Special Guest Expert - Trish Tonaj.mp4: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Trish Tonaj.mp4: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
How many times have you said to yourself, I'm going to succeed? And yet you keep coming up short. You probably noticed that high achievers with heart. Do things differently, but you just can't put your finger on it. You're curious about why. High achievers accomplish more and have more satisfying relationships. It's because success is the result of your mindset and the consistent actions you take. This show is designed with your success in mind. By revealing these powerful patterns of our dynamic individuals and guest experts, you can model what they do and apply to your future success. Now let's roll up our sleeves and get started. My name is Brigitta Hoeferle and this is the success Patterns show. And you are at the right place at the right time. Happy Tuesday everyone! It is time for the Success Pattern show and as you can tell today I am not in my studio. Actually, I am on vacation so my sleeves are already rolled up because it's beautiful outside it is warm and when we are done with this show, I'm actually going to go to the pool with my family. So here we go. Let's roll up our sleeves. As I said earlier, because we're going to talk about success patterns. And success patterns are way more valuable than ideas. Let me explain to you. Ideas, while they're very powerful, require trial and error and a lot of time to put into action. Just think about manufacturing. First you have this idea, then you go into a proof of concept, then a working prototype, then small production batches, and finally maybe a full scale production. This takes months, maybe even years if it even happens because you have maybe met some people that are great collectors of ideas, but they do little else. Forget everything you have heard about ideas because you're not looking for ideas. You're looking for success patterns and that's why you're at the right place at the right time. Success patterns are different. Success patterns are better. Why? Well, they have they're proven. Have a logical sequence of steps to follow, have an action imperative and deliver consistent results. And in today's success pattern show, you're going to learn valuable success patterns from an expert that is an award winning marketing consultant and also an artist.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
So her name is Trish Tonai. She is an award winning marketing consultant, an author, a founder. We're going to hear later on more about, share her stories, or share your stories online. And she transitioned passion from pen to paintbrush, creating abstract and whimsical art with a unique outdoor canvas technique. So take your art outside. She offers workshops, and her work is in naturally inviting others to explore their creativity through color Outside the Lines workshops. I love that because I'm a montessori educator, as most of you know, and all about coloring outside the lines, because how fun is it to color inside the line? So I have her here with me. We have Trish, Tony all the way up from Canada. Tricia, thank you for being on the Success Pattern show.

Trish Tonaj:
Oh, I'm so thrilled that I have an opportunity to share my story and to connect with your community. So thank you so much.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah. Thanks for being here. Because, you know, you have a tagline I don't. I'm just going to call it that. You never know who's reading your story. I'm going to add seeing your art and being inspired. Who inspires you? Well, you know, inspired by.

Trish Tonaj:
I have to say that I've had an inspirational role model. So someone I never met, but I've had an opportunity to observe from afar. So I've read books and articles and watched movies on this person. And to me, she was a major influence not only on women's fashion, but on the idea of starting and owning a business and creating a brand that has stood the test of time and that is Coco Chanel. So she, for me, is the embodiment of female entrepreneurship. You know, when you think back to when she started her business, I mean, there were no female entrepreneurs. She was a complete maverick and someone who, at 70 years of age, kickstarted her brand again and ended up getting global recognition at a time when we didn't have these wonderful platforms where we could share stories so, you know, you just think she's in Europe. Here we are in North America. And how did she sort of get across the ocean so that we knew who she was. And it was traditional media, right? Newspaper, magazine, radio, that really was it. And I've really feel that she's not only an innovator and a magical human being, but I think her success was based on what I call the three D's drive, determination and discipline.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Oh, hello. If anyone is taking notes, write that down right now because that we can end right here. But this is the beginning. This is the mere beginning. I love that you brought up Coco Chanel, because there's just from a marketing point of view.

Trish Tonaj:
Um.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
There's so much to learn from her and the tenacity that you're right. She must have had, um, in the time that she became successful, in the time that she was able to cross borders over, you know, over the Atlantic Ocean. And she has really trailblazed the to this day with her looks. I'm a big fan. I've always loved you. And Coco Chanel was, you know, that was that was one of her iconic styles in marketing. And you are a marketing specialist. What are some of the you know, you just mentioned the three D's. What other lessons do you take out of Coco Chanel and the fashion industry?

