January 14, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode of "Rediscovering Connection," Shelley Doyle dives deep into the world of virtual community building with award-winning community builder, artist, author, and emcee, Trish Tonaj. From the East Coast of Canada to the global stage, Trish shares her journey through entrepreneurship, law, and beyond, illustrating how she has used storytelling to connect and empower entrepreneurs worldwide.
We explore the inception of "Share Your Stories," a platform that's grown from a passion project into a vibrant entrepreneurial community that spans five continents, offering visibility and networking opportunities without any financial exchange.
Key topics include:
- The Birth of Share Your Stories: How Trish's experience at Harvard Law School inspired her to create a space for mentorship and storytelling.
- Community Building: Insights into creating a nurturing environment where entrepreneurs can be seen, heard, found, and hired.
- Challenges of Entrepreneurship: Addressing the hurdles, particularly for female entrepreneurs.
- The Impact of Regularity and Consistency: How maintaining a consistent schedule has fostered a loyal community.
- Future Initiatives: The expansion of the Share Your Stories Global Marketing Grant.
Guest Bio:
Trish Tonaj is an author, artist and the founder/host for shareyourstories.online. A passion project, built on a platform of mentorship and breaking barriers to success, featuring global entrepreneurs and enterprise leaders who share their great ideas.
Website: www.shareyourstories.online
Book: Breaking Barriers, 10 Entrepreneurial Women Share Their Stories
Read my story
Watch my live interview
Whether you're an entrepreneur seeking connection or someone yearning to launch a community of your own, this episode offers valuable insights.
Subscribe now and let the magic unfold.
Love & sparkles,
Shelley
---
I hope our conversation inspires you to rediscover connection in your personal or professional life.
Subscribe now and let the magic unfold.
Love & sparkles,
✨Shelley
About Your Host
Hello you, I’m Shelley Doyle, founder of The Communiverse.
Through our 90-day program, The Social Wealth Roadmap, we empower remote and relocated leaders, founders, and creators build real-world social wealth—so they feel connected, trusted, and supported, both online and offline, no matter where they are in the world.
We also support hybrid and distributed teams, combining cutting-edge research on social well-being and social wealth with two decades in corporate communications to deliver mind-shifting talks, workshops, and programs around the world.
Find out more at TheCommuniverse.com or find me on LinkedIn.
Global Workshop Tour "Beyond Screens" is in full swing! Booking now for 2025
To hear when new episodes drop, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, or check out recent episodes.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I think there's been so manychanges in the last few years
(00:02):
that finding a community thatserves you and feeds your soul
and that you can also share someof your gifts and magic with
other people is really what it'sall about.
Hello and welcome toRediscovering Connection.
I am Shelley Doyle and I'm veryblessed today to have Trish
Tonei with me, an award winningcommunity builder, artist,
(00:28):
author, emcee.
I'm sure there's many otherthings, I understand you did a
Uh, went to law school as well.
So really interested to digunderneath, um, who Trish
Tonight really is.
five plus years ago, Trishlaunched a community called
share your story.
Stories where she invitesentrepreneurs to come a live
(00:50):
interview.
So every Friday, I believe Trishcomes together with one of these
entrepreneurs for kind of a fast20 minute interview of which I
did one of these.
Um, in this industry, podcastingseems much more prevalent.
So doing a live interview forme, definitely for me.
Pushed me out of my comfortzone.
(01:10):
Um, and then that also combineswith a story that we put onto
Trish's, um, website, share yourstories.
And then Trish does an amazingjob of holding space for
everyone that has published andspoken on her podcast, um,
bringing us together at leastquarterly for, um, connection
events, which are.
(01:31):
I would say, I wouldn't even saysemi facilitated, they are very
facilitated interactions, veryintentional interactions, um,
taking us off into breakoutrooms and allowing us to share
space with other reallyinspiring entrepreneurs from all
over the world and all differentwalks of life.
So personally, I've met somephenomenal individuals through
(01:56):
this, um, through thiscommunity.
So.
This podcast with Trish isreally a big thank you, thank
you for creating this community,for holding this space, and
being incredibly generous withsharing the amazing connections
that you have accumulated alongyour journey.
So hello and welcome Trish,thank you so much for being
(02:17):
here.
Oh, it's my absolute pleasure.
I'm really looking forward tomeeting the folks in your
audience.
And thank you so much for, um,the wonderful introduction and
mentioning shareyourstories.
online.
So thank you for that.
Pleasure.
So where did this, where didthis come from?
You've obviously had Manydifferent kind of career paths
(02:37):
through your journey of life.
Um, was there a calling to kindof rediscover connection in a
way of holding this community?
Had that been yearning for sometime before you bit the bullet
and actually went for it?
How did that how did that occur?
You know, what was reallyinteresting as I took a
executive, uh, education courseat Harvard law school, it was on
(03:01):
mediation and disputeresolution.
And it was with, uh, 47 otherindividuals from around the
world.
And what I found was that westarted sharing stories about
really how we got there.
You know, who were some of thepeople that helped us along the
way?
So this whole idea of mentorshipreally was born.
And then throughout the process.
(03:23):
I ended up leaving that courseand writing my second book,
Breaking Barriers, 10Entrepreneurial Women Share
Their Stories.
