you or me. Everybody needs to have a couple of badass for it. So most of the time, they come with women. Women are way more badass than men. men like to think that they're bad asses, no, they're not. Bad ass man is like 1 out of a 1,000,000. Bad ass women, we are everywhere because we have to be bad ass just to survive. So if you don't have somebody that's a badass, you know, you need to, like, you need to be meeting some new people.
Mahara Wayman [00:21:04]:
Okay. I love that. And I think it's a really, you know, all joking aside. I think that's a really interesting observation that when we think of bad ass, women, you know, they're very powerful. And to your point, it's because we've have to be. You know, we this is a patriarchal world that we live in right now in this time. and we've had to be this way. And it's okay because this way is a great way to be. But, good call load. If you're not feeling the love when you are invited to embrace a challenge, breathe, and phone up your badass friend, and and have a great conversation with him. I love or, of course, a badass coach. okay. So you started your business 2 months later, you got pregnant. Only -- did the business go on hold, or did you just
Tammy Johnston [00:21:46]:
Oh, no, dear. I took 30 hours of mat leave. 30 hours. I worked up until noon the day I had her pushed her at 5:34 in the afternoon. I missed teaching one class because that's literally the day I gave birth. She was seeing clients with me before she was two days old. we taught the class when she was a week old, and she did her first trade show with me when she was two weeks old. And one of the things that made it easier for me to start my business is my husband and I had already been talking about, like, I was I was I was 20 not, like, I'm getting a little bit up there and we're going, well, are we really ready? No. But do I wanna be having a baby at 40? Nope. So and I'm going, I don't wanna be getting my child up at 5:30 in the morning, so I can drop her off at daycare for 6:30 so that I can miss absolutely everything and go to a job and work for an incompetent old man that I can't freaking stand. And then come back, pick her up, maybe see her conscious for half an hour before we go to bed and we start this crappy process all over again, where if I start my own business, I can work around, and that's what I did. I worked I worked it. Like, I had clients that went through my pregnancy with me and I'd show up. I'd have my purse, my my diaper bag, and my my my laptop, and all that in in a baby care and I'd figure it all out. We get in. And like, oh, can we hold the baby? Oh, here you go.
Mahara Wayman [00:23:09]:
You can hold her. You can feed her. You can change.
Tammy Johnston [00:23:12]:
Well, they couldn't feed her. I was there. That's kind of what it was attached to me. And we would go through and do all of that. And then when she started to get a little bit older, like up to 6 months was actually pretty easy because you put a baby down and that age and they don't move. When when they get to the 6 months and, like, babies, babies that are crawling can, like, out move an like, we're seeing bolts got nothing on a six foot old baby that can crawl. And so what I would do because my husband was was still employed with his job, and he worked a lot of night shifts and stuff. So I had a a a wonderful part that I was working with. And so what we would do, we we targeted all of our marketing in around her community so that we didn't have to go very far. So I would go to her place, feed feed my daughter, change your diaper, pass her off to the hus her husband for a little bit, Jen and I, we would go out to our appointments. I had an hour a half to 2 hours tops, have to get that appointment done, get back, Feed her again, change the diaper, do it, go up for the next appointment then come back, pick her up, and go through. We figured all of this stuff out. I had to figure out how can I get stuff done? Like the paperwork and the phone calls and stuff they have to do during the day while we're so we would figure all this stuff out. My daughter learned how to answer the door and play mommy's assistant when she was a toddler and everybody thought she was the most adorable work life around it. Work life around it.
Mahara Wayman [00:24:47]:
Great advice. And you know what I think is so important? And I love the story, and I love the visual. I've got 2 girls as well. they're all grown up now and I've just started my business, but it sounds like you gave yourself permission to think differently and make it work. Whatever that looked like. And it's such an important component to feeling authentic and feeling badass is recognizing that we always have a choice. Right? Choice. great story about teaching your toddler to answer the door and be, you know, be like the face of mommy's business.