Trish Tonaj:
You know what? She was the person who actually developed an identifiable brand, right? Those Double C's, everybody sees the Double C's and they know that it's Coco Chanel, whether you're in fashion or not, in fashion, they're so highly recognizable. They've been she took the whole idea of taking what you and I would classify as, you know, jewelry that maybe is unattainable for the average working person. And she created fashion jewelry, things that were were highly accessible in a market where there was a very traditional class system. So she really gave, you know, the average working person an opportunity to to look pretty and feel wonderful. And, and she did that by building such an amazing brand. And look at Chanel number five. I mean, that that perfume I think is still one of the the world's best sellers. So all of those things she actually did, clearly because she had a vision.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah.

Trish Tonaj:
And believed in herself. Right.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
A vision believed in herself and it outlasted her and it outlasted wasn't wasn't Karl Lagerfeld one of the one of the designers and and and cheerleaders of Chanel and carried on the torch and he's in the meantime passed as well. That's right. And it and it still goes on.

Trish Tonaj:
That's right. Yeah. Now there's, you know, someone new at the helm, Vivienne. There's a woman, I think a woman, for the very first time since Chanel passed, is now at the helm of the house, which is really quite a feat when you think about it. Right? Yeah. Because now things have come full circle. And, you know, I had I was on a holiday once in Paris and I went to her, you know, the first atelier that she had on rue Cambon. And I talked my way in past a security guard to that wonderful mirrored staircase, you know, the mirrored staircase and I had my photo taken on it. And I tell you, I have that photo in my bathroom, and I have it in my bedroom and I have it on my phone. It's like it was just such an iconic moment for me as a human being, because I've been watching and and using her as a role model for so many years that it was just such a special moment for me to be able to capture myself in her surroundings. So it was really quite magical for me.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
I, I love that we're talking about Coco Chanel and so. Now that we learned that you look up to Coco Chanel, and I think many people do and yes, love Chanel number five and Coco Chanel, the the the fragrance, the perfume. Um, who are you in your own right? Who is Trish tonight? And and and what is it that you model for others?

Trish Tonaj:
You know, I have to say. So there's two sort of visions. I've recently traded a pen for a paintbrush, so I've been a marketing consultant and expert for 30 years. Actually, I've recently celebrated 30 years as an entrepreneur, so I've kind of branched out into two separate areas as an artist and an author. I have one direction which sort of feeds my creativity, and then in another direction I started Share Your Stories Online, which is a marketing platform where we feature entrepreneurs and enterprise leaders who are passionate about their business and believe in mentorship and breaking barriers to success. So I actually have those two avenues that gives me an opportunity to one feeds my business side and the other feeds my creative side. So it's pretty fun. You know, it's my payback to the entrepreneurial community. I don't know about you, Birgitta, but I remember the days when I started my first business and I was in the trenches with a great idea, and I had a journal and an all streets map, because there weren't any computers even way back then. And there were very few women in business. Right? I mean, it was highly unusual to have a woman sort of out there trailblazing and starting something. I had my marketing communications company did employee and customer recognition programs, and I started that from ground zero after leaving, you know, a corporate career where I was part of the C-suite team. I was a national buyer for a department store here in Canada that was coast to coast. I was the youngest buyer at the time. I transitioned to working for DeBeers, the diamond mining company, and helping other entrepreneurs increase their marketing. So that was my role within that organization. And then I jumped ship and started my own company. And since then I've kind of never looked back. And I've really had a wonderful that was a really great training ground for entrepreneurship, because you really had a chance to get your feet wet. I can't hear you.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Ah, now that you can hear me.

Trish Tonaj:
Now I can hear you.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Thank you for sharing that with me, because that would be horrible if I would just speak into into the Abyss. So as a as a fellow marketing degree holder, I think it's very important. And what a great degree to hold. I think it fits into especially as an entrepreneur into all areas of life, because honestly, if you can't market yourself, you're kind of in a bad position.

Trish Tonaj:
Yeah, you know, that's what we do, right? We we, we really do sell what we do and even even today to your community. I'm I'm selling myself. I'm creating an opportunity for someone to make a connection. You're having an opportunity for me to make a connection with you. So we really are selling who we are. You know, it's the image that we present.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
It's the image that we present. And kudos to you as an artist, because I have I know many artists that are not they're great at what they do. They're they're beautifully artistic and they do things with their hands in sculpting or in painting that I, I can't do. Well, that's a limitation I am. I have not learned to do yet, let's put it that way. And they're not good at marketing. They're not good, or they have not learned to toot their own horn. You have both, both worlds, both sides. And you share it with us. Earlier that through the pandemic, the artistic side which has always been there. Trish right. Once mean once an artist, always an artist. True. Um, allowed to come out again. Tell us a little bit more about what happened during the pandemic for you.

