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Hey, my name is Emily Merrell. I’m a taco loving people connector. And I’m obsessed with playing the name game and all things networking. I’m the founder of second degree society, a female focused networking community, as well as a business coach for female business owners passionate about bringing their business to the next level with the help of events, community and connections. I crave deep conversations, and I’m continuously curious to see what makes people tick. And I’m invested in uncovering their stories with some life lessons along the way. This podcast is aimed to inspire and educate as you tackle your busy day. So join the conversation and tune in for the second degree podcast. I’m your host Emily and today I am so excited to have my friend Tara Lynn Jensen. She is the founder and chief energy Officer of activate coaching terilyn Welcome to the show.

 

Taralyn Jensen  00:57

Hi, Emily. I’m so excited to be here. I love

 

Emily Merrell  01:00

your spirit and your energy and having you here and I feel so lucky. I had like a double date with you. These two days.

 

Taralyn Jensen  01:09

I know that doesn’t happen very much in the virtual world. I think this might be a first for me too. Yeah, right.

 

Emily Merrell  01:15

Times. And one day, for those listening terilyn hosted. We’re recording this in July, and she hosted a beautiful event for us last night focused on knowing your strengths and Gallup had betrayed everything about it. Yeah, you’re doing good. Yeah, well, good finders. I’m like, Yes, I thought Clifton in there, too. But yeah, the Strength Finders and like how we can utilize our strengths to live our lives. And Carolyn, I have to say just like huge shout out how incredible it was to take the strengths that I took in 2016. And be able to talk to someone who actually understood what I was looking at.

 

Taralyn Jensen  01:58

And I think that’s where I want people to get excited, because oftentimes, people take the assessment for the very first time in some kind of work environment. So it’s onboarding, its staff retreat. So you get the book, you’re all excited. You take the assessment, you see the report, you think that’s cool. And then nobody ever talks about it again. So you’re left kind of wondering, well, what next? Tell me more. I’m curious. And that’s was my same experience until I met a Gallup coach, and she just opened my eyes to the depth and breadth of where you can go with your strengths. And I think that was the moment. I became probably the biggest strength and suit enthusiast you might ever come across. And

 

Emily Merrell  02:45

I want to I want for those listening. They’re like gallops their horse riders in here. Yeah. No. Yes. Yes. Yeah. However, we’re not talking about horses, y’all. This is gallop Strength Finders. So you may have been introduced to your point herland introduced to this at a conference or at a leadership retreat or something for team building, a lot of companies will have their employees do you know, generally like when a company will have an employee go through this?

 

Taralyn Jensen  03:15

Have you seen the most common that I have seen with organizations, and it was, again, one of my experiences is in onboarding, which on one hand is a prime time to do it, if you take it to the next level, because there’s great benefit and understanding your own strengths, and why you do what you do and how you show up and what energizes you. But in a work or a team environment, the magic happens when everyone is aware of what everyone else is bringing to the table how everyone else is showing up. So it becomes far more cohesive, far more collaborative. There’s a better communication because there’s common language when everybody can walk around and go, Oh, I see your achiever in action, or thanks for your input the other day, it just creates an environment that is so much more positive and focused on what we all do, right. So I think onboarding isn’t ideal time or a staff retreat is another experience I’ve had because then you get the whole day for everyone to learn more about their own, but then get in the teams they work with and have lots of lightbulb moments. So I would say either one of those

 

Emily Merrell  04:28

great time to thumbs up by Tara and I really appreciated it. So for those who have done it or felt like wait, I feel like I’ve done this assessment. Reminder. It’s five, you get five and then but it’s one of 36

 