Tammy Johnston [00:25:19]:
Oh, it was it was wonderful. And one of the many reasons why I do what I do now, so I still have my financial planning business, but I am focusing on the small business coaching and stuff is like when I started my business, I'm all for learning, like, books and all this stuff, and I came across this great business coaching program. And we would go and it was all great stuff, but one of the things that drove me nuts, it was all focused for men. All of the business stuff is all focused for men. and we're going because one of the things they talk about is what? A production day? What date? Like, 24 hours or a full 8 hours where you can focus on money making activities, and I'm going, I'm still fucking nursing. I don't have 8 hours. You know what? I have 90 minutes. in between these things, and I've gotta get this stuff working. And even, like, I did have a stay at home husband for a while, but not like, I nursed my daughter until she was eighteen months old. She wouldn't even take a bottle until she was a year old. Like, if she didn't get it direct, you give my daughter a bottle. She would projectile vomit on you. So I'm going, I have to work around all of these. I I have a husband. I do not have a wife. I'm the one that has to get dinner going. If a daughter is sick, I have to look after it, and I've got, like, not dissing my husband off. He's a great husband. He's a husband. He is not a wife where men get they don't have to worry about any of that stuff. And so they're getting great advice because they have wives. And I'm going, this drives me absolutely insane. This does not work in the real world for women and especially now for a lot of men because there's a lot more dads, which is wonderful that are way more involved in their families and and looking after this stuff. I'm going, if this is what the business coaching is, that is not real life. That is for your your your upper level executives that have everything looked after her home and have a huge gigantic budget and a small army of people to delegate to. Why don't we come up with that's going to help and support people living in the real breaking world
Mahara Wayman [00:27:35]:
Okay. Mind blown. I absolutely love what you're saying. What's one of the first things that you do differently? in your business for that reason. 1
Tammy Johnston [00:27:46]:
of the first thing, how you how you do your planning and how you do your scheduling and how do you deal with the day because there's so many people. Well, if I don't have my no. No. No. No. How do you I can get more done in a day than most people get done in a week.
Mahara Wayman [00:28:03]:
Now is that because you're in flow, or you're giving your --
Tammy Johnston [00:28:07]:
It's learning how to get into flow and learning how to do things and a really hard lesson for a lot of women because we are always taught to be accommodating and that while you people are. I'm not. I've always been a bitch, and I'm okay with that, but learning to say no and carving things out. So for example, I am not a morning person because and and it had to be there. I, like I said, wasn't a big fan of pregnancy, and I know women had a way worse than me, but my daughter fed more in the middle of the night than she did during the day. I like, if I go back and think about it, I don't even know how she should buy it. My daughter didn't sleep through the night till she was five years old. but she would sleep a little bit better in the morning. So I'm, hey, I do not people before 1 o'clock in the afternoon normally. No people. No people. You want a breakfast meeting? You need to go talk to somebody who's conscious because it isn't going to be me. I don't people on Mondays. That's when I do my coaching and stuff, but when it was just my financial planning and small business coaching and stuff was a part of that, my clients were trained. I don't like unless it's on fire, we don't talk on Mondays because Monday is my day to get my stuff done, paperwork, all of this, I don't book appointments. And if people would like send me we know it's Monday. We're sorry. Like, we're not expecting an answer. Just making sure. Great. So trained. And because I would see a lot of clients in the evening and my husband worked a lot of evenings and stuff like that and going, okay. So I have my days where I do appointments. And if I put into something in the calendar for me and my daughter, I'm not giving it up for somebody else, and that's a big one for women. They'll go, okay. I put this time in my calendar because I'm gonna work on this or I'm gonna go to the gym or whatever, but somebody says, well, could we meet on Wednesday? Yep. Of course we can. No. Oh, no. No is a full and complete sentence.
Mahara Wayman [00:30:05]:
So many t shirts slogans have come out of this conversation so far I want a t shirt that says I don't people on Monday. I absolutely love that saying, but what I'm hearing though, Tammy, all joking aside, is you've become very clear or have always been very clear on your boundaries, what works for you, what doesn't, what you're willing to bend on, what you're not willing to bend on. And you've translated you've translated that into a business to help other women or men. I'm not sure. Everyone. recognize that you don't have to fit a mold. It is okay to have boundaries in business. It's okay to be fluctuates to fluctuate and to be creative in your problem solving. In fact, I actually think it's necessary.