Trish Tonaj:
Well, at that particular point in time, I was an entrepreneurial coach. We're working with entrepreneurs and helping them break barriers to success. And we all know that unfortunately, at that particular point in time, most of my customers were not allowed to work. You know, their businesses were closed. There was some significant challenges with meeting their, you know, connections with their customers. And so I did do quite a bit of support work. I'll call it for free because people didn't have any money to pay me. And I thought, okay, well, this maybe it's time to try something a little bit different. And I'd always been using art in the background as a way to sort of de-stress. Right? You know, having a little hobby that gives you your creative energy, you can kind of lose yourself in the canvas. And I was actually doing a lot more art at that time. And I thought, you know, maybe it's time for me to do a big, huge transition and trade the pen for the paintbrush. And so that's what I actually did. I was very blessed. I had my very first solo show at a Relais Chateau in southern Ontario called Langdon Hall, and it ended up being one of the most successful art shows they ever had. So I'm very blessed to have work in the United States, Canada and in Europe. And so I just thought, okay, well, the universe is telling me that this is a time to make a pivot. And so I've made a huge change to my revenue stream and now use art as my full time venture. And to share your stories online is still a philanthropic piece, so it's still feeds my soul from the business side. And I really feel like I have the best of both worlds.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
I love it. Now your art. We see a piece of your art in the background and the water seems very real.

Trish Tonaj:
That's true. I there's a really cool technique that I've used with a resin. So the, the water actually looks wet and, and it's kind of cool when you hang it, you know, when your office or in your personal space. But, you know, let's face it, art is an emotional experience, right? You have to have an emotional connection to the canvas. And that's why, you know, you made a wonderful comment when you said there are so many brilliant, wonderfully talented artistic people and there are and the, the, the fact of the matter is, it's very difficult to to get an emotional connection with those folks that you would like to buy your work because, you know, not everybody wants to be in a gallery. You know, the online only gives you kind of a two dimensional view of the art. So it becomes a real marketing feat to be able to connect with a wider audience who believes that they have a connection with your piece, and then they can hang it indoors and in my case, outdoors. So yeah, there's so many, so many talented, talented people. And I have to say that I'm inspired by other artists too. You know, when I see them, I haven't learned how to do those time lapse videos. You know, I've had people say to me, I see them on Instagram and I think, wow, that's pretty cool. I have no idea how to do it. And somebody said to me.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Just ask a millennial or.

Trish Tonaj:
Yeah, that's true.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
That's true, that's so true.

Trish Tonaj:
And so they tell me, you know, you have to do a time lapse video on your art. And I'm like, oh, geez, Louise, something else I have to learn. Yeah, I'll get to it. I'll get to it. And I don't have any children, so I don't have any millennials in the house to help me out with that. But you're absolutely right. I need to I need to find a mentor who's a millennial who can teach me some of these things.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
So so this is a shout out to all my millennials. Someone please step up to the plate and help Trish how to do a time lapse.

Trish Tonaj:
Yeah exactly exactly.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
So you know in in all of the work that you do and you've you've written books um, you've written more than two books actually. Tell us the names of your books.

Trish Tonaj:
So the first book I wrote is called A Diary of Change 12 Personal Tools. And it's all about recalibrating your personal GPS. So we've all had events that have happened in life that maybe, you know, took the wind out of your sails and knocked you to your knees. And I'm no different. So I actually wrote a book that has 12 personal tools. It actually is a monthly diary. It has an inspirational quote, and it also has an exercise that you can do. So that was the first book. The second book is called Breaking Barriers ten Entrepreneurial Women Share Their Stories, and that was all about mentorship and entrepreneurship. So there's 100 questions that you can ask yourself if you're thinking about entrepreneurship. And I did ten personal interviews. So okay. Nine because I'm one of the ten that I included in the book. And then I was able to publish that as a way to sort of show people that with a can do attitude, you can do almost anything. And that was the purpose and the premise of that book. And when I was out speaking about mentorship to various different community groups, I was meeting so many awesome entrepreneurs that had amazing stories. Well, anyone who's out there who's written a book knows you can't keep writing books because it's a huge time, takes a huge amount of time commitment, and they're not really that profitable. They're almost, I call them like almost like a new business card. It's like replace the business card, right? So I thought, okay, how am I going to start sharing all these amazing stories? So I came up with a guest blog concept, and in the first year I shared 100 stories with seven email touches with each individual because it wasn't automated. So at the end of that year, I met with my web developer and I said, okay, we have to be able to make this easy peasy for everyone. So I purchased the URL. Share your stories online. We automated everything. We transition those first 100 stories onto the platform, and now we feature almost 300 international entrepreneurs. And we have over 150 people who have participated in our podcast. So and we don't sell to one another, it's all about supporting each other and celebrating our great ideas. Because I don't know about you, Brigitta, but I've never really sat back and smelled the roses, have you?