And within one year of attendingHarvard, I had another published
book.
And then I was out on thespeaker circuit talking about
mentorship and role models andthe importance of, you know,
sort of the messaging that weleave behind.
(03:45):
And I was meeting amazingindividuals like yourself, who
said to me, How do I share mystory?
How do I do this?
How do I get, you know, noticed?
How do you increase myvisibility?
And I started to think aboutthat.
And before long, I started aguest blog.
At the time, I was, uh, doing,um, Marketing, consulting, and
(04:06):
coaching with leadership teams.
And we shared a hundred storiesin the first year.
And it was shortly after that,That I bought the URL share your
stories dot online, and we endedup starting to feature and we
automated everything to make iteasy peasy for folks, and we now
(04:26):
have stories on five continents,we have over 300 people
featured.
And as we mentioned, ourpodcast, we have over 200
podcast guests, where we sort ofintroduce the person behind the
logo.
And that's really the intentionof the podcast.
So good.
And you just seem to have gotinto such a good flow with it,
(04:47):
like the consistency.
And I think a lot of people thatstart these podcasts and
communities, it is about findingregularity and consistency.
possible and positive.
And I know you have pushedyourself in some ways, like you
used to do a lot of paneldiscussions with the speakers
and you, that, that became alot.
So finding what you, what we cando alongside all of the other
(05:12):
commitments that we have in ourlives, right?
How has that been to find thebalance?
You know, what's reallywonderful is folks like you who
have shared their story.
We always invite you to inviteother folks in your own network.
Who may be interested inincreasing their visibility.
So we, it's really thereferrals.
I mean, I have to say thatprobably 80 to 90 percent of the
(05:36):
people that are now sharingstories are wonderful
individuals like yourself whosay, you know what, this was
really a great experience.
I need to introduce some of mycolleagues.
So that they too can share theirstory.
So that's really how thecommunity has grown.
It's really been based upontrusted referrals.
And I'm super appreciative ofthe people who sort of open up
their Rolodex and say, look,you'll have to meet Trish.
(05:57):
You've got it, you know,increase your visibility on her
podcast and in the guest blog.
And it just really creates thiswonderful symbiotic
relationship.
Yes, and a couple of things arecoming up for me.
Firstly, I feel like I need tosay thank you to Mia Jarrett who
introduced me to you.
That's right.
(06:17):
Um, and, and this is how thiswhole thing works is one person
introduces another and then itrolls on from there.
Another thing to mention I thinkis that no money changes hands.
That's true.
Um, so it feels like a verylike.
Positive, uh, energeticexchange, kind of time and
appreciation for time andappreciation.
(06:40):
And it's like we're all winningtogether.
And I think, again, that this iswhere a lot of people get stuck
in thinking, I don't know whatto charge.
I don't know what people want topay.
Has that, did that occur to you?
And there, is there a reasonthat you decided to just make
this open and accessible foreverybody?
(07:00):
You know, I decided it was goingto be my passion project.
So I've been an entrepreneursince 1993, believe it or not.
I'm probably dating myself alittle.
Um, but I know what it's like.
I've walked the walk and talkthe talk for over 30 years of
being an entrepreneur.
And I really wanted to try tohelp other individuals.
Really.
One of the mantras that we'vecome up with is we want people
(07:21):
to be seen, heard, found, andhired.
And.
Really the whole essence of thatis you need to be on multiple
platforms with multiple folkstalking about your story.
And the only way that you can dothat is by connecting with other
folks, whether it's in your owncommunity or globally.
(07:42):
And the wonderful thing aboutour community is it has become
global.
You know, we usually get, as youwell know, we've got people from
five different countries thatusually participate in our
quarterly networking events.
You know, we've got, Usuallyseven different time zones of
folks that are making time to tomeet because we do really want
folks to have heartfeltconnections.
(08:04):
And we've seen some awesomecollaboration happening from the
platform.
You know, we've got people inIndia who are collaborating with
people in the United States.
You know, we have folks inFrance who are helping folks in
Canada.
So it's really wonderful.
One thing I've learned this yearthat I can share Shelly is I've
learned that we're all sodifferent and yet the same.
(08:27):
We appreciate so many similarchallenges.
And yet at the same token,people are people, you know,
we're all human and we're allexperiencing the same
challenges, the same joys.
And so to be able to findsomeone in a community that's
sort of nonjudgmental, where youknow that everyone is in a
similar sort of place, that'swhere the magic happens.
(08:51):
So good.
And personally, I've made someamazing connections through your
community.
I recently had JacquelineOlivero Sella on my podcast.
Um, Hirsch attended my recentworkshop.
Um, and I'm very interested tospeak to Susan, the, um, book
publisher about the journey.
So, yeah, Susan.
(09:14):
Such a high caliber ofindividuals who are all doing, I
guess you said about this beingyour passion project.
And I guess a lot of them,they're passionate
entrepreneurs.
They're doing things that are intheir heart and that they, they
feel passionate about telling.
So yeah, I've met someincredible people.
Um, I feel like, oh, there'sanother piece about the
(09:36):
magazine.
So you, um, you created amagazine partnerships that that
magazine now features.