Taralyn Jensen  04:45

It’s our first so it’s Clifton Strengths. And here’s the here’s the the word guessing game. It was Strengths Finder. And now it’s Clifton Strengths. So that is a mouthful, but whatever. It’s all The same thing, but as soon as I shows people the book, they’re like, oh, yeah, I have taken that. So I think there’s, there needs to be that visual connection, because that’s how we all got it is we got a book and a code. And nowadays, you can just jump online and get the code. And so you go on Clifton Strengths. And there are 34 top strengths, and you take an assessment, it’s 177 questions, which sounds like a lot, but it’s not. That the hope is that you go through it quickly, because it’s supposed to be a gut check. It’s like, whatever your gut would respond. And then you get a report that lists your top five, what they call dominant strengths. And that means those are your strengths that show up naturally. Those are the strengths that energize you all day long, they get you in flow, they bring you joy, they make you a better team member, they make you a better leader. And so once people can understand their top five, because there’s a lot, there is a lot of depth and breadth broadly with strengths, but for each strength individually, there’s so much to them. Once you have you know, a good understanding of your top five, then you can start to explore the others that are dominant for you, that are supporting for you. And even lesser, which is another reason that I fell in love with gallop Strengths Finder is they don’t refer to any of them as weaknesses per se. So even the five that are on the bottom of your list are just lesser strikes, but harder for you to to bring forward. But they’re there, you can pull them out, it just takes a little more work. And I liked that

 

Emily Merrell  06:41

rebrand of lesser versus weaker. Because surely you had mentioned that people would go and check their their bottom every year. And oh, no, I’m not this, this this. And I mean, for me, it was so cool. Looking at where the categories were. And in my, in my top five, I have not seen that as executor. Is that what it was? Yes, I’m very much in like one category. And that would have been so valuable to know and to have. When I was interviewing for jobs, it would have been so valuable to have when I was looking in understanding my boss like, why am I why is when she’s saying this thing. It’s like my brain is having a glitch and not computing? Well, when this person talks to me in this way, I can do anything. So what a gift to have. And I’m a huge fan of like the self assessments and learning. So how does Yeah, how did you like? What’s your story? Tara lead? How did you get into the world of what is the chief energy officer? First off? And how did you get into this world,

 

Taralyn Jensen  07:51

I just had to mix up the CEO title because you know, everybody’s a CEO, so I had to just give it a little bit of spin. But my whole career journey has always been around well being well being has kind of been the anchor. So from a one on one coaching, to working in Healthy Schools, healthy workplaces, healthy communities, and then at that healthy state level, the comments thread has always been helping people live their best life. And in the beginning, my degree in exercise physiology, I was pretty focused on that area of well being which I kind of jokingly say, Everything started with cardio and broccoli, right? That’s kind of where wellbeing started. We were really focused on moving our bodies eating healthy foods. And that’s still important. But I have to say I’m I’m so glad that we have evolved over the years to really take more of a whole person approach to wellbeing because there is so much more to us and our lives than just the physical. And especially these days, mental health and emotional health is a priority for everyone. career well being everything was disrupted during COVID. And I have to say, I think in many ways. On the good side of things, I think we learned, you know that things can work differently, things can be differently, and they can be better. And so there’s always been kind of this thread over my life and also a personal interest. I’ve got every personal growth self care assessment book in my house and in June of 2021 this is kind of my favorite story these days. I I was fired on Zoom because it was you know, mid COVID for shining too much. And people always look at me and think is that what they really said? I’ve been asked that so many times and I say yes, I was told all you want to do is shine And my response to this person was, don’t you want all of your team members to shine, quite frankly, as the leader? Why don’t we all want that, as a manager of teams in the past? That’s what I wanted for all of my team members. And I was told that I simply wanted to shine too much.

 

Emily Merrell  10:23

And so what did, sir, first off, it’s,

 

Taralyn Jensen  10:28

and I think the cherry on top was that it was in a workplace wellness space. And that’s the piece that just, you know, is is a kicker, I think that’s probably the hardest part of the story people to believe, because that’s an organization that is focused on wellness focused on wellbeing focused on workplace culture. And so it just seems that’s the least likely place, you’re gonna see something like that happen. But I’m grateful. I know it sounds crazy. But I am grateful for that moment, because it was the universe pretty much shouting at me that I was not on the right path. And if I wasn’t going to choose a different path on my own, they were going to help give me a little push. So it wasn’t two weeks later, after that moment, that I decided, I’m going to start my own business. It’s always been a dream, there’s always been a little Ember in there that’s just waiting to be lit up and shine bright. And off I went. So it’s almost it’s been two years in July. And first thing I did was get certified as gallop strength coach, because I just I knew, I knew how much I loved it. I knew what it had done for me. I knew what what the impact was with teams I’ve worked with, with colleagues I’ve worked with just in my personal life with friends and family, I just knew that’s the direction I wanted to go. And so fast forward to today. And here we are chatting, strengths,