Tammy Johnston [00:30:50]:
You have to be. This is why women are so much more successful in business, but they don't realize it because all the publicity goes to the men. I'm going, I would take a mom any day. Why? Because they know how to handle chaos. Like, they're they can keep everything going and stuff like and they have skills that they have no idea that they know. And for me, like, I've been running my business for over 21 years now. I've got some experience. It's taken a bit to figure things out and some of it was I had to figure out what rhythms and stuff worked for me and here's that when I don't want I was pregnant it was one thing. when my daughter was, like I said, up to 6 months, that was one way of doing things, and then 6 months and stuff. And then when she started school, and now my daughter's in university in stuff. I've gone through the different stages and we work through that so that when somebody is just starting out and they've gotten little kids and stuff, I'm going, you cannot compare how I run my business to how you run yours because I've been through that stage. You're in it now. and your family has different demands. And if you're expecting to be able to pull off the same amount of work in a day that I can. You are setting yourself up for failure because you're in a different stage.
Mahara Wayman [00:32:08]:
Yeah. Huge, huge learning for for new entrepreneurs, I'm sure. So Your KSA business, how long have you had that? Is that 21, 22 years?
Tammy Johnston [00:32:18]:
Well, I'm so I split my business 2 in 2019 just before COVID, I'll hit and created KSA business, which just focuses on the small business, teaching, coaching, and consulting. And then I've got my other company, the financial guys. I've been doing the small business coaching and consulting under that banner for, like, 20 years because well, how people go, how did you get into that? Well, because I started working with so many self employed small business owners because my clients get financially naked with me. Like, they show me everything. Like, I know them better than their doctors do. And I would start asking questions. And one of the things I thought they need help. They needed help with their business. They were technicians. They knew their product or service that they didn't know about financials or advisory team or marketing or systems or hiring or firing or any of this and I'm going, they need help with their business. And well, that was a large part of what I was doing when I was an employee helping with that. And I've been studying money business and success since I was seven years old. Like, I'm a geek, and I'm going, okay. Well, if I help you with this stuff, Number 1, it's fun for me. And number 2, I have a greedy motivated self interest to see your business succeed because broke people can't afford investments or insurance, and that's the shit I make money on. and they would find, like, I'd help them with their business and help them with all the other stuff. And then they, like, you need to talk to all these other people and it just got going. And then about 19 years ago, I said, you know what? I'm putting too much effort into doing this one on 1. So I actually created my 1st small business course, and k. I put them in the course. We get through it a lot faster, gets them thinking and working together, and then it gives me more help them with, and Here
Mahara Wayman [00:34:05]:
we are now. Rest of history. There is magic. Actually, I I offer a group coaching as well, and I've seen it firsthand for years. the magic in group. There's magic in community and definitely magic in group coaching. And I can certainly see that in a business arena, especially when there's some there's some, technical things. Like, there's just some hard stuff you need to know. This is how you file your taxes, for example. And then there's some And this is how we feel about filing our taxes, right, different conversations, but some somehow I can see that there would be a lot. It would be more fun to experience that in a group work could be. you know, good stuff. Good stuff. So any any interesting stories of big winds that you've had along the way or that your clients have had with you that you'd like to share.
Tammy Johnston [00:34:54]:
Oh, man. There there is so many. Like, one of I've worked with so many businesses over the years, but one of the things that I really, really love seeing is working with parents in particular because a lot of people think that they have a personal life and they have a business life. No, you have one life. and they are absolutely intertwined. And when you start to work on 1 and things, like, there's a lot of stuff that, okay. Here's here's Sales skills. Sales is everything. You try to get your kids to do something. That's sales. So when you you teach them that stuff and like how how do you how do you make a sale and then okay, how can you get your kids to get out of bed on time so you can get them. What do you have to do? Okay. How do you organize your business? So this stuff, how do you organize your house so that your kids it's it's not chaos that everybody's screaming and yelling and crying in the morning and stuff. And and and how it all builds. I've had people start businesses from they've been they've been laid off and they don't know what in the world they're going to do when we figure out and grow, and now they're fully supporting their families. And I've seen I've had clients create incredible businesses that are becoming extremely well known. I've had people that, you know what? They've tried it and it really wasn't for them, but they still learned stuff, but now they're using it in their families and in their jobs. It's just One one of the biggest challenges I have to learn for myself because I'm I'm I get so involved with people and I want them to succeed at stuff is I'm driving the bus. People are going to get on and people are going to get off. And some people will get off and they'll get back on again. it is not my job to obsess or focus or or try any of that stuff. My job is to do the best job driving the freaking bus.
