Picture this: Mick Jagger demands that you paint his hotel room a very specific shade of beige in every tour city all over the world. Imagine Justin Timberlake requesting that you and your team spray every article of his clothing with vodka and archive each item. Or sourcing a 'professional cuddler' for Lady Gaga so she feels secure before performing on stage.
We're taking you on an exhilarating ride with Tarra Stubbins, a former celebrity personal assistant-turned-premier celebrity concierge, who has her hands full with such outrageous requests from the who's who of Hollywood and music. Imagine a career that involves making the impossible possible for stars. Tarra's journey, from an intern to a global troubleshooter for celebrities, is chock-full of these fascinating tales.
But it's not all about handling the eccentricities of the stars. Tarra's story is equally about entrepreneurial grit and empowerment. From sanitizing a rock star's toothbrush to launching her concierge business, Tarra has turned challenges into stepping stones. As she navigates these uncharted waters, she has also become a beacon of inspiration for a community of executive assistants, sharing her experience and insights to help them combat their unique challenges and loneliness.
Beyond the glitz and glam, our conversation also delves into some invaluable life lessons. We explore the habits and routines of successful people, the inefficiency of multitasking, and the significance of focus and motivation. What could we possibly learn from the likes of Drake, Steve Jobs, and Warren Buffet? A lot, as it turns out!
We also highlight how Tarra has been instrumental in creating the SOAR community, a safe haven for executive assistants to share, learn, and grow. So, tune in to this riveting episode where we uncover how Tarra Stubbins is not just catering to celebrities, but also empowering professionals to reach for the stars.
About Gurus and Game Changers:
The Gurus and Game Changers Podcast focuses on individuals with unique insights and solutions based on their life experiences.
Listen and you will find:
Inspirational journeys abound when you listen to some of our guests as they describe their personal transformation with unconventional wisdom with real-life stories. Their
empowering narratives and life-changing experiences showcase triumph over adversity, resilience and perseverance.
At Gurus and Game Changers we thrive on authentic storytelling and non-traditional paths to success described with empowering voices. These motivational insights
laden with turning points, lessons learned and a testament to inner growth will lead to your own journey to self-discovery.
These inspirational role models or 'Wild Ducks' as they've been described always come with a positive mindset in describing transformative experiences and evolving perspectives.
#InspirationalStories
#PersonalGrowth
#LifeLessons
#SuccessStories
#MotivationalJourney
#OvercomingAdversity
#EmpoweringNarratives
#SelfDiscovery
#TriumphOverChallenges
#Resilience
#TransformationTuesday
#Empowerment
#Authenticity
#PositiveMindset
#InnerStrength
#GrowthMindset
#InspirationalQuotes
#MotivationMonday
#LifeChangingExperiences
#WisdomWednesday
PLEASE NOTE: **The views expressed by participants, including hosts and guests, are their own and not necessarily endorsed by the podcast. Reference to any specific individual, product, or entity is not an endorsement. The podcast does not provide professional advice, and listeners are urg
Picture this: Mick Jagger demands that you paint his hotel room a very specific shade of beige in every tour city all over the world. Imagine Justin Timberlake requesting that you and your team spray every article of his clothing with vodka and archive each item. Or sourcing a 'professional cuddler' for Lady Gaga so she feels secure before performing on stage.
We're taking you on an exhilarating ride with Tarra Stubbins, a former celebrity personal assistant-turned-premier celebrity concierge, who has her hands full with such outrageous requests from the who's who of Hollywood and music. Imagine a career that involves making the impossible possible for stars. Tarra's journey, from an intern to a global troubleshooter for celebrities, is chock-full of these fascinating tales.
But it's not all about handling the eccentricities of the stars. Tarra's story is equally about entrepreneurial grit and empowerment. From sanitizing a rock star's toothbrush to launching her concierge business, Tarra has turned challenges into stepping stones. As she navigates these uncharted waters, she has also become a beacon of inspiration for a community of executive assistants, sharing her experience and insights to help them combat their unique challenges and loneliness.
Beyond the glitz and glam, our conversation also delves into some invaluable life lessons. We explore the habits and routines of successful people, the inefficiency of multitasking, and the significance of focus and motivation. What could we possibly learn from the likes of Drake, Steve Jobs, and Warren Buffet? A lot, as it turns out!
We also highlight how Tarra has been instrumental in creating the SOAR community, a safe haven for executive assistants to share, learn, and grow. So, tune in to this riveting episode where we uncover how Tarra Stubbins is not just catering to celebrities, but also empowering professionals to reach for the stars.
About Gurus and Game Changers:
The Gurus and Game Changers Podcast focuses on individuals with unique insights and solutions based on their life experiences.
Listen and you will find:
Inspirational journeys abound when you listen to some of our guests as they describe their personal transformation with unconventional wisdom with real-life stories. Their
empowering narratives and life-changing experiences showcase triumph over adversity, resilience and perseverance.
At Gurus and Game Changers we thrive on authentic storytelling and non-traditional paths to success described with empowering voices. These motivational insights
laden with turning points, lessons learned and a testament to inner growth will lead to your own journey to self-discovery.
These inspirational role models or 'Wild Ducks' as they've been described always come with a positive mindset in describing transformative experiences and evolving perspectives.
#InspirationalStories
#PersonalGrowth
#LifeLessons
#SuccessStories
#MotivationalJourney
#OvercomingAdversity
#EmpoweringNarratives
#SelfDiscovery
#TriumphOverChallenges
#Resilience
#TransformationTuesday
#Empowerment
#Authenticity
#PositiveMindset
#InnerStrength
#GrowthMindset
#InspirationalQuotes
#MotivationMonday
#LifeChangingExperiences
#WisdomWednesday
PLEASE NOTE: **The views expressed by participants, including hosts and guests, are their own and not necessarily endorsed by the podcast. Reference to any specific individual, product, or entity is not an endorsement. The podcast does not provide professional advice, and listeners are urg
0:00:01 - Mark
Stacy Mark, how much do you love celebrities?
0:00:06 - Stacey
Listen.
0:00:08 - Mark
I baited you with that one.
0:00:10 - Stacey
Listen, I it's not that I'm a pop culture fiend, but I, I unapologetically love the life and love to watch the life. I'm not the only one, obviously.
0:00:22 - Mark
No, but you're also in the business, you know. Producer.
0:00:24 - Stacey
Well, I'm in the business, but I've never worked with any A-list celebrities that I can name off the top of my head.
0:00:29 - Mark
Well, our guest has worked with many A-list celebrities as a personal assistant, as a concierge. A lot of rock stars, a lot of big names in this podcast.
0:00:41 - Stacey
She's so chill, like, how chill, so chill, so like Rolling Stones, mick Jagger, beyonce, drake, drake.
0:00:50 - Mark
God, there's so many.
0:00:52 - Stacey
Red Hot Chili Peppers Gwyneth Paltrow.
0:00:54 - Mark
Gwyneth Paltrow, you've remembered all of that.
0:00:56 - Stacey
Yeah, well, you know, this is how I am, cause I'm like, oh my God, gwyneth Paltrow Singin' your song, lady Gaga, lady.
0:01:01 - Mark
Gaga, yeah, and she's been the go-to person behind the scenes. That's making them look cool, that's keeping them grounded, making sure that everything that's working behind the scenes so they can go out and deliver their best work, whether it's on screen or on stage.