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Well, I am about to.

Trish Tonaj:
Yes, we. Know that you're going to go. To the pool after this, but I have to. Say, you know, as a type A personality, I've been running at Mach two with my hair on fire my whole career. There's always something else, right? Okay, let's tick off that box. What's next? And that's kind of how I've lived my whole life. And it's only now that I'm, you know, celebrated 30 years of entrepreneurship, that I've taken a deep breath. I think we've all had an opportunity to take a deep breath in recent months and kind of say, okay, what's important? Where are we going? What do we really want to do in this? I call it the winter of my career. And that's really why I transition to the art and why I've made a huge commitment to the Share Your Stories online platform. Because you know what? We all know how hard it is to start a business. And who doesn't need a little support from time to time.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
I agree, especially women. I fully agree with you on that. Women supporting women not selling to each other clearly and only supporting each other. And I love the name of your workshop. I said it earlier, you know, coloring outside the lines, that is that is my that is my life's creed. When I never wanted my children to color inside the lines, I've always, you know, do whatever you, you whatever feels good to you. Not what you want, but whatever feels good to you within certain boundaries. Yeah. And where does that coloring outside the lines come from? You.

Trish Tonaj:
You know, I remember being a child in school, and I was very rigid. Right? I had to color inside the lines. You know, that type A personality is not going to go outside the lines. Everything had to be perfect. And I had an amazing art teacher. And her credo was, why are you coloring inside the lines? You have to color outside the lines. And I was like, I was horrified that all this, you know, precise work that I was doing as a child was not going to be recognized. Right? You it had to be perfect. I was really making sure that I was, you know, being very precise. And that whole attitude changed my outlook on art. So I thought, you know what? As adults, we're always trying to be perfect. We're always trying to make things fit within the certain confines of someone else's rulebook. And I thought, okay, we have to color outside the lines. So in order to do that, you know, we're all artists. We say, I had my first gallery show on the fridge in my parents house, you know, and so did you. And so did everyone else in your viewing and listening audience. Right. Let me.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Think.

Trish Tonaj:
I don't know, I'm just kidding. Everybody comes home with artwork. In kindergarten and we hang it on the fridge and we, you know, we ooh and awe and we say how wonderful it is. But then we seem to lose that creativity as we get older. You know, someone says, oh, well, that doesn't look like a horse. It looks like a dog. Or, you know, Woody, why why can you not draw like, you know, Michelangelo? Well, not everybody is a master in creativity.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
And Picasso didn't get any credit while he was alive.

Trish Tonaj:
No, no, most of the masters didn't. Right. So I really think we need to celebrate the artistic side of our personalities. And so the workshop Color Outside the Lines really gives teams and individuals an opportunity to explore that. So you don't need to be an artist. You can, you know, someone says, oh, I'm a I draw stick people. Okay, I'm sure you're stick people are pretty awesome. Why not?

Brigitta Hoeferle:
So someone made a lot of money with the stick People sticker?

Trish Tonaj:
That's right.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Their car. That's right. Smart idea. Very smart.

Trish Tonaj:
Absolutely, absolutely. So that's how color outside the lines came about.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Love that. So that that also there's a there's a mindset that supports you in that. You know, you talked about rigidity earlier and in order to be highly successful. We're going back to Coco Chanel. I would argue that Coco Chanel in her own right, was pretty rigid, and we can see some of that rigidity traveling through her work to this day. There were there are some elements that continue to be recognizable as as Chanel, right as Coco Chanel. Where do you bring where else do you bring in that flexibility or that flow or that? Yeah. Where do you where else do you bring that in? What does that mean to you?