The stories that are toldthrough your podcast and portal
is, you know, it's really awonderful, uh, we've decided for
2025, 2026, we're going tolaunch a digital magazine that's
(09:56):
going to be housed on thewebsite that will feature
various different folks and whowant to celebrate their great
ideas, but it's a sponsorshipfor our grant program.
So the folks that areparticipating are actually going
to be sponsors for our ShareYour Stories global marketing
grant, which we started thispast year.
And as you know, you attendedthat ceremony and we have two
(10:19):
winners, one from Ireland andone from Canada.
And it's just, it's seed moneyto help folks with their
marketing budget.
Because I can certainly say thatin interviewing and speaking and
sharing stories of all of thefolks that we have, the similar.
Challenge comes up and that isfunding and funding gets in the
(10:40):
way of innovation.
It gets in the way of expansion.
It even gets in the way ofcollaboration to a certain
point.
Because we all have a certainbudget that we're working with,
um, yes, it evolves and flowsand changes at, at certain
points in times of the year, butwe only have a finite amount of
money that we can put intomarketing.
(11:02):
So we started the marketinggrant to help folks, just with a
little seed money to that maybethey can try something a little
bit different.
That they haven't tried before.
So I'm really interested inseeing how the evolution of that
comes about, because we alsohave formal mentorship.
So 12 folks from the share yourstories community are offering
one hour of their time for onemonth next year, who are now
(11:25):
going to mentor the two grantrecipients and help them to kind
of expand their knowledge baseso that they can be better
humans and provide, you know,their products or services on a
perhaps a wider stage.
It seems like so much ishappening with it.
How do you make it all possible?
(11:46):
Does it, does it flow?
Like, um, what's the phrase?
It's always like, following thepath of least resistance.
Is it one of these things thatyou've gotten going, and
actually now you've got themomentum, it actually almost
drives itself.
You know, to a certain extent,that's very true.
But one of the things that I hadto do, you know, you were
talking about your comfort zoneand getting outside of your
(12:07):
comfort zone.
And I, you know, I'm a bigpicture thinker.
So, um, you know, I've had lotsof leadership positions where I
had national and internationalresponsibility, very much like
yourself.
It's very hard to then thinksmall once you've been thinking
big.
So one of the things that I hadto do is I decided to have an
advisory board.
(12:29):
And we meet four times a yearwhere I get to throw the
spaghetti on the wall and say,listen, this is what I'm
thinking.
What do you think?
And sometimes they reign me inand say, Ooh, that sounds like
an awful lot.
Like that might be a little morethan a little more work in your
passion project than you'd liketo donate your time and effort
to.
Um, but sometimes they push meout of the comfort zone.
Yeah.
(12:49):
So, you know, that was a classicexample of the marketing grant.
I was talking about the grant,we were talking about
opportunities and various waysthat we could now take the level
of commitment to the Share YourStories community a little bit
larger.
And they're the ones who said,you know what, I think you can
do this.
I think this is possible.
So we came up with the phrase,funding for entrepreneurs by
(13:11):
entrepreneurs, because it'sfolks like yourself who are
participating in the grantprogram.
And everyone gives a little sothat we have enough.
And it's really rather wonderfulthat, um, we're, we're able to
connect with folks who, as yousay, are very giving back to a
community.
They sometimes just need acommunity that they need to
connect with.
And ours seems to be thecommunity that everybody is
(13:34):
attracted to.
And maybe it's because it's apassion project.
Maybe it's because we haveglobal reach, or maybe it's just
because it feeds theirobjectives of being able to help
other small business owners.
I know that the live events arequarterly and I guess it's in
the diary at least a month inadvance and you don't want to
(13:57):
miss it People are reallyintentional about being present
and you know, the screen wasfull.
I don't know how many attendeesthere were on the, uh, Uh, on
that awards ceremony, but theremust have been at least 30, if
not more.
Well, the funny thing was, um,we had 60 people registered
globally for the event and I wastalking to one of the sponsors
(14:17):
and she kind of made this faceand said, you do know that only
10 percent of the people whoregister events actually show
up.
And I was like, Geez Louise, yougot to be kidding.
Only six people out of 60 aregoing to show up.
And we actually topped out at 50people.
Um, so 50 people attended theawards and grant ceremony.
(14:38):
And I think that's a testamentto the room.
Who's in the room?
You know, who can I connectwith?
Um, who are the like mindedfolks that I'm going to be able
to meet in some of thosebreakout sessions, which we use
for networking?
Um, so I think that it's, If theenergy in the room is what
attracts people to attend ourevents, and I think also because
(14:59):
they're on zoom.
So we try to make it obviouslyfor global I mean I would love
to say we could fly all over theworld and be doing events live,
you know, in various differentcities but it's just not
practical.
And one of the wonderful thingsthat's come out of coven.
Is these wonderful platforms,which we're now able to connect
with people virtually all overthe world.
So we've taken advantage of someof the wonderful technology
(15:22):
opportunities that have beenmade to us since COVID, and
we're now using it to ouradvantage.
I was trying to do the maths inmy head then and I'm struggling.
I have a bit of a cold, butthat's definitely more than 10%.
Yes, for sure.
Absolutely.