0:01:15 - Stacey
Well, everybody hears about these like crazy riders like Beyonce needs to have room temperature water and you know other people well. I guess we just found out Lady Gaga needs a personal cutler. Oh yeah, that was great For every show which I bet you there's a lot of people who would want to do that.
0:01:32 - Mark
I don't know that, I wouldn't want that.
0:01:34 - Stacey
Like who's going to come in and cuddle me? I don't know, but anyway.
0:01:38 - Mark
Oh, I thought you meant to be the one who cuddles Lady Gaga.
0:01:40 - Stacey
I would cuddle Lady Gaga, but if I were Lady Gaga, I'd be like, oh, who's going to be cuddling?
0:01:43 - Mark
me.
0:01:44 - Stacey
It has to be someone pretty specific you know, but um, no fantastic stories, you guys, oh my gosh Like, if you like that world, fantastic stories, but also.
0:01:53 - Mark
Well then, she took it. She took all this knowledge, all this information, and she had an aha moment, which we talk about, where she wanted to be more and do more, and she created two businesses out of it that are meant to fulfill her purpose, which, in her mind, in her words, is she was put on earth to help people, right? So it's been a wonderful transition from what she used to do, and she's well still doing. Yeah, still doing it, but at the same time, she's created these fractional businesses that are being very successful.
0:02:21 - Stacey
Yeah, I also really loved the fact that sorry, I just love this woman and we just talked to her, so that's why I'm going off on it, I love the fact like her view. Okay, so some people might be like you know, someone wants just one color M&Ms. Like what is that ridiculous ass. But her view is her view is it's just helping them feel comfortable on the road. So she's really helping the world to see a relaxed, mixed jagger Right.
0:02:45 - Mark
That's the person you want in your corner, right. She's amazing at what she does and I have no doubt her business is going to be successful, yeah.
0:02:51 - Stacey
True, so anyway, you guys, you got to listen to this one. It's a fun one. It's amazing.
0:02:56 - Mark
Enjoy Ms Tara Stovins and watch it too.
0:02:57 - Stacey
Watch it too, because I'm going to put some stuff in there.
0:02:59 - Mark
Hey, and let us know, let us know what you think of it. We'd love to hear what your thoughts are on her.
0:03:03 - Stacey
Subscribe. We love you. Goodbye, where do we go? Listen to Tara Stovins. Hi, I'm Stacy.
0:03:13 - Mark
And I am Mark, and this is the Guru's Game Changers Podcast. Well, they say, if you want to be successful, you have to hang around successful people and, as a former celebrity personal assistant and now premier celebrity concierge, our guest today, tara Stovins, has not only been up close and personal with some of Hollywood and music businesses, a-listers, she's the person working behind the scenes to make sure they stay successful. And she's taken what she's learned on what they do and, more importantly, what they don't do, and has created a business and has sent it on, in her words, empowering people to take back control of their calendars so they can create the lives they've always wanted to live. And she's spoken all over the world delivering on that promise. So welcome, tara Stovins. Hey, welcome to the Guru's Game Changers. We're happy to have you.
0:04:01 - Tarra
Thank you so much for coming in.
0:04:02 - Mark
Looking forward to hearing the stories.
0:04:03 - Tarra
Thank you so much, I'm excited to be here.
0:04:06 - Stacey
So I want to go back to. I know you're not essentially doing this as predominantly right now, but you began your career by helping famous musicians as they toured the world, like people that people have heard of, like the Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Rogers, Nickelback, Kiss, Beyonce, just to name a few. So can you take me back to how it happened, like the story, Like I know, you said that you showed up one day in your first job and I don't know. It was like Johnny, Johnny, sick today. Okay, Tara, can you do it now? No clothes, let's go, Is that? So tell it. Tell it better than me.
0:04:44 - Tarra
Yeah. So I'll take you all the way back to the very beginning. So when I was younger I had a shirt that said remember me, I'm going to be a star, and I wore that shirt everywhere. It disintegrated. I wish I still had it today. But the problem was, is that in my very young, undeveloped brain, being a star was being a rock star, and I have zero musical talent. I can sort of play this guitar behind me.
0:05:12 - Mark
Yeah, I was going to say a guitar. Yeah, it kind of sounds like a dying animal most of the time.
0:05:18 - Tarra
But I can like strum a couple of tunes. I can't dance, I can't sing. So I kind of thought, wow, darn, like, there goes my entire dream of my life. I guess I'm not going to be anything and I like threw that dream away. But for some reason I held on to like 0.001% of it. I don't know why. I tell this story a lot and everyone's like why did you hold on to it? And I really don't know. But I did and I walked around with it, you know, every day, and I figured a back pocket and some days, weeks, months, years would go by where I would totally forget about my dream of being a rock star, until I came to those like pivotal moments in my life where I had to make those like decisions, those crossroad moments, and I'd be like, oh yeah, I wanted to be a rock star, still can't sing still can't dance.
But I did get to actually go out and support some of the world's most famous rock stars. So I got to live the rock star lifestyle, just not actually performing and singing. So, as you were saying, yes, I was an intern at a local shop that did a lot of like technical aspects for tours, so like lighting, sound, video. They did some smaller tours and they were doing the Kenny Rogers casino tour and one of the guys that was going out, his wife, actually went into very premature labor and they needed someone to hop on a bus.
So I did I was free labor at that point since I was an intern I had my parents ship me my clothes to the city that we were going to next and obviously I didn't know how to run any lighting like I was supposed to, like the guy was doing, but I jumped in where I could. So I was literally the grunt of all grunts. I was getting coffees and cleaning dressing rooms and just doing all that their minimum. But it was my first taste in the real world of rock and roll and I absolutely loved it and I could see that I could really provide value and help the rock stars and the crew and whoever it was just be able to feel comfortable and to be able to perform the best performance that they wanted to perform or that they could perform, just because of the little things that I could do behind the scenes.
0:07:56 - Stacey
But, like, you must have been pretty good at it, right, because you did it for Kenny Rogers and then it bloomed from there. So what so? What happened? So you're working with him and he's like, damn, that girl's really good at bringing me coffee. How does that?
0:08:09 - Mark
work. How do you progress?
0:08:11 - Stacey
And somebody else asks do you know somebody who's good at giving coffee Like? I'm sure that wasn't all you did, you know for sure. But so how does that progress into? Like all of those other rock bands, Like how do you meet Mick Jagger? Like I'm sorry, I need to know these things. Beyonce, Red Chili Peppers, like how does that happen? Does someone give your card out?
0:08:30 - Tarra
Yeah, no, it's definitely not a world of cards, the rock and roll industry. It's all about who you know and who you meet, and it's all about it's really. You can be really bad at your job. It's just if people like you and your personality and if you are a go-getter, if you will say yes, I'll do it, and then figure it out later. I learned that on my first tour. The people who are complaining and saying, oh, I don't know if I can or no, there's no way I can bring you 17 cups of coffee in three minutes. You know things like that. It's the people that figure out how to do it. They're the ones who are going to get farther in the business, and I truly, truly had, and still have, a passion for helping people, and it's what drove me to say yes to absolutely everything.
I absolutely loved it. I've always said I believe I've been put on this planet to help others succeed and I could see it from that one possible that one moment when I was like getting 17 cups of coffee in three minutes and really did have to get.
0:09:39 - Stacey
That's true story.