 

Emily Merrell  12:02

gardens, drinks, and I have to just call out, this makes a lot of sense that you studied physiology. You have Michelle Obama arms. I was just, I was like, wow, she’s got some really nice arms on her. And this makes a lot more sense now that you were in that world. Health and my world. Yes. Okay, so she’s very sweet. She’s wearing a tank top and to this hot outside and getting out of the gun show, y’all. So So with, with this transition, this moment, first off happened where you were called out on Zoom, which sounds a illegal and be so rude. And but also I’m a big, there’s two things that I always say congratulations for and whether it’s, it’s right or wrong, but I say congratulations when you’re fired. And I say congratulations, when there’s a breakup. Because there’s always another chapter, while there’s a lot of mourning. And there’s a lot of frustration in between those chapters, I think that that new chapter is going to serve you that much better. So I’m always an optimist and a positive person on those two life events. So clearly, you weren’t meant to be at that company. And if you were meant to be there for that moment, to tell this story to other people, and encourage people to shine a little brighter in their lives. So with activate coaching, how do you help support individuals?

 

Taralyn Jensen  13:31

First of all, I have to call out your positivity strengths. You just put that front and center cuz you’re in like me, I I do celebrate, you know, terminations, relationship breakups. And I know in the moment, it’s, it’s, it’s very hard. And I get that, but it means that that’s just not where you’re meant to be. So I love that you brought that up. But so activate coaching. Originally, it was going to be called Ride your wave. That was the first name of my company, because I feel like life is like riding a wave. You ebb and flow. There are days when it’s smooth sailing. And there are days when the waves come crashing down. And the sun, the sea and the sand are my happy place. So it just all sounds like this perfect little package. And fortunately, my sweet sister who is in marketing and communication said no way you’re not calling your business that I said, Well, fine, and she, I knew why. Because the first thing people are gonna think about a surfing and that’s the last thing I’m going to talk about. So in my little heart, it’s still ride your wave. But then she came up with a brand she listened to me she knows me. And she’s obviously been around me for a very long time. So she’s the one I can thank for coming up with activate coaching because she feels like me as a person, whether professionally or personally I want to activate something in you. So whether your well being your strengths, you know, your joy, your energy, there’s the chief energy officer that just felt like a good fit. So it’s been a little bit of a rocky road, I think I did not know, the journey of the entrepreneur, I just knew I wanted to get on. I just wanted to get on the ride and go, and I’m also a Taurus. So I thought, I’m independent. And I’m gonna figure this out. So there have been a lot of missteps, there have been a lot of detours or pivot parties is what I call them, trying to find the positive in it, there has been a lot of trying to figure things out on my own. And I realized that that’s not my path forward. So in the last probably six to eight months, I’ve reached out to people like you, Emily, and communities like 60 degrees, and coaches and entrepreneurs that have gone before me and know far more than I do about this work. And so finally, finally, finally gained some clarity on really what direction I want to take. And everything was confirmed, when I got to attend the Gallup at work summit in June, in person, I was like a fan girl, with all of the Gallup people that I see all the time, which none of you will probably ever know ever in your whole life. But I knew them as soon as I saw them. And so I went to the conference, knew exactly what I wanted to do, who I wanted to help how I wanted to serve them, and had a seven hour drive from Omaha to Denver to figure it out. And so I’m now on this path, to really working with people managers. And the reason for that is, there was some new data that was shared at the summit. But also we were reminded about many things around this, this role of a people manager, number one, they are the most burned out in any organization. And it makes sense if you’re a people manager listening to this, or if you’ve worked for a people manager. They’re navigating, you know, frontline workers, senior leaders decision making priorities on this group priorities on this, and schedules, remote and hybrid work, burnout, stress and overwhelm, they’ve got the weight of the world on their shoulders, then you add to that, that 70% of an employee’s experience is based on the manager. So now, you’re burned out overwhelmed, stressed, trying to manage remote hybrid work. And now you’re feeling like oh, my gosh, I am responsible for these amazing people that are on my team. And so I thought, who’s helping them? Who is there to support the manager, I’ve been a manager. I’ve been managed by really, really great managers, and not great managers whatsoever. And so I just felt like that is my path forward, because I really want to work with women. And many women are in that kind of people manager role. And then I really want to work with teams, as you and I chatted and kind of had some aha moments yesterday, team dynamics would be night and day different if everyone came to the table, knowing what each person was bringing, and what each person’s roles, responsibilities were, who’s who has the executing skills, they’re going to keep us on task, make sure we have our action items and make sure we know who’s responsible, make sure things don’t get dropped. Strategic, they’re going to make sure we think big picture, they are going to make sure we make data informed decisions. They’re going to make sure we collect data, relationship builders, there’s the people, people, people, people, so they’re going to be building relationships, maintaining relationships, connecting with other groups in your organization, communicating with the leaders, communicating with the team members, and then influencing. And then the work I’ve done over the years with nonprofit and government influencing is often the the lowest bucket if you will, because that’s where you tend to find salespeople, politicians, people hurt shouting from the rooftops, who they are and what they do. And so I just feel like, I want to help the manager first because they need it most. And not just in a work role. But how do you bring in well being because Gallup has evolved to connect knowing your strengths to improving well being. So I can coach people, knowing what your top five are, here’s how you might improve your physical well being, here’s how you might improve your social well being. And that’s a faster way to get there. Because we want solutions. But more than anything, we want really fast solutions. What is the quickest path forward? So how can I come in and support people, man managers understanding where they are understanding where they can go, how can I get them moving forward quicker so that they’re more engaged as their team. There’s better retention, less turnover. There’s a thriving culture, people are cohesive, connected, communicating. So that is really who I am so excited that I get to serve them very, very soon with some things that are coming out this fall.