You know, when you say, well, Iguess we had about, I would say
(15:43):
about over 75%.
I mean, you know, we're almostat 90%.
Of attendance.
And the wonderful thing aboutthe quarterly networking events
is we always have a speaker fromthe community that you've
chosen.
So, you know, one of the thingsfrom the last event we had in
September was people weretalking about ways in which we
(16:05):
can connect with testimonials.
And so our speaker in Februaryis actually one of our in kind
sponsors from the awardceremony, and she has this
awesome platform with 32ndopportunities for us to share
testimonials.
after a special event or, um,you know, a speaking engagement.
And so she's going to be ourspeaker.
(16:26):
And then the folks in Februarywill decide who will be our
speaker in May.
So you'll pick a topic and thenI'll find someone within the
network who has that area ofexpertise.
And we invite them to be aspeaker for five to seven
minutes in the next networkingevent.
So good.
Um, well, I just want to applaudyou for the consistency and
(16:47):
putting yourself out there andjust making this happen because
you're really serving thecommunity so well, and we're so
grateful for you.
Um, and anybody that's listeningthat wants an introduction to
Trish, please let me know, andI'll be really happy to make
that introduction so you can getyour song out there.
on share your stories.
Um, Trish, is there anythingthat we haven't covered yet that
(17:09):
you think you'd really like toshare this?
Um, maybe it's, um, somethingbig that's going to be happening
for, for you or for yourcommunity in 2025.
I think the development andexpansion of the grant program
is something we're really goingto put our heart and soul into.
So, you know, doing the annualmagazine is a huge build because
(17:29):
it's giving people a tangibleasset.
The sponsors will then have atangible asset that they can
use.
And we're hoping that we'll getenough uptake that we can expand
the grant program from two tothree grants.
And really that's, I think goingto be the focus for the next few
years because you know once youput yourself out there and
you've established a network offolks who are supporting your
(17:53):
cause, I think then you have tobe really true to the cause so
we're really going toconcentrate on.
You know, expanding ouropportunities for the grant
program, continuing to increasethe visibility of folks like
yourself who participate withus, and really continue to make
those really wonderful heartfeltconnections that, you know,
don't, they sort of cross theline from business into
(18:14):
friendship too.
And I think that's really animportant part because we're all
as humans looking for thesupport of other people who are
in small business.
And I think there's been so manychanges in the last few years
that finding a community thatserves you and feeds your soul
and that you can also share someof your gifts and magic with
(18:34):
other people is really what it'sall about.
So I've, you know, somebody saidto me, are you ever going to
quit?
And I said, well, probably not.
As long as there are stories toshare, I'll continue with the
share your stories initiative.
Um, just so that, because it notonly feeds my soul, but
hopefully it feeds all of thepeople that join us as well.
Totally.
(18:54):
And maybe if you don't mind, I'mjust going to ask one last
question.
Just, just about.
It feeding your soul and is itserving you like, uh, what I'm
working on is like our socialhealth and our social wellbeing.
Like, do you feel thatsatisfaction when you come off
either your Friday lives or thequarterly network?
(19:15):
Like, does that fill you up?
How does that serve you in yourlike everyday life?
You know, I have to say when Istarted my first business in
1993, it was pretty tough forfemale entrepreneurs.
We didn't have, um, we had veryfew role models.
Um, we had no mentors.
You know, I often say when I wasspeaking, you know, when I
started in business and mentorwore a blue suit and a red tie,
(19:38):
and there were very few femalesthat we could look up to.
So for me, it's all about givingback to that entrepreneurial
community because I don't thinka lot has changed, which is
really rather sad.
If we start to look at theglobal statistics, you know,
even though there are 582million entrepreneurs around the
world, um, 76 percent are menwho start businesses because
(20:03):
funding is easier for them.
You know, women are stillstruggling to be seen, heard,
found, and hired because We livein a society that doesn't
necessarily promote femaleentrepreneurship because we're
not looked at as being businesspeople were looked at in a
totally different way in oursocieties, and that's being more
(20:24):
nurturing and moms and rolemodels and things like that.
So I think that for me.
It's so symbiotic and it's soamazing because I learned
something from every singlestory I share.
We all have to overcomeobstacles and barriers and I
find that inspiring to readsomeone's story and say, Wow,
(20:45):
like, holy cow, that's a prettyamazing thing that they're
doing.
So one of the other things thatI always share is we're all
ordinary people doingextraordinary things.
And that's really what theplatform is all about.
And I just find that the morepeople that I meet.
Um, the more joyful it actuallymakes me and I've really become
very proud of the, of thecommunity that we're building.
(21:08):
And I think it's because ofpeople like yourself who
participate and give somethingof yourself to the community as
well.
So, it's, it's a very nurturingplace to be, to be quite honest,
and even after 30 years of beingin business.
There's always something new tolearn.
And so I really, I really lovethat about the community.
(21:28):
And I think you saying this isreally going to be quite
inspiring for other people thatmight be thinking that they've
got a community that they wantto birth but thinking of all
these obstacles and why nots andwhat would you, what would you
say to somebody like that?
You know, I have to say, if youhave an idea and you have a
passion and it keeps waking youup in the middle of the night
(21:50):
and you know, you're journalingit and the same words keep
coming up or every conversationyou have with your colleagues,
this idea keeps popping intoyour head.