0:09:43 - Tarra
Instead of stressing about it. I really, really loved it and it was like a challenge to me. You know how can I? How can I make these people happy? There's another story I'll tell so later on, down the road, on the road, down the road, when I was out on the road with the with the Rolling Stones, mick Jagger always wanted his hotel rooms painted a very specific shade of beige. And now Rolling Stones fans will always throw in the joke well, didn't he want it painted black?
0:10:14 - Stacey
I'm going to pause there for a little bit more to laugh, for that one.
0:10:17 - Tarra
I heard that one a million times. But every single hotel room he wanted painted this very, very dull shade of beige. And there was this one time we were in what was then Moombai, in an extremely expensive hotel and he was staying in the Presidential Suite and on the wall was gold leaf wallpaper and I am sure it was ancient, thousands of years old gold leaf wallpaper and we took that down and we painted it beige. Then we put it back up when he left.
0:10:54 - Stacey
But wait a minute.
0:10:56 - Tarra
Yes, like all these crazy things.
0:10:59 - Mark
In the world.
0:10:59 - Stacey
yeah, so how?
0:11:01 - Mark
I'm just curious did you ever ask anybody why is that important to you Like? Why is it necessary that you have to have a beige wall?
0:11:07 - Stacey
Do you ask that?
0:11:08 - Mark
question.
0:11:08 - Tarra
It's really good. People ask me that question a lot and I learned very early on in my career that you've never asked a rock star guy.
0:11:19 - Mark
I know it, I know it. You never ask you do some crazy stuff.
0:11:24 - Tarra
You just don't want to be involved with it, so you just nod your head and go with it. That's the thing.
0:11:29 - Stacey
You just deadpan, but I can make assumptions yeah, like you just look at him like so is it? It's not Mick Jagger asking you, right, it's the assistant or something, or somebody like or just mix it to you.
0:11:38 - Mark
Yo is the room painted beige, yet Right, does it come from this?
0:11:41 - Tarra
Well, that was like part of his kind of writer. So to make him comfortable in every room, we had to do this. He also loves dehumidifiers. Everywhere he goes there's dehumidifiers everywhere on him, so I don't know, they're like he walks into a room. If he was in your studio, for instance, you would have to have six dehumidifiers in there.
It was crazy. But, yeah, it was just these things. Because I've been around rock stars for so long, I can make assumptions, and it was like habits and routines. That's what really drives successful people. So I'm not saying that you have to go paint your hotel or your walls in your house, you know beige, to be successful. But it's just what are these little things that people can also call them sometimes superstitions Like? What are these little things that can create a habit, a mental habit of you being able to walk into your office or you know wherever it is, so you can feel how you need to feel, so you can then go out and create the best darn work that you can.
So Jagger liked his hotel rooms painted beige because, again, this is an assumption, but we were on the road for well over 300 days a year. That's a long time away from home. So he really wanted it to be to feel comfortable, to feel like something that he can control, so he could go in and feel comfortable. Again, I don't want to know what he does inside his hotel rooms, but I don't know. But I really don't want to.
And be able to perform the best darn show that he ever wanted to.
0:13:21 - Stacey
I like that.
That's a real positive way of spinning what could be like something outlandish, right, you're thinking like they just want to feel comfortable. Like I really like that. So you were out on the road and was there other stars that made you do? I'm sure that made you do things like that on their riders, like I've heard, like you know, jlo there are some, I forget which celebrity is only can have certain color M&Ms in the room, and I think Beyonce can only have room temp water or, like you know, you hear about, like you know, celebrity riders and stuff like that. But I love the way you look at it. That's just something to help them feel comfortable when they're on the road.
0:13:56 - Tarra
Yeah, the whole rider thing like picking out the brown M&Ms started with Van Halen a long time ago when they were getting frustrated that people weren't actually paying attention to the rider so they were only reading like the top three things. So they asked for people to pick the brown M&Ms out so they knew that actually there was things being paid attention to. So I think sometimes people think that people are just being horrible individuals by asking these, but it's what makes them feel comfortable, like Beyonce knows that her voice doesn't hold the high notes when she has, like, cold vocal cords, so that's why she likes room temperature water. There's a ton of celebrities out there who actually sing on stage, who really like to have, you know, throat coats and things like that before they go on stage. And it's not them being difficult, it's just them being able to help with their performance.
0:14:52 - Stacey
That makes perfect sense to me. So okay, so you're out. I know I could belabor this point Like I could talk about this for another hour but I know you don't want to do that, sorry, it's fun.
So, but you're on the road for a while and then you decided that's enough of being on the road. So then you transitioned over to more of a personal concierge, where you help celebrities sort of organize their lives, right so, but there are still some things in there that I thought were kind of I don't know in my mind seemingly outlandish, like they're not on tour, but there are things that people ask for and tell me if I'm wrong with this. I just, you know, I was looking sort of at some of your old videos, one or like articles that you wrote. So one of the things was Madonna hires a DNA team to pick up every skin particle and hair follicles she may have left behind in hotels, which I guess I appreciate, but, you know, seems a little out there, right, it does, definitely does, yes, yes, I don't know why.
0:15:45 - Tarra
That's what she needed.
0:15:46 - Stacey
And then Justin Timberlake he sprays vodka on his clothes in his closet, which I think you worked with him on Closet Organization, but that's a really tell people about that.
0:15:56 - Tarra
Yes, so vodka actually helps with, like, getting rid of moths, but what we did for and it also helps with wrinkles as well, which is actually really cool if you don't have a steamer.
0:16:06 - Mark
There's a lot to all of these crazy requests.
0:16:10 - Tarra
But with Justin Timberlake it was before, when he was a bachelor and he had a two-story closet and he heard that Elvis had archived all of his clothes, so he wanted to do the same, being also from Memphis. So we went in and we archived everything, Like he was on Ellen a lot and Ellen gave away Ellen underwear a lot Ellen branded underwear and we went on. We archived like 27 pairs of Ellen underwear and like the famous denim all-down-and-suit he wore with like Britney Spears and all of these things. So yeah, and when you archived everything.
0:16:58 - Stacey
It's always positive. Are you just writing it down or are you doing special things to the clothes, like preserving the clothes as well?
0:17:04 - Tarra
Sometimes. So sometimes, like we, he would wear the clothes, so we wouldn't do special things to it. But other times, if they were old costumes or things that he cherished, then yeah, we would actually preserve them in boxes, glass boxes and cases so he could still see them, but they were preserved forever. That's crazy.
0:17:26 - Stacey
Like.
0:17:26 - Tarra
Elvis' jumpsuit.
0:17:27 - Stacey
Yeah, I mean I totally get it. And then Sandra Bullock everybody says she's so kind, Sandra Bullock, you were talking about how she not only lays out her clothes the night before, but she also lays out her makeup, which to me I have like one set of makeup, Like I can't imagine having different sets of makeup for each day but so would you have to go into her world and lay out her makeup for her, like, how does that work?
0:17:50 - Tarra
She actually did that herself. She is such a down-to-earth person.
She likes to do so many things just herself. So. But a lot of these tricks I would get from just watching what they would do. So I wouldn't necessarily have to do it, but I would see their morning routines. Or because I was always fascinated in why others were rock stars and I wasn't, I always really wanted to know why and how they became a success and maintain their success. So I was like a sponge to I still am to every celebrity that I've ever I was successful business owner that I am around because I just am so fascinated and how.