 

Emily Merrell  20:27

Oh, you’re just here, folks. In line for me, you’re so right. I think oftentimes, with managers, they’re left in this Noman zone where yes, they don’t get the time and day if they’re reporting up to higher levels, who are so busy, that they don’t get the coddling that they probably desire as well. And so to have someone external to help them help help them navigate, dynamics, and interrelationships, interpersonal relationships is so, so important. So valid. I love that. That’s great. Yay. I was gonna say also, I think this is a great teachable moment for everyone listening, what Carolyn did in terms of like, being really clear of who she’s serving, and also communicating what action she’s gonna take, take serving them, it’s easier for me who is a people, people person or a connector? Or relator? According to Yes, yeah. And being able to be out into the world when someone says, oh, my gosh, I have this employee who I just don’t know what to do with them. It’s been really challenging, that I can be like, you know, who you should talk to you and making that introduction?

 

Taralyn Jensen  21:44

Yes, absolutely. Because I think that’s another piece of the process is in between knowing your own strengths. And then the team strengths, we often work more closely with one or two people every day than we do with others. So there’s just as much impact if you can figure out even what those two person strengths are, how they work together, especially in a manager employee scenario, because right off the bat, there are, you know, we assume, which is not a good thing for us to do. But we make assumptions about those roles. And what Gallup has found, and this research has been out for a while, which I think is really great. I post it probably once a week on LinkedIn, but they found that people have really shifted what they want in a workplace over the years. And one of the things they want is a coach, not a boss. They want ongoing conversations, not a one year annual review. They want meaningful, purposeful work, not a paycheck, yes, they want a paycheck. But we’re finding jobs now based on the work being meaningful, based on us having an impact based on there being a path towards development. So are people aware that what people are looking for in a job has has shifted over the years. And moving from a boss to a coach is something that we can train, we can teach, we can practice. And there are very simple steps to move in that direction. And honestly, when I was a manager, I would have loved to have been called somebody’s coach rather than their boss.