I really do think then that youjust need to take the leap of
faith, step outside your comfortzone and do it because what's
the worst that could happen.
Maybe people will find you andthey'll think you're amazing,
(22:12):
and they'll start to follow yourcommunity.
Me.
I can't think of anything betterto happen.
And even if the opposite istrue, even if it's a slow go to
start with, um, we all meetpeople in life for a certain
reason from, that's myphilosophy, you know.
And so if you've been reallythinking about something and
it's niggling you in the back ofyour mind, what have you got to
(22:33):
lose?
Just take the bull by the hornsand do it.
Give it a try.
And you know what?
The more that we fail, the morethat we learn.
So the first try out of thegate, you may think, Oh, geez,
that wasn't very successful, butyou may learn something from it.
And then you can tweak it alittle bit.
And if it's meant to be, it willhappen.
Fantastic words of wisdom.
(22:55):
Thank you so much, Trish.
It's been such a pleasure to getto know you and to get to know
your story a little bit more.
Thank you.
I look forward to continuingthis journey together and I wish
you a very happy Christmas andnew year.
Thank you so much, Shelley.
And to you.
I think there's been so manychanges in the last few years
(00:02):
that finding a community thatserves you and feeds your soul
and that you can also share someof your gifts and magic with
other people is really what it'sall about.
Hello and welcome toRediscovering Connection.
I am Shelley Doyle and I'm veryblessed today to have Trish
Tonei with me, an award winningcommunity builder, artist,
(00:28):
author, emcee.
I'm sure there's many otherthings, I understand you did a
Uh, went to law school as well.
So really interested to digunderneath, um, who Trish
Tonight really is.
five plus years ago, Trishlaunched a community called
share your story.
Stories where she invitesentrepreneurs to come a live
(00:50):
interview.
So every Friday, I believe Trishcomes together with one of these
entrepreneurs for kind of a fast20 minute interview of which I
did one of these.
Um, in this industry, podcastingseems much more prevalent.
So doing a live interview forme, definitely for me.
Pushed me out of my comfortzone.
(01:10):
Um, and then that also combineswith a story that we put onto
Trish's, um, website, share yourstories.
And then Trish does an amazingjob of holding space for
everyone that has published andspoken on her podcast, um,
bringing us together at leastquarterly for, um, connection
events, which are.
(01:31):
I would say, I wouldn't even saysemi facilitated, they are very
facilitated interactions, veryintentional interactions, um,
taking us off into breakoutrooms and allowing us to share
space with other reallyinspiring entrepreneurs from all
over the world and all differentwalks of life.
So personally, I've met somephenomenal individuals through
(01:56):
this, um, through thiscommunity.
So.
This podcast with Trish isreally a big thank you, thank
you for creating this community,for holding this space, and
being incredibly generous withsharing the amazing connections
that you have accumulated alongyour journey.
So hello and welcome Trish,thank you so much for being
(02:17):
here.
Oh, it's my absolute pleasure.
I'm really looking forward tomeeting the folks in your
audience.
And thank you so much for, um,the wonderful introduction and
mentioning shareyourstories.
online.
So thank you for that.
Pleasure.
So where did this, where didthis come from?
You've obviously had Manydifferent kind of career paths
(02:37):
through your journey of life.
Um, was there a calling to kindof rediscover connection in a
way of holding this community?
Had that been yearning for sometime before you bit the bullet
and actually went for it?
How did that how did that occur?
You know, what was reallyinteresting as I took a
executive, uh, education courseat Harvard law school, it was on
(03:01):
mediation and disputeresolution.
And it was with, uh, 47 otherindividuals from around the
world.
And what I found was that westarted sharing stories about
really how we got there.
You know, who were some of thepeople that helped us along the
way?
So this whole idea of mentorshipreally was born.
And then throughout the process.
(03:23):
I ended up leaving that courseand writing my second book,
Breaking Barriers, 10Entrepreneurial Women Share
Their Stories.
And within one year of attendingHarvard, I had another published
book.
And then I was out on thespeaker circuit talking about
mentorship and role models andthe importance of, you know,
sort of the messaging that weleave behind.
(03:45):
And I was meeting amazingindividuals like yourself, who
said to me, How do I share mystory?
How do I do this?
How do I get, you know, noticed?
How do you increase myvisibility?
And I started to think aboutthat.
And before long, I started aguest blog.
At the time, I was, uh, doing,um, Marketing, consulting, and
(04:06):
coaching with leadership teams.
And we shared a hundred storiesin the first year.
And it was shortly after that,That I bought the URL share your
stories dot online, and we endedup starting to feature and we
automated everything to make iteasy peasy for folks, and we now
(04:26):
have stories on five continents,we have over 300 people
featured.
And as we mentioned, ourpodcast, we have over 200
podcast guests, where we sort ofintroduce the person behind the
logo.
And that's really the intentionof the podcast.
So good.
And you just seem to have gotinto such a good flow with it,
(04:47):
like the consistency.
And I think a lot of people thatstart these podcasts and
communities, it is about findingregularity and consistency.
possible and positive.