You know a lot of people say there's a thousand books out there. You know you have to wake up at 4am, you have to work out 12 times a day, you have to eat three meals a day, you have to read 20 pages of a book, like all of these things. But what I was noticing is that a lot of these celebrities, they all do different things throughout the day, but they are all a success. So I really wanted to know what actually made them a success. Oh, I love that.
0:19:00 - Stacey
That's exactly the way I am to them a sponge, and that's like why I'm asking all these questions. And I want to get to that about you too. Then you asked did you work with Lady Gaga too?
0:19:11 - Tarra
I did yeah, I did a couple of not tours but shows with her. So yeah, was definitely backstage with Lady Gaga multiple times.
0:19:22 - Stacey
Fantastic and so like for a personal councillor for Lady Gaga, same thing. Just made sure her stuff was where she wanted it. The rider was taking care of.
0:19:31 - Tarra
Yeah, we did a lot. Lady Gaga likes a professional cutler, so that was one of the things that we had to source for her?
0:19:41 - Stacey
How do you find a professional cutler and how do they not fall in love with her? I'm sorry I have so many questions here.
0:19:48 - Tarra
Yeah, don't ask why.
0:19:49 - Stacey
Okay, don't ask why.
0:19:52 - Tarra
We found one, which is great. So, yep, she was comfortable before she went out on stage, which was great.
0:19:59 - Stacey
Wow, okay, I would probably say can. I just be your professional cutler, I would probably sign up for the job Then. Gwyneth Paltrow there's a lot of people who for some reason don't love her, and I love her. I'm fascinated by her. I'm sure she's nicer than people make her out to be right.
0:20:17 - Tarra
Yeah, it's interesting with celebrities because they all, in my opinion, they all have their good days and their bad days, Sure they're like us, yeah, and they all say some stupid stuff in public.
Same with us, right, yeah, just more people are watching them. So I find that people like take like one or two things or even like they can turn their opinions and thoughts into weird ideas as well. But, like, I always think that the celebrities can be hard to work with absolutely, and you know, mick Jagger, gwyneth Paltrow, there's a ton pretty much everyone that I've ever worked with. It has difficult moments, right, and can be difficult, and I just think it's just because that's what they're used to, like. They're used to people saying yes, and it doesn't make it okay at all, but it kind of just goes with the territory.
0:21:17 - Stacey
Okay, I just only have two more questions about this.
0:21:20 - Mark
I swear.
0:21:20 - Tarra
I'll let you move on from this thing.
0:21:22 - Stacey
But so, okay, so did any. Okay, so did any of these celebrity requests? Did they ever? Did you ever say no to one of them? And if so, what was it?
0:21:36 - Tarra
So I never said no. However, there was one time where very, very early on in my career where I didn't get the right thing for them, so I was asked to go and get. Part of the writer was the singer wanted Pop Tarts and he wanted a very specific. He wanted Blueberry and Strawberry Pop Tarts. And I went off to the grocery store and I was, you know, going through the other things on the writer and there I got to like the Pop Tarts section and there wasn't Blueberry and Strawberry but there were Raspberry.
So I called his manager and I was like, how important are these Pop Tarts? And he's like, don't worry about it, I don't even know why they're on there, he doesn't even eat them. Just grab whatever and come back. There's other things to do. So I went cool. So I grabbed the combo pack of Blueberry and Strawberry and off I went back and just before the show I was in the dressing room and I was, you know, just making sure everything was okay and I heard screaming behind me and I looked, and just in time for a Pop Tart to be thrown at my head.
So, I decked and he walked behind me and I left and I actually left, I was like.
I'm not going to work for this person again. So I learned two lessons. I learned one that obviously my time is extremely valuable and I'm going to pick who I want to work with. But I also learned that I probably shouldn't have called the manager and asked if it was me, I probably would have gone and found the Pop Tart at another store, just because that's what I do and who I am. So I kind of put my own destiny in someone else's hand, which I learned not to do.
0:23:39 - Mark
And you learned Raspberry is not an appropriate substitute.
0:23:41 - Stacey
Yeah, yeah, but that was the only time you had something like it, because I know it's not like celebrities are going to be like, oh, you're doing such a great job, tar, like you've gotten all of the things we need. It's only going to be when something is not the way they want it to be. You're taken for granted that they're going to you know, talk, criticize you or, like you know, confront you. So that's got to be kind of difficult.
0:24:02 - Tarra
Yeah, you learned to have a pretty thick skin pretty early on. Wow, cherish the good moments.
0:24:07 - Stacey
Not take it personally.
0:24:10 - Mark
Were there, good moments of like a personal connection that you had with a client or with a rock star sat you down. You became good friends. Any of those.
0:24:19 - Tarra
Yeah. So I learned again early on that to be successful, I couldn't really be friends with them, you had to really keep a very professional relationship. So I never wanted to go out for drinks with anyone or go out for dinner. I would, you know, take them to dinner, make sure that they had their special seat and then I would leave, and it was just the only way that I knew how to keep the professional relationship just going as an actual professional relationship.
0:24:54 - Stacey
But did you have a favorite?
0:24:58 - Tarra
Well, I spent the most time with the Stones, so I love them to this day. I still talk to them. Keith Richards is just a sweetheart. I didn't get to work with him as much as I would have wanted to, but yeah, the Stones are definitely where my heart is for sure. And actually, Mick Jagger did play matchmaker for me and my husband. I have him to thank for that as well, oh my. God, that's a rare story.
0:25:31 - Stacey
I just found some other things that I had in here, do you mind?
0:25:34 - Mark
Go go.
0:25:35 - Stacey
Okay, so sorry. So you said you spent an entire night cutting and sewing Lulu lemon waistbands into no-name brands of underwear.
0:25:44 - Tarra
Yeah, so that was another learning experience for me. So I was at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is a massive film festival in Toronto for all the celebrities come and one of these A-list celebrities. One of the requests was he wanted like 25, I think to a 30, something like that pairs of very specific Lulu lemon underwear. And so I went to the store and it was a long time ago so we would actually have to go to the store.
There's no Uber that would help us, and they were like, oh no, we don't have any.
0:26:22 - Mark
And I was like great.
0:26:23 - Tarra
So are there any like are rounds? Can I drive to another store and they were like, nope, we actually don't have any, they're completely sold out. I was like, oh great. So I didn't want to be defeated anymore like the Pop-Tart incident. So I decided that I was going to buy another kind of brand of Lulu or style of Lulu lemon underwear with the like lace band that said Lulu lemon. And I was going to go to another store and buy the specific like boxer brief that he wanted of like cheap like I don't know, calvin Klein underwear. And then I cut a Lulu lemon waistband out and sewed it into the other one and I was like, oh, that's fabulous Did he notice.
0:27:12 - Stacey
That's a big question 25 pairs of underwear, like how long was he at the Toronto Film Festival? I mean, it seems like you know, or does he need whatever?
0:27:20 - Mark
you didn't have underwear thrown at your head, so he probably didn't Like.
0:27:27 - Stacey
In the middle of the night you went out because you had and you had to watch a specific. He had to buy a specific TV because this was also for Tiff, yeah for Tiff, yeah.
0:27:36 - Tarra
They wanted a larger TV in their room. They had to have it at like 2am so we had to open up a store and get the large TV and have it installed.
0:27:49 - Mark
At 2am 2am. You had the store reopened.