 

Emily Merrell  23:33

Oh, yeah, in a day. I feel like a boss seem so scary. And I’m like, Oh, God, I don’t want to be your cheerleader. I’m here for you. I’m Yes. Hoping you surpass me and hire me.

 

Taralyn Jensen  23:44

Right? And God forbid if I get called into your office because it feels like sometimes we’re getting called into the principal’s office, you know, it just is. It’s, we just need to shift the environment and really start to think about the way we approach things, focusing on what’s right, focusing on what’s good, rather than you know, where we tend to put our attention on the weaknesses, our challenges, the mistakes we make, that’s going to happen. We’re human beings, we are human beings. First, before we are an employee, a mom, a daughter, a spouse, a friend, we are human beings.

 

Emily Merrell  24:24

My favorite boss that I had was actually a male boss and I had him for about three months before I was transitioned to another boss because I was kind of an orphan in the company where my boss left and then I was in a limbo and then another boss came in, but I lie. Yeah, it was fun. I’ve had that happen so many times, which is probably why I’m very bad at being managed in general. Like a spirit that floats through. But what I really liked about his approach when something didn’t go according to plan rather than Like making you feel really bad about it, he called it. He said, let’s schedule a whoops meeting. effing oops. And let’s and he’s like, let’s get ice cream deal with it, or a shot or that. And I love that that perspective on it versus, like, Oh, you are to blame, and it’s your fault. And like, this is where you screwed up. And you’re just holding guilt, yes, review. And I thought that was just like such a, I was not scared to talk to him. Yes, about things that went wrong versus other other bosses where I felt like I had, everything had to be perfect, and I’d hide any mistakes. I was like, I was literally like one of those squirrels that just like squirrels mistakes away, because I was so scared to

 

Taralyn Jensen  25:46

show the public about this. Yes, I love that, that example of your boss, because that’s what people want. That’s what people want. And I was talking to my sister who has been a manager, and has been managed by the good and the bad, and everything in between, probably like most of us, and she said, she was talking to me about the work that I want to do. And she’s so excited. And she kept using kind of her boss as an example. And she recently got a new boss, who is so good. She was the first boss that has listened and heard her concern in like five years about overwhelm too much on the plate. And she said, Whatever you do, With this offer, with this, you know, with this path towards people managers,

 

Emily Merrell  26:42

remind them

 

Taralyn Jensen  26:45

to and I can’t do the way that she said it, but be the manager we all want to have. Yeah, I want to be the manager that everyone wants to work for. Totally, there are some that don’t desire that they are still in boss mode, they are still in, you know, this kind of old school way of managing, if you will. And so I love the way that she said that is encourage the people you’re working with to be the manager that everyone wants to work with. Because imagine that feeling to like, again, imagine a world and I said this on the on the presentation that everybody woke up excited to go to work, because they got to work with really great managers and team members. And they got to do what they do best.

 

Taralyn Jensenl  27:38

Yeah. Yeah. And they they loved it. Yes. It’d be in totally different worlds. It really different worlds.

 

Emily Merrell  27:45

We wouldn’t, we wouldn’t dread our commute, either. on a train, on a plane, whatever the commute says, Yes, eager Zuma tears, I’m here to you’re in, in bedroom office, whatever

 

Taralyn Jensen  27:58

it may be. Yes.

 

Emily Merrell  27:59

I love that. I think it’s incredible. And I so admire your positivity, your positive spin on things, and being able to find that resilience, which I’m curious is that one of your strengths, resilience.

 

Taralyn Jensen  28:12

It’s not one of the 34. But I will say I have certainly trained that resilience muscle a lot over the last 12 years.

 

Emily Merrell  28:26

I think I think that resilience, muscle is fascinating and in training. And that, obviously, you never want to wish things that you’ve gone through on your worst enemy. But at the same time, a pandemic happens and you’re like, a pandemic, this is easy compared to this shit that I went through. Sure, it’s a muscle that you want to have, but you don’t want to have at the same time.