Mahara Wayman [00:36:53]:
How do you stop yourself from getting caught up in that other that other side of it, though? Because You know, I'm a coach, and I know, you know, you do. You have your heart strings are pulled or you're just so invested. that it can be difficult to step back and either say goodbye. Good luck. but what do you do if anything to to sort of rein yourself in What do you say to
Tammy Johnston [00:37:15]:
yourself? Not my circus, not my fucking monkeys.
Mahara Wayman [00:37:21]:
I had a feeling that it was gonna end. Yeah.
Tammy Johnston [00:37:25]:
It's still it's still hard. And and and when and when it starts going with me, it's, like, literally not my circus. Fucking monkeys.
Mahara Wayman [00:37:34]:
Yeah. Good. My my father who's no longer with us. He gave me some great advice, and it pops up, comes into my life all the time. which is bless them and release them. And when I was young, I had the quibilty meant This is a little girl, and he's like sweetheart. When people piss you off, just bless them and release them. And I'm like, what? I wanna flip them the bird. I wanna cut their hair when they're sleeping. You know, I wanna I wanna do stuff. Like, I wanna be mean and bad, but bless them and release them. But to your point, as coaches as business adviser. I'm not a business adviser, but as a coach, yes, we do often sometimes get really entangled in our clients. dreams and goals because we're helping them, but it is important that we step back and and let our clients, you know, flyer or not.
Tammy Johnston [00:38:22]:
And and and I found it's easier when you could be mad at them rather than, like, when you're just when we're disappointed with them. and I I keep reminding myself when I'm going, not my circus, not my monkeys, that this is part of my lesson, and part of my journey is The harder you grasp on things, the more they're going to avoid you. I remind myself, was in Calgary for forever, and Calgary has an incredible zoo. And one of the things is they have the the I'm having a brain fart right now, but an indoor area, and they have a room with the butterflies. And one of the great things about being self employed when my daughter was little is we had a zoo membership for many, many years, and we would go we typically go first thing in the morning be gone before noon when all the everybody else showed up, but we would go to the butterfly room and I wear very bright colors and stuff like that and teaching my daughter that if you want the butterflies, you have to sit quietly and you're you're you have to be calm and then they will come and I got covered one time, and my daughter was starting to where the people that are coming, the little ones that are too young to are grasping, and they can't catch anything. And I'm going, that's a lesson for me for business and for life. Like, sometimes we just have to and because I am such a a a driven person and and goal oriented and stuff. That's a really hard thing for me. And I go, one of my lessons Like, when they're ready, they will come. I don't I cannot live everybody else's life. I can only live mine.
Mahara Wayman [00:40:08]:
That's a beautiful lesson. And I got the visual. Thank you. You painted a beautiful picture there. And, it's I'm kind of chuckling because it's very similar to something that I had happened in my life when I was little. In fact, I've written a story about it where my mom this is what really happened when I was very little. My mom said, We were by a pond, a stream, actually. And she said, if I was very quiet and just rub took my finger and rubbed the top of the moss covered stone very gently, the fairies would come out and play. And that is the basis of a children's story that I've written. And I got the same kind of shivers when you were describing story, but it is a beautiful reminder that part of being authentic and being badass. is really to trusting ourselves. And sometimes that requires us to slow down. And by the way, that message that you just said was actually meant for me. People because all of you out there listening, you know, you may take have thought that's for you, but it was actually meant for me. 1st and foremost, because I really needed to hear that. Sometimes we want things so badly that we do everything right, and it still doesn't come in the time that we've decided. And what I am learning is that the universe has the universe has a timetable and it actually knows better than I do. And so when I can feel very annoyed that things aren't going the way I planned, It's a reminder that I'm not the boss. If there's more than just me, I can only do my best. And sometimes, to your point, just being still and deep breath, knowing that everything's gonna be okay, knowing that the butterflies are gonna come is when the butterflies actually do and that beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.
Tammy Johnston [00:42:00]:
You're welcome.