And I know you have pushedyourself in some ways, like you
used to do a lot of paneldiscussions with the speakers
and you, that, that became alot.
So finding what you, what we cando alongside all of the other
(05:12):
commitments that we have in ourlives, right?
How has that been to find thebalance?
You know, what's reallywonderful is folks like you who
have shared their story.
We always invite you to inviteother folks in your own network.
Who may be interested inincreasing their visibility.
So we, it's really thereferrals.
I mean, I have to say thatprobably 80 to 90 percent of the
(05:36):
people that are now sharingstories are wonderful
individuals like yourself whosay, you know what, this was
really a great experience.
I need to introduce some of mycolleagues.
So that they too can share theirstory.
So that's really how thecommunity has grown.
It's really been based upontrusted referrals.
And I'm super appreciative ofthe people who sort of open up
their Rolodex and say, look,you'll have to meet Trish.
(05:57):
You've got it, you know,increase your visibility on her
podcast and in the guest blog.
And it just really creates thiswonderful symbiotic
relationship.
Yes, and a couple of things arecoming up for me.
Firstly, I feel like I need tosay thank you to Mia Jarrett who
introduced me to you.
That's right.
(06:17):
Um, and, and this is how thiswhole thing works is one person
introduces another and then itrolls on from there.
Another thing to mention I thinkis that no money changes hands.
That's true.
Um, so it feels like a verylike.
Positive, uh, energeticexchange, kind of time and
appreciation for time andappreciation.
(06:40):
And it's like we're all winningtogether.
And I think, again, that this iswhere a lot of people get stuck
in thinking, I don't know whatto charge.
I don't know what people want topay.
Has that, did that occur to you?
And there, is there a reasonthat you decided to just make
this open and accessible foreverybody?
(07:00):
You know, I decided it was goingto be my passion project.
So I've been an entrepreneursince 1993, believe it or not.
I'm probably dating myself alittle.
Um, but I know what it's like.
I've walked the walk and talkthe talk for over 30 years of
being an entrepreneur.
And I really wanted to try tohelp other individuals.
Really.
One of the mantras that we'vecome up with is we want people
(07:21):
to be seen, heard, found, andhired.
And.
Really the whole essence of thatis you need to be on multiple
platforms with multiple folkstalking about your story.
And the only way that you can dothat is by connecting with other
folks, whether it's in your owncommunity or globally.
(07:42):
And the wonderful thing aboutour community is it has become
global.
You know, we usually get, as youwell know, we've got people from
five different countries thatusually participate in our
quarterly networking events.
You know, we've got, Usuallyseven different time zones of
folks that are making time to tomeet because we do really want
folks to have heartfeltconnections.
(08:04):
And we've seen some awesomecollaboration happening from the
platform.
You know, we've got people inIndia who are collaborating with
people in the United States.
You know, we have folks inFrance who are helping folks in
Canada.
So it's really wonderful.
One thing I've learned this yearthat I can share Shelly is I've
learned that we're all sodifferent and yet the same.
(08:27):
We appreciate so many similarchallenges.
And yet at the same token,people are people, you know,
we're all human and we're allexperiencing the same
challenges, the same joys.
And so to be able to findsomeone in a community that's
sort of nonjudgmental, where youknow that everyone is in a
similar sort of place, that'swhere the magic happens.
(08:51):
So good.
And personally, I've made someamazing connections through your
community.
I recently had JacquelineOlivero Sella on my podcast.
Um, Hirsch attended my recentworkshop.
Um, and I'm very interested tospeak to Susan, the, um, book
publisher about the journey.
So, yeah, Susan.
(09:14):
Such a high caliber ofindividuals who are all doing, I
guess you said about this beingyour passion project.
And I guess a lot of them,they're passionate
entrepreneurs.
They're doing things that are intheir heart and that they, they
feel passionate about telling.
So yeah, I've met someincredible people.
Um, I feel like, oh, there'sanother piece about the
(09:36):
magazine.
So you, um, you created amagazine partnerships that that
magazine now features.
The stories that are toldthrough your podcast and portal
is, you know, it's really awonderful, uh, we've decided for
2025, 2026, we're going tolaunch a digital magazine that's
(09:56):
going to be housed on thewebsite that will feature
various different folks and whowant to celebrate their great
ideas, but it's a sponsorshipfor our grant program.
So the folks that areparticipating are actually going
to be sponsors for our ShareYour Stories global marketing
grant, which we started thispast year.
And as you know, you attendedthat ceremony and we have two
(10:19):
winners, one from Ireland andone from Canada.
And it's just, it's seed moneyto help folks with their
marketing budget.
Because I can certainly say thatin interviewing and speaking and
sharing stories of all of thefolks that we have, the similar.
Challenge comes up and that isfunding and funding gets in the
(10:40):
way of innovation.
It gets in the way of expansion.
It even gets in the way ofcollaboration to a certain
point.
Because we all have a certainbudget that we're working with,
um, yes, it evolves and flowsand changes at, at certain
points in times of the year, butwe only have a finite amount of
money that we can put intomarketing.
(11:02):
So we started the marketinggrant to help folks, just with a
little seed money to that maybethey can try something a little
bit different.
That they haven't tried before.