0:27:52 - Stacey
Yeah. You found the owner, you opened the store, you had it installed and then another thing at 2am that she did was find a comb for a client who couldn't sleep because she thought she didn't have a comb.
0:28:02 - Tarra
Yeah, she left her comb in New York and she couldn't sleep so. So we had to go find another comb. But at 2am it was actually really hard to find the specific comb, and we didn't do a very good job. We calmed her down until more stores opened where we could then go find.
0:28:23 - Mark
Tara, don't you just shake your head sometimes Like are you kidding me?
0:28:28 - Stacey
Yeah, so like the last time I have, to go open a store. It's crazy so so this is what I'm wondering. You're like your turning point, and I don't know if you're still doing these types of things. You might be, but you talked about like having to sanitize a toothbrush in a hotel dishwasher for.
That was my big moment. Yeah, that was the moment, because that was the inciting moment, when you're like, okay, enough is enough. I'm sanitizing toothbrushes. Who's that for? I think you said it was for, so I don't know if you can say no, I don't think I've ever said who that was Okay.
0:28:59 - Tarra
I don't think I can.
But we won't ask anyone asked it was this, this rock star. His crazy request was that, or one of the multiple crazy requests that every time his toothbrush traveled he wanted. So every time it came out of a suitcase, he wanted it to be sanitized in a hotel dishwasher. So I would have to go downstairs and go to the back of house and ask for the toothbrush to be put through the industrial dishwasher cycle. A lot of people are always like why did you do it? Why didn't you just run it under hot water and say you did it? And I was like that's a good question. I don't know, I just don't know who knows I would.
I guess I went down, but a lot of times the staff would know we were coming because it was a request that happened for years and years and years. So it wouldn't be a problem, we could just have the toothbrush sanitized. But then other instances we would have to explain that this toothbrush had to go in the dishwasher. And this one time we were actually in Shanghai again, a very expensive hotel and I was in the back trying to put this toothbrush in the dishwasher and it wasn't going well. I didn't speak their language, they didn't speak English, there was no translators around and they were looking at me like I had three heads, and I just remember that it was probably one of the most awkward moments of my life and I was standing there with this toothbrush in hand, thinking there's got to be more to life than this, and I realized at that moment that I actually truly, truly do love and wanted to still help people succeed. I just wanted to help more than one crazy rock star at a time, right.
So I finished the tour I came off the road and I opened up my personal concierge business so I could help more than one crazy rock star at a time. So I still hope rock stars just more than one for that.
0:31:06 - Stacey
So yeah, and he started your business, which is amazing, so let's talk about your business.
0:31:11 - Mark
So what was the goal? I know your goal overall was to help people. Right your general. You said I was put on this planet to help people.
0:31:18 - Stacey
So why?
0:31:19 - Mark
Through what channel were you hoping to help people the most, based on your experience with the rock stars?
0:31:25 - Tarra
Yeah, so when I opened up my first business back in 2007, I really just wanted all I knew was helping crazy celebrities. So I wanted to help kind of more kind of high profile, high net worth individuals save time in their busy lives. So I became a concierge slash lifestyle manager for multiple homes, multiple properties, multiple people. But of course people kept calling me from. I was in Toronto and people kept calling me from LA and Nashville and Vegas and I would have to fly all over the place and I was thinking I feel like I'm still doing what I was doing before. But it's actually interesting because I had zero business background, had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and I googled, as we all do, like how to run a successful business. You know, back in 2007, there is no chat, tpt or anything People were still putting like ads and yellow pages and I thought maybe I'll put an ad in the yellow pages Like that's what people are doing. That obviously didn't go anywhere because celebrities aren't reading Looking at the yellow pages.
The yellow pages so I really had to tap into my network and to really be able to learn and grow.
But as I was doing that, there was, I remember, the first co-working space opened and I was so excited to join a community where I could be surrounded by other people like me that were I didn't think that there was anyone else out there.
They were hard to find and so I volunteered at the front desk. I was at like every single event and I started realizing that these, like younger entrepreneurs and not necessarily younger in age, but just younger in experience were growing their businesses really well. But then they were starting to fail at a certain point and they couldn't really get over that hump and I realized, because of my executive and personal assistant background, that it was because they didn't have that strategic help that they needed to really get over the hump and get to the next level. So that's when I actually created the next business, which is Take it Easy Group, where we are a team of executive assistants and really helping small-scaling companies grow, with all the experiences that I've learned out on the road and kind of been a sponge to all of those celebrities of how they've become a success and maintain their success.
0:34:05 - Mark
And you said that at some point in some of the research we saw that. You said that celebrities tend to manage their time differently they're kind of forced to manage their time differently, but that there are some proven successes that they have had as a result of the way they manage their time that have translated to how you're helping people.
0:34:22 - Tarra
Yeah. So, as I alluded to before it when I was again in, so do help so many celebrities. It's always fascinating to me when a new one comes out with a book and then we all kind of read that book, like is it? I think it's Matt Damon who gets up at 3 am and works out, and then he like has a very specific smoothie and then I think he works out again.
0:34:48 - Stacey
Marky Mark too. Yeah, is it Marky Mark? Yeah, yeah, marky Mark. Yeah, he worships at certain times. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's it.
0:34:55 - Tarra
Yeah so, and then we're all like, oh, we have to get up at 3 am to be successful, but I've worked with a lot of celebrities who don't get up until noon, or, and they're still a great success.
They are a rock, yeah, and they're still a great success. Or, you know, some people are their only thing to be a success is they want to smoke six cigars a day, and then they feel like they have that habit and they could be a success. So I think I'm trying to again Google, you know how to be a success, or best time management, or what do celebrities do and then trying to follow it along with our lifestyle and what we're building as entrepreneurs or whatever our goals are personal, business related, whatever they are and trying to like, follow along with these celebrities. Every celebrity is actually different, but they have three very specific things that all of them that I've noticed follow.
0:35:53 - Mark
Hey guys, thanks for listening. If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review, Give us a follow, subscribe, subscribe all those things, all those things. We love it because we read each and every comment and it helps shape the show, so we would appreciate it.
0:36:06 - Stacey
Please, and back to the show.
0:36:09 - Tarra
And the first one is, as I was kind of talking about before, is habits. So celebrities and successful people build habits. So whether the habit that you want to build is getting up at 3am or getting up at noon or working out, or making sure, if you're building a business, sending 100 cold emails a day, like whatever that habit is that you can actually that can help you get to your end goal, and that's specific and really important. So, knowing your end goal and then knowing what you're doing on a day to day basis, is it actually really driving results? So you know, maybe your habit is to lose 20 pounds. So what are you actually? Or so your goal is to lose 20 pounds.
So what are those habits that you're building? Are they actually related to losing in the 20 pounds or are they kind of wasting your time? So celebrities do that a lot. You know, if they're training to lose a lot of weight or to get really fit for a role or to go out on a tour, then the habits that they form are completely different than when they're off to her and they want to spend more time with their family or, you know, start another kind of not hobby but creative interest or whatever it is. So people always think that the habits have to stay habits like forever, but they can ebb and flow, depending on your lifestyle.
0:37:40 - Stacey
I like that. That's really cool and so that's so would you call that. I see more.
0:37:45 - Mark
No, she said there are three. Yeah, yeah, there's one more, there's two more. What?
0:37:49 - Stacey
were the first two we have.
0:37:50 - Mark
Build a habit.
0:37:52 - Stacey
Build a habit.