Mahara Wayman [00:42:01]:
Oh my goodness. Okay. So, I have another question for you because this you answered this in my my intake form. so guys, I send a form out to everybody to just so they can fill that out, give me some information, some background on them. And one of the things I ask is what is there anything specific you'd like to talk about? and Tammy wrote, well, I just wanna have a great conversation, meet you, get to know you better, share my badassery with more people. so I can fulfill my positive shit disturber mission. So can you talk about that, please?
Tammy Johnston [00:42:40]:
For if I call you a positive shit server, that's probably the greatest compliment I can pay you. a positive shit distributor for me is somebody that sees the status quo or things that are going on and it bothers them and they go about to do something about it to fix it. It doesn't have to be, like, so many people think everything has to be on such a grand scale. No, it doesn't. Like it can be, very small scale. Like we've I'm sure we've all heard the story about the person that's walking along the ocean and they see all the starfish that are washed up and and typically they'll just die and dehydrate and stuff as the tide goes out and there's an old gentleman flinging them back in to the ocean. And there's, like, literally, they're everywhere. And so we go, why are you doing this? Like, you didn't you're not gonna change the world. Like, what difference is it gonna make? you picks up a starfish and throws back. He says, makes a difference for that one. And I'm going, if everybody picked up their starfish, and threw it back. Imagine what we would do, like, I love seeing, like, really, really cool people. Like, Social media is full of wonderful stuff and absolute garbage. Try to focus on the good stuff. and somebody that I I I think quite highly of, Joyce Swool. Have you ever heard of him? He's a great big, like, gigantic body builder. Like, remember, Arnie Arnold Schwarzenegger, like, in his massive Like, Bill, like, the and his is all about be a better person at the gym because there's a lot of the big thing people will take, like, shaming videos of post for likes and and like he calls it out and we need to have it being welcoming and inviting and he's he's funny enough. He is a positive shit disturber. People that are standing up against racism and transphobia, misogyny, and all of this stuff whether it be on a big scale or a small scale, those are positive shit disturvers. People that are doing things to improve the environment and stuff are pick ass firefighters that have been busting their ass out here, like, oh, positive shit disturbers. like, yes, there's a lot of garbage going on in the world, but it's being done by a small fraction of people and We can stop this. We can stand up against it, but it's like standing in your power, whatever small thing it is.
Mahara Wayman [00:45:19]:
So powerful. Standing in your power. I love that. I'm assuming that you well, I'm not assuming. I know this. guys, listening, I've got lots of ways that you can connect with this with Tammy. So look for the show notes. and could reach out to her, find out more about her business, and what it is that she does in the world. And I'm gonna challenge everyone that's listening. What can you do today to join the positive shit disturber club? Because to Tammy's point, Every it's just the small things. It's the same hello to a stranger. It's the buying somebody coffee behind you. in line at your favorite coffee shop. It's the speaking up when you see something on social media or in your world that doesn't sit right in your gut. All of that is positive action. And all of that matters. Right? I say this a lot on my podcast, but guys, you matter and your opinions matter. And don't be afraid to speak them. Obviously, my guest today is not afraid to speak her opinion. I have loved every second of our conversation, and I suspect there's so much more that we could talk about your number one goal for the last quarter of the year, Tammy Johnson?
Tammy Johnston [00:46:41]:
Number 1 one goal getting my marketing systems all put together. One of the biggest challenges that I've I've had is I'm I'm old school. I learn marketing face to face and all this stuff, and I am still learning all this social media stuff. And I am meeting wonderful people all around the world. I have clients all around the world. I am still working on figuring out this social media stuff.
Mahara Wayman [00:47:06]:
Well, you will get that, I'm sure, because you have you know, you've put your mind to so much over your lifetime, and you have accomplished everything that you've put your mind to. Love your story. Is there any last minute things that you'd like to share with us before we wrap this up?
Tammy Johnston [00:47:24]:
You can do it. If you put in the work and give it the time overnight successes take 20 years be the tortoise, not the hare
Mahara Wayman [00:47:35]:
Alrighty. You heard it first here. everyone, thank you so much for joining. Thus, this has been another episode of the art of badassery. and look for the show notes. Connect with Tammy. Your life will never be the same. I'm telling you that. Have a great day.