 

Taralyn Jensen  28:52

Right? Right. And I think a part of that pandemic was that we were all in it together. Totally. It was like, that was a time when it was like we were all on the same page. And that’s a rarity these days, but it just felt like we were all told to go home and stay home. And then figure it out, figure out where we go from there. And so I think that helped. Because sometimes the hard part is feeling like you’re alone and whatever the situation is, I’m the only person that’s ever been fired. I’m the only person that’s been divorced. I’m the only person that’s a single mom, I’m the only person struggling with money. And so when you can, you can see and be around others who are in a similar situation and trying to figure it out themselves. There is an example of the power of community.

 

Emily Merrell  29:44

Like Hi, it’s me, I’m the product and then you realize we’re all we all have similar problems. I think that is it’s such a good point. Well, terilyn so how can people find out more about you and working with you and bringing you into their their country? To me, you

 

Taralyn Jensen  30:01

bet I am not on all the platforms because my number one strength is relator. If I was a woo, I might have all the bases covered. But mostly on LinkedIn is where a lot of my work around people managers is also on Facebook, and Instagram. And then always my email terilyn at activate coach.com. That’s where you can find me. And even if just to say hello, to connect, tell me what you’re doing. Learn more while I’m doing. I just love to meet other people who are just as passionate about this work or curious, those are the people I really want to reach is that when I talk about strengths, here’s the good, here’s the good thing. And I think it’s funny that you brought up Gallup and horses, because one of my biggest learnings, as I’ve, you know, shifted from being in the workplace to an entrepreneur is I thought everyone knew about Strengths Finder. I thought it was just some everybody knows Strengths Finder, because I saw it in three or four different workplaces. And I did it and we all talked about it, and so on and so forth, and got on my entrepreneur journey, went to women’s groups, or chamber groups or presentations. And I proudly stand up there and say, I’m a Gallup certified strengths coach, and they’re like, What? What is, what is that? Are we going to the gym? I don’t know what that is. And I said, you know, like your top five, you know, you took that assessment, or your top five, and it’s just a blank stare.

 

Emily Merrell  31:43

And why am quiz.

 

Taralyn Jensen  31:48

So that was quite the eye opener. And I think it scared me a little bit, because now I had an even bigger learning curve, like I had to figure out how to bring strengths into other areas of life outside the workplace. And so my goal now is to spark enough curiosity for people to hear about strengths, or how does it help with burnout? Or what do you mean, it helps with well being and communication, couples coaching, that’s the thing now. So I’m hoping to spark curiosity that people go, I want to know, my top five. Yeah, that’s the first step, just get in and learn that it’s really fun. It’s really fun. I think, you know, sometimes I every now and then I run into people that don’t love those kinds of assessments, they don’t want to know more about themselves, they don’t want to self reflect. So get it not going to obviously push you into it. But I think for the majority of us, it’s just a way to know more about ourselves, why we do what we do, why we say what we say why we like what we like, why we don’t like what we don’t like, you know, it just answered some of those questions. And I just want people to know their top five, that’s the first step, your top five, and then we can chat. So yeah,

 

Emily Merrell  33:01

get armed with your top five and and you can navigate things a little bit more, but then get armed with the terilyn. You can truly activate and understand how to apply your top five to your life.

 

Taralyn Jensen  33:12

Yes, yes. And the coolest fun fact that I always share. And I love to do it in person because I see the reaction. But the chance that anyone else is going to have your top five, in the exact same order is one in 33 million. That was anybody’s questioning why should I care about this? Am I unique? What do I do I have any gifts to offer to the world? Heck yeah, you do. Because only one two other people on the planet you know, which you’ll probably never run into, have the same top five, they probably don’t have the same rest of them. They’re probably in a different order. They probably show up differently. So you are the only person who is you that’s going to show up with these gifts and shine your light the way that it should shine. Amen

 

Emily Merrell  34:07

to that. Amen. All our special snowflakes in some way shape. Yes.

 

Taralyn Jensen  34:13

Yes.

 

Emily Merrell  34:15

I like that. I really like that. Yep. Berlin. One of my favorite ways to end our conversation is by asking six fast questions. Are you ready?