Trish Tonaj:
You know, when I think. Being an innovator is really very important. And, you know, if we want to use Coco Chanel as an example, I think she recognized what her customers enjoyed. They enjoyed the strands of pearls. You know, they enjoyed the box style jacket. They enjoyed the free flowing, no corset, you know, shorter skirt kind of thing. So she expanded on that brand. It actually became a recognizable brand. So I don't necessarily think that our, our rigidity or our perfection doesn't come from creativity. I think it's married with innovation and, you know, and being able to read our customers, you know, I've been in business for a long time, and I can say every time I made or introduced a new product or service into my business, it was because I was listening to what my customer was asking for. And, you know, sometimes they don't even realize they're asking for it. But when you start to hear it over and over again, you think, mm, I can do that. I can provide that for you. And then the next thing you know, you say, hey, Brigitta, you know that thing we talked about last week? Well, I did a little bit of research and guess what? I can get that for you. And then you're like, wow, that's fantastic. And before you know it. Yeah. And not just you is looking for it, right? Because if you're asking for it, many other people are looking for it as well. So I think that's where the innovation comes in. And maybe listening to our customers and kind of getting a little bit of direction from them, I think, is what gives us the innovation and creativity for success. If we would.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Rewind, rewind the last, you know, three, four minutes, there is there are several success patterns, um, road within each what you just said. And I'm going to go back and I'm actually going to write that out because that there was some true nuggets in that. And I really appreciate you sharing that rigidity. Married with innovation. I think that is one of the one of the big success patterns. And for the ones that are watching right now or watching the recording, write that out. I want to go back to the three D's. Will you remember remind us of what the three D's were?

Trish Tonaj:
So the three D's are drive. Determination and discipline.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Drive, determination and discipline. Another success pattern. Now we talked about your platform the share your stories that online. And I think you brought a imag that people can get when they go where.

Trish Tonaj:
They go to share your stories, dot online and there'll be a pop up for you to register for our newsletter, which is twice monthly. And when you register for the newsletter, you'll get an automatic download that will be sent to you. And it is a magazine on wealth and well-being that is co authored between myself and two other colleagues. And it's just our a little way of to give you a little something to think about. You know it might be bedtime reading for you, but it's a wonderful way for you to be introduced to to share your stories online platform.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah, super. Thank you for that. So go to share your stories. That's what plural dot online. So share your stories. Dot online now. Tricia, how do people find out more on your artwork and the work that you do within that? Well, without coloring within?

Trish Tonaj:
Well, I've tried to make it as easy as possible and I did the right marketing thing. Finally, after all these years and you just go to Trish tony.com. So I've finally been able to use my name, which was a huge leap of faith because, you know, that's that's a big outside the lines concept in putting your name out there. So I have a website Trish tony.com I also have a LinkedIn profile under the same name and Instagram account for the same Facebook page. That is also the same. And we also have a Share your Stories page in LinkedIn and and a Facebook page we have a Share Your Stories Invest in yourself page as well, where we share the podcast and things of that nature. So I've tried to make it as easy peasy as possible.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah. So if you if if you're watching the show and you can't remember anything, just Google Trish, Tony, Tony, J, Trish, Tony. I'm pretty sure there's only one Trish Tonaj.

Trish Tonaj:
I think so, I think so it's a pretty unusual last name. So I would think there's only one of me. Yeah I would say so.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Um and make sure that everyone that is watching to go to share your stories that online to get your get in touch with Trish on all of the social medias, LinkedIn. And also, guys, make sure that you're bringing your friends, your business partners to next week's success patterns and watch this show over and take some notes because there's some great success patterns. Trish, any parting words for you today?

Trish Tonaj:
You know, I guess I would just like to say that based on my own experience, my own life experience, you can actually do anything that you want to do. If you have a clear vision, work hard and collaborate. So anyone who's thinking about crossing the bridge from corporate leader to entrepreneur, if if that is any piece of advice that I can leave with you as a parting message, is that as long as you have a clear vision, you work hard and you're willing to collaborate, you will definitely be successful.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
There are two great women right here that will help you with that. Thank you, Trish, for being here. Tune in again next week. Same time same place for the Success Pattern show. Thank you Trish for being on the show.

Trish Tonaj:
My absolute pleasure. Thank you.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Thank you for tuning in. And you will notice opportunities to apply success patterns daily while eagerly anticipating next week's content rich success patterns.

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