0:37:53 - Tarra
Second one is so I have a question for you. Would, you say, either of you, that you are multitaskers?
0:38:01 - Mark
Oh, I knew this is going to come up because I saw your I'm 100% of a successful multitasker, despite what all the research says, everybody that we've talked- to recently despises multitasking, including Eric, our studio tech.
0:38:16 - Stacey
I understand both sides of it. Like, I feel like I multitask, but I really try hard not to do that because of that. I read what you were talking about in terms of the 15 seconds in order to switch to the next task, but I feel like there's just always so many balls in the air.
0:38:31 - Mark
You have to you know.
0:38:32 - Stacey
So wait, you know, go ahead, Tell us about Tell us.
0:38:35 - Tarra
Obviously you've heard because people have been talking, but there's actually no such thing as multitasking.
So the human brain, the human brain, can only think of one thing at a time, so what we may be thinking is multitasking. We're actually just context switching really quickly and it's actually making us exhausted. The human race, society, is extremely exhausted right now, and it's because we're trying to do too many things at once. I do this I'll put on a movie or a show on Netflix and I'll scroll on my phone, but what am I actually doing? I'm not paying attention to either of them and I'm exhausted. At the end I fall asleep. So, and it also takes us longer to do both things that we're trying to do, or we don't do both things well, so people will say well, I can talk on my phone hands free and drive at the same time.
But are you actually paying 100% attention to the road? Can you say everything that you've driven past and you know all the turns in the road and all that? Probably not. Can you say absolutely everything that has happened on the phone call and recall? Probably not. So you know you're not doing everything at 100%. And there's actually a math equation that's thrown around in Hollywood a lot and that is 20% plus 20% plus 20% plus 80% doesn't equal 100%. Okay, sure, what does that mean? Well, if you concentrate 20% of your efforts over here and 20% of your efforts here, and 80% over here and 20% over here, then like, how are you actually getting anything done? Well, it doesn't work. I mean, I'm not an mathematician.
0:40:21 - Stacey
But I don't think that, that I don't think that.
0:40:23 - Mark
Unless it means you're giving 140% and everybody else is giving 100%. I feel like we give 140%.
0:40:28 - Stacey
Yeah, no, I totally agree with you. So that's where time blocking comes in. Is that what you're saying we should do?
0:40:32 - Tarra
That's where time blocking comes in, but focus. So I work with as I alluded to before we were recording. I have the privilege of working with Drake, and I don't know I'm probably going to get fired for saying this, but I don't know if he is the best, like most talented musician out there, but he's definitely one of the most famous. So, and why? And I believe it's because he is the most focused and goal oriented person that I've ever met- in my entire life. Yeah, and that's what's more about that.
0:41:11 - Stacey
What is it? What is it about his focus Like why, what does he do? He's just hyper focused on one thing at a time Hyper focused.
0:41:18 - Tarra
So he has a goal of being, you know, whatever his goal is like making sure that the album goes to multi monthly platinum or whatever he wants and then whatever he does and whatever he gets his staff to do or the people surrounding him is all 100% focused on that end goal. And if it's not, it's wasted time and that's why I believe that he is the one that has gone on from Degrassi to this multi-bizillion dollar superstar, and no one, like everyone else started in the same place. And it really is like, if you think of athletes, athletes are good. Athletes train their brain and their body to be 100% focused on their health, their mental health and their physical health and their training. So they are concentrating on two things yeah, and physical Keeps coming up.
0:42:12 - Stacey
It keeps coming up, because I just watched this documentary with Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett. I talk, I talk about a lot. There's this. There's time when the interview asked them what is the number one thing that you need in order to succeed in business, and they both separately wrote down on a piece of paper and picked it up and it said focus both of them at the same time. It's wild.
0:42:30 - Mark
Said focus.
0:42:31 - Tarra
So I mean there's something here yeah.
0:42:33 - Stacey
Universe is telling us we got to focus more, Mark.
0:42:36 - Tarra
Well it's. It's not very hard to actually be successful and the really only thing that's separating a massive rock star and a billionaire from the person who is struggling is that the person who's struggling is can't get over those like hard times. So I'm, this task is boring. I don't want to. I'm tired. I don't want to work out in the morning because that's your goal of, you know, losing weight or like there's all these like internal things going on and it's really hard to get over that. But focus, focus. I'm 100% focused on this goal and these, these are the habits I'm going to build to make this focus. You're going to be a success. The numbers show it.
0:43:20 - Mark
And then what's the third one?
0:43:22 - Tarra
The third one is creating your own motivation. So again, it's what I was kind of alluding to before. So a lot of people will think well, it's easy for Drake and Beyonce and Lady Gaga and everyone else to be focused on their goals because they have millions of dollars and they have staff and they have all of that, but they didn't before. So we have to think about that. And so how do we create our own motivation so we can be the Beyonce's of our own life or the Drake's or whatever it is? And we also have to realize that our goals aren't, you know, silly. They aren't too big, too small, they're all personal. So one of my absolute favorite quotes of all time is if anyone ever tells you that your dreams are silly, remember there's a millionaire walking around who invented the pool noodle.
0:44:19 - Stacey
And it's true. I love that. Who said that?
0:44:23 - Tarra
Yeah yeah. It's anonymous. I don't know who said that, but it's um. Yeah, it's one of my favorite quotes and I I quote it all the time. And people always told me that I was silly, trying to think that I was going to go out and follow rock stars Around the world, just being this like young girl from Toronto. And if I could do it, anyone can do it.
0:44:43 - Mark
Just got to get on the bus.
0:44:45 - Tarra
Right, you got to get on that first bus Just got to get on the bus, can I?
0:44:48 - Stacey
talk about that little girl for a second, because I love all this conversation. I want to come back to soar too, which I think is fantastic. But when you were a little girl, so who? How did you come to be Right? I know you love origin stories too, but I love to find out how successful people or people who, like, manifest their dreams like you have. Who supported you? What were your parents like? Did you have siblings like in Toronto? Like, what made you you?
0:45:15 - Tarra
Yeah, you know, everyone always thinks too that like an origin story has to be like rags to riches or you were born, you know, rich. But I was kind of just born middle class, normal family, mom and dad still together. I have a brother who is nine years older than me, so I think that kind of helped me again like create my own motivations, create my own goals, because I was kind of an only child I wasn't, but he was so much older than me. You know, I had the luxury of going to a private school. My parents worked very hard to be able to support me to go out to that, but I was always pushing boundaries. I was always the person who was always asking you know why? Or I got kicked out of the private school once because I didn't wear like the right hair ties in my hair, because I wanted to get like push, push push boundaries a little bit.
We always had to wear black, blue or red hair accessories. So I wore sunglasses but like they didn't like that, like as a hair tie thing, and anyway, it was a whole thing. So I was always like pushing boundaries and always being that creative, creative person.
My dad was a DJ on a radio station, a radio station for classical and jazz music and I would always go with him and help him. He would record concerts that would. He would then play live on air and I would always go and help him like coil up the microphone cables and all that. I loved all of that. So that's where that sign comes in. And my mom actually owned so entrepreneur and my dad actually followed into the business A young like nursery, kindergarten, private school, so yeah, so they were. They were and they always thought that I was going to take over the business.
And but, no, I had children of my rock stars. I didn't need any of the.