 

Taralyn Jensen  34:25

I’m ready.

 

Emily Merrell  34:26

Okay, tell us an unknown fun fact about you.

 

Taralyn Jensen  34:30

I love to vacuum. Oh,

 

Emily Merrell  34:33

what time are you available?

 

34:37

I always joke that it could be a side hustle because I I vacuum every day. And sometimes when I need a break in between meetings, that’ll be my little movement break. It’s just a vacuum. There’s just a satisfaction with it. I grew up with a mom who was obsessed with cleaning. We actually had an indoor rake. Did you ever have an indoor rake? Did you know it was a thing? No We’d have to rake ourselves out of the house. So there was no footprints on the carpet. So I would hate vacuuming. But I love the vacuum and I will be honest and say I do have a rake in the house at this very moment.

 

Emily Merrell  35:15

Do you have a lot of carpet in your house?

 

Taralyn Jensen  35:20

Enough, it’s not huge, but it’s still very satisfying. And I got a new vacuum up a couple months ago and my daughter was just she thought it was just really odd how excited I was about the new vacuum. And the other day I said you want to try it out? You want to use it. She’s like, No, like no interest. Thank you. But no, thank you. So yes, if I need to, I will have a side hustle where I’ll just go around and vacuum homes. It’ll be

 

Emily Merrell  35:45

lovely. Welcome. Anytime if you want to try it out and debut it here. I’m

 

Taralyn Jensen  35:50

okay. Good to know. Oh my gosh, that’s

 

Emily Merrell  35:53

a great fun fact. Who would be a dream person to be connected with?

 

Taralyn Jensen  35:58

I have always wanted to meet Jennifer Garner.

 

Emily Merrell  36:02

Oh, you know, she’s like my, my crush, right?

 

Taralyn Jensen  36:06

No, me too.

 

Emily Merrell  36:08

I went to Denison because she went to Denison. No way. I literally DM her like, hi, we should connect. We both i Yeah, I’m very creepy with her. And I know people who know her who were in the same classes as her. And they’re like, oh, yeah, like this thing happened. And this thing happened. I’m like, can you just you know, drop my name and maybe tell her that she needs to be best friends. Did you watch alias is out? Yes.

 

Taralyn Jensen  36:31

Yeah, yes. And I’m rewatching it now because I need some alias fives in my life. So good. This, she’s down to earth. She’s real. She’s funny. She I just I love her. i Yes, I want to be friends. So if you ever get connected with her, I want to ask the same thing to bring me into the conversation.

 

Emily Merrell  36:55

Oh, 1,000%. I’m, I’m consulting at a women’s conference for my for my college right now. And I’m like, my president of the university like this is a great time that we bring in Jennifer. You know, can I call out? Miss Garner? I don’t know. Yeah, I’m like, I need to meet her at James clear, went to my college too, and was white. Few grades above me. So I know him. And I had the chance to interview him for one of summits. And I was like, Oh my gosh. Next up, Jennifer Gardner.

 

Taralyn Jensen  37:31

I love him too. I love him to atomic habits. Love it. Love it. Oh my gosh, I know. All the people I could say. I know.

 

Emily Merrell  37:41

Yeah. Very hits home literally brought me to the university that I went to knowing that she went there really weird that

 

Taralyn Jensen  37:48

I was obsessed. That’s amazing. Speaking

 

Emily Merrell  37:50

of shows that you’re watching, What show are you currently watching?

 

Taralyn Jensen  37:55

So I think I am. I’m watching this because my sister got my daughter hooked on it. And it’s the Bachelorette. Oh, and I am really struggling to watch it to be quite frank. But now my it’s a really fun connection between my sister and my daughter. So aunt and niece are just having this little fun chat text about the Bachelorette. And so I am now caught up but here’s the way that I survive it is I have to be doing something else. So I’m on the bike or I’m stretching or I’m vacuuming. I’m doing something else rather than just sitting there and watching it because they’ve kind of, you know, dragged me into this bachelorette world again, so you’re enjoying it on one hand, but really,

 

Emily Merrell  38:47

on the other hand, you’re like that Tik Tok or Instagram meme where the equity wants to you and oh, oh, how did who is that? You don’t like slowly sit down? Yes.