So I'm really interested inseeing how the evolution of that
comes about, because we alsohave formal mentorship.
So 12 folks from the share yourstories community are offering
one hour of their time for onemonth next year, who are now
(11:25):
going to mentor the two grantrecipients and help them to kind
of expand their knowledge baseso that they can be better
humans and provide, you know,their products or services on a
perhaps a wider stage.
It seems like so much ishappening with it.
How do you make it all possible?
(11:46):
Does it, does it flow?
Like, um, what's the phrase?
It's always like, following thepath of least resistance.
Is it one of these things thatyou've gotten going, and
actually now you've got themomentum, it actually almost
drives itself.
You know, to a certain extent,that's very true.
But one of the things that I hadto do, you know, you were
talking about your comfort zoneand getting outside of your
(12:07):
comfort zone.
And I, you know, I'm a bigpicture thinker.
So, um, you know, I've had lotsof leadership positions where I
had national and internationalresponsibility, very much like
yourself.
It's very hard to then thinksmall once you've been thinking
big.
So one of the things that I hadto do is I decided to have an
advisory board.
(12:29):
And we meet four times a yearwhere I get to throw the
spaghetti on the wall and say,listen, this is what I'm
thinking.
What do you think?
And sometimes they reign me inand say, Ooh, that sounds like
an awful lot.
Like that might be a little morethan a little more work in your
passion project than you'd liketo donate your time and effort
to.
Um, but sometimes they push meout of the comfort zone.
Yeah.
(12:49):
So, you know, that was a classicexample of the marketing grant.
I was talking about the grant,we were talking about
opportunities and various waysthat we could now take the level
of commitment to the Share YourStories community a little bit
larger.
And they're the ones who said,you know what, I think you can
do this.
I think this is possible.
So we came up with the phrase,funding for entrepreneurs by
(13:11):
entrepreneurs, because it'sfolks like yourself who are
participating in the grantprogram.
And everyone gives a little sothat we have enough.
And it's really rather wonderfulthat, um, we're, we're able to
connect with folks who, as yousay, are very giving back to a
community.
They sometimes just need acommunity that they need to
connect with.
And ours seems to be thecommunity that everybody is
(13:34):
attracted to.
And maybe it's because it's apassion project.
Maybe it's because we haveglobal reach, or maybe it's just
because it feeds theirobjectives of being able to help
other small business owners.
I know that the live events arequarterly and I guess it's in
the diary at least a month inadvance and you don't want to
(13:57):
miss it People are reallyintentional about being present
and you know, the screen wasfull.
I don't know how many attendeesthere were on the, uh, Uh, on
that awards ceremony, but theremust have been at least 30, if
not more.
Well, the funny thing was, um,we had 60 people registered
globally for the event and I wastalking to one of the sponsors
(14:17):
and she kind of made this faceand said, you do know that only
10 percent of the people whoregister events actually show
up.
And I was like, Geez Louise, yougot to be kidding.
Only six people out of 60 aregoing to show up.
And we actually topped out at 50people.
Um, so 50 people attended theawards and grant ceremony.
(14:38):
And I think that's a testamentto the room.
Who's in the room?
You know, who can I connectwith?
Um, who are the like mindedfolks that I'm going to be able
to meet in some of thosebreakout sessions, which we use
for networking?
Um, so I think that it's, If theenergy in the room is what
attracts people to attend ourevents, and I think also because
(14:59):
they're on zoom.
So we try to make it obviouslyfor global I mean I would love
to say we could fly all over theworld and be doing events live,
you know, in various differentcities but it's just not
practical.
And one of the wonderful thingsthat's come out of coven.
Is these wonderful platforms,which we're now able to connect
with people virtually all overthe world.
So we've taken advantage of someof the wonderful technology
(15:22):
opportunities that have beenmade to us since COVID, and
we're now using it to ouradvantage.
I was trying to do the maths inmy head then and I'm struggling.
I have a bit of a cold, butthat's definitely more than 10%.
Yes, for sure.
Absolutely.
You know, when you say, well, Iguess we had about, I would say
(15:43):
about over 75%.
I mean, you know, we're almostat 90%.
Of attendance.
And the wonderful thing aboutthe quarterly networking events
is we always have a speaker fromthe community that you've
chosen.
So, you know, one of the thingsfrom the last event we had in
September was people weretalking about ways in which we
(16:05):
can connect with testimonials.
And so our speaker in Februaryis actually one of our in kind
sponsors from the awardceremony, and she has this
awesome platform with 32ndopportunities for us to share
testimonials.
after a special event or, um,you know, a speaking engagement.
And so she's going to be ourspeaker.
(16:26):
And then the folks in Februarywill decide who will be our
speaker in May.
So you'll pick a topic and thenI'll find someone within the
network who has that area ofexpertise.
And we invite them to be aspeaker for five to seven
minutes in the next networkingevent.
So good.
Um, well, I just want to applaudyou for the consistency and
(16:47):
putting yourself out there andjust making this happen because
you're really serving thecommunity so well, and we're so
grateful for you.
Um, and anybody that's listeningthat wants an introduction to
Trish, please let me know, andI'll be really happy to make
that introduction so you can getyour song out there.
on share your stories.