0:47:26 - Stacey
So they were true. But let me ask you this too Like so I know you, it just seems like you've had success after success, after success. But I think our audience really gains a lot when they hear obstacles that you've had to kind of climb over. And I know probably some of the requests that you got from some celebrities were tough, but was there a time when you were like OK, you know?
I don't know what to like when you were in the abyss and you were thinking like how am I going to get out of this thing? Or like when you started your business when things were seemed scary or hard I'm sure there was, and how did you climb out of that?
0:48:01 - Tarra
I feel like I have that moment weekly. I don't know if it will ever go away. I think there's always an internal you know person in my brain that always says, like, is this really the right goal for you? Can you really hit this? What are you doing? All that sort of thing? And again, I really think that it's important for anyone who is trying to achieve any goal. Again, your goal can be to be the best mom in your neighborhood or dad. It could be to be the best volunteer for, like your community group. It doesn't have to be I want to build a multi-million dollar business or I want to be a rock star. It can literally be anything and you can achieve it just by staying focused. And so a lot of the times when I would again, it happens to me weekly where I second guess myself or I. You know there's I run two really big businesses- there's always people problems there's always People love them.
0:49:04 - Stacey
Yeah, they're tough.
0:49:06 - Tarra
There's always problems, Right, but I always think about you know like what? Again, what's my big goal? What am I focused like? Why do I want to achieve this?
0:49:20 - Mark
And just like this is why I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.
0:49:24 - Tarra
And it's always helped me get to that next stage.
0:49:27 - Stacey
It's a rare breed and entrepreneur right Because you have to. You know you fail almost every day.
0:49:32 - Mark
Yeah.
0:49:33 - Stacey
And you have to kind of know how to pivot and you have to kind of be fearless, Like I don't. I think this is why we're entrepreneurs, because you know you're a certain type of personality, yeah.
0:49:43 - Mark
You just have to expect it. Yeah, you have to expect the rolled up in a fetal position at some point. Yeah, I mean, I sure I was just there this weekend.
0:49:51 - Stacey
But let's move on to SOAR. So you just it wasn't that longer that you launched SOAR, right, and you talk about how it's a community for executive assistants who are struggling to find their network and their community because it can be a little lonely to be an executive assistant. I kind of wanted to look into that a little bit. So when did you feel lonely Like, and how did this community come to be?
0:50:15 - Tarra
So, as probably any EA or PA will tell you, it's a very, very lonely job. So even out on the road, surrounded by all these rock stars and hundreds of thousands of fans a night, you're very, very siloed in what you're doing. When you're doing it, sometimes you're like the only one up at 3 am. You know all of these things that you're doing, even executive assistance in traditional office roles. They, you know. Sure everyone comes to them in the organization. Sure, they know everyone and touch everyone in the organization, but like they can't talk about what they're doing and no one actually understands what they're doing on a day to day to really help build momentum and grow businesses.
And so I've always thought about and it's actually another reason why I wanted to start make it easy group was not only to help businesses, small businesses grow and succeed, but it was to also create a community of executive assistance that both supported, so then they could go out and help the small businesses grow and scale and be and change the world.
In my opinion, small businesses are the ones that are actually changing the world. So SOAR came to be because we wanted to actually grow that community. I can only hire so many people to take it easy and I wanted to be able to leverage my network of all the millions of people that I've been able to reach and just be in my network, being out on the road and being surrounded by so many successful people, and really help these amazing executive assistants either find their place in the EA world or PA world or grow and be heard. I think, being in EA people always think that you just schedule and like answer phone calls or something, but there's so much more to the world, so also educating the public and that's what's the PA?
0:52:13 - Stacey
is that production assistant? Personal assistant, personal assistant.
0:52:17 - Mark
Okay, sorry, You're straight from the studio.
0:52:20 - Tarra
I had a production company and I was like, yeah, it's a piece.
0:52:23 - Stacey
Um, well, that's, that's awesome. So how? What is that online Like? How do people find you? Yeah?
0:52:29 - Tarra
so we're SOAR with ties. So SOAR with, take it easycom and, if you're interested in joining where, a monthly membership club that is just all about networking and really supporting everyone. Um, again, in my opinion like or not my opinion I know that I am never going to be able to cure cancer or, um, stop the world's energy crisis or stop world hunger, but I know that there's probably someone out there who can, and if I can support them in the back end of being able to help them, then I can change the world too, and I want to be surrounded by all the executive assistants and personal assistants that have that um as well.
0:53:18 - Mark
Right, that's what I said. Hey, before we go, I want to. I want to take a step back to the three pillars that you outlined earlier.
0:53:24 - Stacey
Good job.
0:53:25 - Mark
Um. One was um the habit for me, forming the habits and engaging those habits. The second one was focusing on your goal and mark your bad multitasker. I heard that very clearly. And the third was no judgment.
0:53:38 - Stacey
No, no, no, I gotta do you.
0:53:39 - Mark
And the third was, um, creating your own motivation, and I agree with all three a hundred percent. I agree with all three there. You and I bonded on a fourth one in a prior conversation about either being held or holding yourself accountable. And I said to you in one of the exchanges this world is replete with life coaches giving advice and I don't know that there's a single accountability coach, somebody who just says this is what you're doing tomorrow at this time and you're, I'm holding you accountable. And too often I think we look to our partners and our friends and our family and our kids and whatever, to say, hey, make sure I do this, but that's not the right accountability partner because of the connection. You need someone else. So talk, talk a little bit about that, cause I know that's a big part of sort of the mindset that you bring to your business and your clients.
0:54:25 - Tarra
Yeah, it's all again about creating your own motivation. So if you can't create it yourself, it's about actually finding someone who can hold you accountable to create that motivation for you. And again, the only thing that's stopping us from being massive success is that we just have to do the thing.
0:54:47 - Mark
So we all know how to. We all know how to live a healthy lifestyle.
0:54:53 - Tarra
We all know how, like all of us could be massive fitness pros. All of us can be. You know whatever it is, we know how to do it. We just don't.
So, whatever your goal is, and make sure that you are very clear in your goal. It can't just be like I want to be rich Sure, we all want to be rich but like, how do you want to be rich? Like what is your goal, and then have someone hold you accountable. So, yeah, it's hard to ask friends and family to do it because they're trying to reach their own goals. They get busy, they get distracted. So, having somebody we actually do this with SOAR as well. You know, if your goal is to get a raise or a promotion as an executive assistant, then let's hold each other accountable so we actually do the steps, do the thing, so we can actually get that promotion and then celebrate the wins. So accountability is huge in whatever you're doing and a lot of times we can't get over those internal blockers ourselves and we need someone to just push us past it. It's actually interesting. There's a stat out there that says only 10% of what stops us is actually external blockers. So a lot of times we'll blame the outside world.
So we'll blame people who distract us in the office, we'll blame social media, we'll blame, maybe, a non-supportive spouse, or we have four children, or whatever it is. But actually that's only 10%. The other 90% is all our internal blockers.
0:56:32 - Mark
I believe it. It's interesting also on the motivation side and you talk about the secrets of motivation. But in vernacular people say I can't find the motivation, I can't get motivated. But I agree with you. It's not external, it's something you have to create. When we were kids it was external. Your parents picked you up and made you walk. You had the motivation because your dad is on the other side holding his arms out. At some point you have to become your own mother and you have to tell yourself here's your motivation and you have to stick to it. But I know at some point you were talking about the secrets of motivation. I don't think it was this conversation. I think it was a prior exchange that we had. Is there a secret that you tap into for your clients?