 

Taralyn Jensen  38:59

Yes, I am. So stretching. That’s

 

Emily Merrell  39:01

great. That’s wonderful. What book are you reading? Or do you recommend reading?

 

Taralyn Jensen  39:07

I am reading and it was right here beside me. But it’s called 10x is better. 10x is easier than to x. So I think very appropriate for an entrepreneur, that are we spending most of our time on the 20% that makes the biggest difference. But I think in the real world. It’s very applicable because I think, post COVID We have all started run on autopilot with a lot of Netflix, a lot of social media, a lots of wine, which I’m not complaining about just stating a fact. And we’ve kind of just gotten into this routine of not really living intentionally like do we wake up and think about what’s going to bring us joy. Who are we going to connect with today? What am I going to do today that has me meaning how am I going to grow today? And so even thinking about your personal life? Are you? Are you putting time and your schedule to focus on the things that matter most?

 

Emily Merrell  40:12

I think that’s such a such a great reminder. Because it’s true. Yeah, we’re so we’re so busy and distracted by all the things. So it’s called 10x 10x

 

Taralyn Jensen  40:21

is easier than to x 10x is easier. And then 2x Oh, yeah. Okay, this by the authors of the gap in the game, which is a book that talks about, you know, we tend to focus more on what we don’t have than the progress we’ve made. I love that. Yeah, so good. One other secret

 

Emily Merrell  40:41

that your new book recommendations, y’all. And then what? This is a very important question. But what is your favorite emoji?

 

Taralyn Jensen  40:50

Yes, I just think about this one. The one that I use the most, I don’t even know what it’s called. But it looks just like a happy person with rosy cheeks. Okay, yeah. So it’s just my way of sending a text or sending an email. Because I feel like if there’s not an emoji, I wonder if somebody’s not happy with me, or if I said something wrong. So I always want to make sure people feel like I see you, I hear you. You’re important. I’m gonna, you know, wrap up my communication with a little smile. I love it.

 

Emily Merrell  41:26

I think that’s beautiful. Okay, my final question, question for you here is Who gave you permission or inspired you to do the thing you wanted to do with your life?

 

Taralyn Jensen  41:40

I would say on one hand, the person who fired me because I am forever grateful for them. For doing that I would have gotten out sooner than later. It’s not like I didn’t know something was off. But on the other hand, I would say my mom every single time because she’s an entrepreneur. She was a single mom of me and my sister. I was eight and my sister was to my parents divorced. And she put herself through beauty school and worked for many people and then open her own salon in Idaho and has been successful ever since. And she’s the best damn hairdresser in town. So every time I go home to Idaho, I get my own little personal experience. But she honest to Pete’s, she worked harder than anyone else. I know. She still does to the day. She is the only one of my parents. Mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad who’s not retired. She had two major surgeries this year. And she’s back at work this week. She loves it so much. She followed her dream she made it happen, no matter what. And so if I ever have that feeling like what am I doing on this path? I shouldn’t be on this path. I have made so many mistakes. I can always turn to her story and say, My mom did it. I’m gonna damn do it too. Yeah.

 

Emily Merrell  43:12

Oh, tears to mom. I love that. So and terilyn I so appreciate you. I appreciate your story. I appreciate your mom for for building you. Thank you for being on today’s podcast.

 

Taralyn Jensen  43:27

Thank you so much. This has been so much fun just getting to know you and the six degrees community man I have a whole list of amazing women that I want to connect with and say hi and reach out to so I am grateful I have to give a little call out to Lizzie Nelson because she’s the one that was like do you know about six degrees? And I said no. But I should and made the connection and here we are. So I just appreciate all of your support your positivity your light because there is so much love for you in this community and I can totally see why and I haven’t been here that long. I appreciate

 

44:03

you say.

 

Emily Merrell  44:06

And listeners thank you so much for being here. And if you liked today’s episode, please share it with a friend give us five stars. And we will see that the next time have a beautiful day everyone