Um, Trish, is there anythingthat we haven't covered yet that
(17:09):
you think you'd really like toshare this?
Um, maybe it's, um, somethingbig that's going to be happening
for, for you or for yourcommunity in 2025.
I think the development andexpansion of the grant program
is something we're really goingto put our heart and soul into.
So, you know, doing the annualmagazine is a huge build because
(17:29):
it's giving people a tangibleasset.
The sponsors will then have atangible asset that they can
use.
And we're hoping that we'll getenough uptake that we can expand
the grant program from two tothree grants.
And really that's, I think goingto be the focus for the next few
years because you know once youput yourself out there and
you've established a network offolks who are supporting your
(17:53):
cause, I think then you have tobe really true to the cause so
we're really going toconcentrate on.
You know, expanding ouropportunities for the grant
program, continuing to increasethe visibility of folks like
yourself who participate withus, and really continue to make
those really wonderful heartfeltconnections that, you know,
don't, they sort of cross theline from business into
(18:14):
friendship too.
And I think that's really animportant part because we're all
as humans looking for thesupport of other people who are
in small business.
And I think there's been so manychanges in the last few years
that finding a community thatserves you and feeds your soul
and that you can also share someof your gifts and magic with
(18:34):
other people is really what it'sall about.
So I've, you know, somebody saidto me, are you ever going to
quit?
And I said, well, probably not.
As long as there are stories toshare, I'll continue with the
share your stories initiative.
Um, just so that, because it notonly feeds my soul, but
hopefully it feeds all of thepeople that join us as well.
Totally.
(18:54):
And maybe if you don't mind, I'mjust going to ask one last
question.
Just, just about.
It feeding your soul and is itserving you like, uh, what I'm
working on is like our socialhealth and our social wellbeing.
Like, do you feel thatsatisfaction when you come off
either your Friday lives or thequarterly network?
(19:15):
Like, does that fill you up?
How does that serve you in yourlike everyday life?
You know, I have to say when Istarted my first business in
1993, it was pretty tough forfemale entrepreneurs.
We didn't have, um, we had veryfew role models.
Um, we had no mentors.
You know, I often say when I wasspeaking, you know, when I
started in business and mentorwore a blue suit and a red tie,
(19:38):
and there were very few femalesthat we could look up to.
So for me, it's all about givingback to that entrepreneurial
community because I don't thinka lot has changed, which is
really rather sad.
If we start to look at theglobal statistics, you know,
even though there are 582million entrepreneurs around the
world, um, 76 percent are menwho start businesses because
(20:03):
funding is easier for them.
You know, women are stillstruggling to be seen, heard,
found, and hired because We livein a society that doesn't
necessarily promote femaleentrepreneurship because we're
not looked at as being businesspeople were looked at in a
totally different way in oursocieties, and that's being more
(20:24):
nurturing and moms and rolemodels and things like that.
So I think that for me.
It's so symbiotic and it's soamazing because I learned
something from every singlestory I share.
We all have to overcomeobstacles and barriers and I
find that inspiring to readsomeone's story and say, Wow,
(20:45):
like, holy cow, that's a prettyamazing thing that they're
doing.
So one of the other things thatI always share is we're all
ordinary people doingextraordinary things.
And that's really what theplatform is all about.
And I just find that the morepeople that I meet.
Um, the more joyful it actuallymakes me and I've really become
very proud of the, of thecommunity that we're building.
(21:08):
And I think it's because ofpeople like yourself who
participate and give somethingof yourself to the community as
well.
So, it's, it's a very nurturingplace to be, to be quite honest,
and even after 30 years of beingin business.
There's always something new tolearn.
And so I really, I really lovethat about the community.
(21:28):
And I think you saying this isreally going to be quite
inspiring for other people thatmight be thinking that they've
got a community that they wantto birth but thinking of all
these obstacles and why nots andwhat would you, what would you
say to somebody like that?
You know, I have to say, if youhave an idea and you have a
passion and it keeps waking youup in the middle of the night
(21:50):
and you know, you're journalingit and the same words keep
coming up or every conversationyou have with your colleagues,
this idea keeps popping intoyour head.
I really do think then that youjust need to take the leap of
faith, step outside your comfortzone and do it because what's
the worst that could happen.
Maybe people will find you andthey'll think you're amazing,
(22:12):
and they'll start to follow yourcommunity.
Me.
I can't think of anything betterto happen.
And even if the opposite istrue, even if it's a slow go to
start with, um, we all meetpeople in life for a certain
reason from, that's myphilosophy, you know.
And so if you've been reallythinking about something and
it's niggling you in the back ofyour mind, what have you got to
(22:33):
lose?
Just take the bull by the hornsand do it.
Give it a try.
And you know what?
The more that we fail, the morethat we learn.
So the first try out of thegate, you may think, Oh, geez,
that wasn't very successful, butyou may learn something from it.
And then you can tweak it alittle bit.
And if it's meant to be, it willhappen.
Fantastic words of wisdom.
(22:55):
Thank you so much, Trish.
It's been such a pleasure to getto know you and to get to know
your story a little bit more.
Thank you.
I look forward to continuingthis journey together and I wish
you a very happy Christmas andnew year.
Thank you so much, Shelley.
And to you.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.