0:57:18 - Tarra
So, again, a lot of us will sit back and wait for that lightning strike moment to happen. So I'm going to launch this business when I feel motivated and when it's all ready and when I can go out and do it, but that lightning strike moment is probably not going to happen. So, again, we have to create our own moment and I like to do that with people who are really struggling with small wins. So motivation is actually a build up of a lot of really small wins and really small successes all rolling into one until you create that big lightning strike that you need. So again, if you're building a business, let's make a habit of sending 100 cold emails a day, and when we actually check those off, and when we can check those off for seven days in a row, we actually feel really great about ourselves. So we're creating motivation, we're building habits towards our end goal. We're kind of doing it all in one.
If you're really struggling with that, I always like to say get up and make your bed. I don't care that your bed is made because it's clean or it's a good thing, but it's actually something that you can do and succeed at every single day. It's easy, so you can check that off your list. If you can do that for seven days in a row, again, you're creating your own motivation. And then add something else to it. A lot of us will try to do a thousand things at once. Today, I'm going to create my motivation by sending 100 cold emails making my bed working out for 20 minutes like all of these things.
0:59:02 - Stacey
That's Marx every day. It's not going to work right.
0:59:06 - Tarra
So, yeah, it's starting small and creating those little moments where you can create your big, big moments of success. That's consistency, we hear this all the time.
0:59:16 - Mark
Like it's 10% brains and 90% consistency, just keep going.
0:59:21 - Tarra
It's why habits are so important too, because when you're tired or when you don't know what to do, you're going to go to what the habit is. So if your habit again I'm just using 100 cold emails a day as an example it's not really what build businesses, but anyway, if your habit is to get up in the morning and send 100 cold emails and you actually make that a habit, when you're tired, when maybe you're traveling and out of the norm, you're going to probably send those 100 cold emails.
0:59:52 - Mark
Yeah, well, because I've always said with habits it's not. It takes something that you would define as something I do and turns it into something that you are right. So I don't need to worry about how I feel about doing it, because it's just who I am. I get up and I work out. In the same breath, as I do not smoke, I do not drink, I work out. It's not something I have to plan to do, it's just part of my day, that's. I agree, the power of habits well, the power of habits is a book, but the power of tapping into habits right To manage your time and manage your success and your focus and everything else yeah.
1:00:23 - Tarra
It all seems so easy, right, but when you get, when you get doing it, it's hard, and it's those internal triggers that you really, really have to get just over the hump. I think I can't remember who said it, but someone said that 99% of the population is okay with being mediocre, and it's true, because it's easy being mediocre. So if you want to be just a little bit better than 1%, you just have to kind of fight your way to actually making it an easy habit. I get up and work out.
1:00:56 - Mark
That's fabulous. That sounds like a David Goggins quote. I definitely does. Oh my gosh, I think I might have been.
1:01:03 - Tarra
Tim.
1:01:03 - Stacey
Ferriss.
1:01:03 - Mark
Oh, it could be Ferriss. Yeah, it could be, ferriss.
1:01:05 - Stacey
He's always quit. On this podcast People talk about Tim.
1:01:08 - Mark
Ferriss a lot, yeah, yeah.
1:01:09 - Stacey
It was fantastic. Well, what else do you have?
1:01:11 - Tarra
I mean I, I, could talk to you all day. Ask your favorite question. You want me to ask my favorite question? Ask your favorite question. I want to hear. I want to hear what it is Okay, Okay.
1:01:20 - Stacey
Um question I love to ask people is what is something about you that pretty much no one knows at all that you can break here on this podcast?
1:01:29 - Tarra
I'm an introvert.
1:01:30 - Stacey
Really no one knows that. Yeah, are you an extrovert, introvert? I hide it real well. Yeah, me too, I think.
1:01:39 - Tarra
I'm an extrovert, introvert. Yeah yeah, you've had to adapt yourself. I would rather have zero friends and spend all my time with my six cats than you have six cats. I talk to people. I do have six cats, that's awesome. And you talk to people for a living Wow. And I talk to people for a living.
1:01:57 - Mark
I get it.
1:01:59 - Stacey
Do you have to put on your Sasha Fierce, like Beyonce, to do your talks to people all day?
1:02:05 - Tarra
I don't, but I definitely have to like yeah, I have to like again motivate, create my own motivation to in the morning. I want to have it that I have built. That is really important for me is that I get up early, and not because I think that successful people get up early, but because it's a quiet moment where no one is pinging me, no one is asking for me, no one is anything. The world is asleep, so I can be quiet, be in my own head, focus and then really be able to put on my outside world and go talk to people for the rest of the day. So I am going to be probably pinging you, sorry.
1:02:41 - Mark
No, I think.
1:02:41 - Tarra
I think Five o'clock tomorrow. I think you're so fantastic.
1:02:46 - Stacey
And I've just enjoyed this conversation so much. And I hope I didn't harp too much on the celebrity stuff, but I'm kind of into it. No, I think it's great. I think it's great, I think it's great, I think it's great, I think it's great. I think, it's great to talk about that if you wanted, and maybe we'll have to have you come back.
1:03:04 - Mark
An all celebrity discussion.
1:03:06 - Stacey
Yeah, I'm sure she'd love that. But so how can people find you and where do we like how? Where do we send people so that they can have more of you?
1:03:15 - Tarra
Yeah, so the easiest way is take it easygroupcom. You can also find me on Tara with two Rs. Stubbinscom. I'm on all socials.
1:03:27 - Stacey
You can just Google my name, tara with two Rs and I should pop up Nice. And what's the business that you think is going to be the one moving forward? Like what's next for you? Like what are you just going to keep growing?
1:03:39 - Tarra
these or so. The big end goal for take it easy is to be able to invest in small companies and then be able to flop in our all of our services, all of our fractional services, to really help the companies grow and scale in the models that we know that work.
1:03:58 - Mark
Fantastic. I have no doubt she's going to be able to do that, I know. I look back just listening to this conversation. The fearlessness of getting on that bus is sticking with me.
I know In that moment, taking advantage of the opportunity Without any clues, getting on that bus Right, just like this is what I want to make happen. This is my opportunity. I'm getting on the bus Like, figuratively and literally, yeah, getting on the bus. And then all the resiliency and the resourcefulness that you had to show in those moments of go find me a TV at 2 am Incredible traits, incredible skillset that you have.
1:04:25 - Stacey
You still have that t-shirt. You still have that t-shirt.
1:04:28 - Tarra
I'm going to be a rock star someday, I know, I don't. It's really disintegrated.
1:04:31 - Stacey
You might have to send you one.
1:04:33 - Tarra
I know my father always had a very bad habit of if shirts or pants had too many holes in them, he would throw them out.
1:04:42 - Mark
So Sounds like a mom. Oh man, yeah, thank you. Well, we can't thank you enough for joining us and engaging and just really useful. I love it when somebody comes on and can share things like this that we can all immediately take and put in the use, and it was just a great fun conversation, so thank you so much, tara.
1:04:58 - Stacey
Thank you, tarra. Thank you, thanks so much for having me. You're still here, you're still listening. Thanks for listening to the Gurus and Game Changers podcast While you're here. If you enjoyed it, please take a minute to rate this episode and leave us a quick review. We want to know what you thought of the show and what you took from it and how it might have helped you. We read and appreciate every comment. Thanks, see you next week.