February 6, 2024 • 23 mins
Top5 Reasons to Join Trusted Advisors Network LLC
- You’re in Business for Yourself not by Yourself
- Affiliate Success is Advisor Success
- Initial & Ongoing Training
- Power of the Network
- Customized Set of Tools
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tara Thurber (00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome back to Top5 brought to
(00:02):
you by DefinedTalent. We are aresults driven service working
with clients to connect themwith quality talent as well as
working to make an impact withinthe recruitment industry. We
talk straight about today'sprofessional world with real
world professionals, experts inrecruitment, job seekers and
business owners alike. Have aquestion for us? Send it in and
(00:24):
you might spur our nextconversation. I'm Tara Thurber,
co founder and director oftalent partnerships at to
DefinedTalent. And joining metoday is Wendy Howland Partner
at Trusted Advisors. Hey, Wendy,how are you today?
Wendy Howland (00:39):
Good. Thank you for having me.
Tara Thurber (00:41):
Very excited to have you. Would you kick this
off with just providing a littlebit of background for our
listeners?
Wendy Howland (00:48):
Sure. Trusted Advisors is a network of just
about 200 affiliates. And ouraffiliates are really coaches
and consultants. They work in avariety of different industries,
really helping organizations inthe areas of strategy, people
and process. They also coachexecutives, to help them with
(01:10):
you know, whatever it is they'relooking to accomplish. So that's
who our customers serve. Andthen what Trusted Advisors also
does is we work very closelywith our customers who we refer
to as affiliates, helping thembuild successful businesses. So
we provide a lot of the toolsand the support that they need
(01:31):
in order to do that.
Tara Thurber (01:33):
Wow. Now, how did you get to where you are today
doing this?
Wendy Howland (01:41):
Actually, I was part of a another organization
that was around probably forclose to 40 years. In 2018 we
did some restructuring to keepthe authenticity integrity of
the brand. And that's whenTrusted Advisors was formed. So
our network has been around forjust about 40 years. Trusted
(02:04):
Advisors since 2018.
Tara Thurber (02:06):
That's fantastic.
Now let's kind of dive intoTrusted Advisors network.
Wendy Howland (02:14):
Sure.
Tara Thurber (02:14):
What is the mission of Trusted Advisors
Network? And I know you justtouched base on who you serve.
But what is the overall mission?
Wendy Howland (02:23):
The overall mission is we are the first
choice among professionals forassistance in creating and
building a successful coachingor consulting practice.
Tara Thurber (02:36):
Wow.
Wendy Howland (02:37):
That is our overall mission.
Tara Thurber (02:38):
That's awesome.
And then when we take when wethink about coaching, and then
there's also consulting, can youdescribe the difference between
coaching and consulting?
Wendy Howland (02:50):
Yes, I can share how we define the difference.
Tara Thurber (02:54):
Perfect.
Wendy Howland (02:55):
We define coaching as working with an
individual one on one.
Oftentimes, when we're workingwith an individual one -on-one
tends to be more in theexecutive route.
Tara Thurber (03:05):
Right.
Wendy Howland (03:07):
They are looking for life balance, they are
looking for, you know, sittingup here at the top of this
organization gets to be verylonely (laghs).
Who can I talk toto really help me with my daily
Tara Thurber (03:19):
(laughs) struggles, issues, challenges
that I face on a day to daybasis?
Right.
Wendy Howland (03:28):
So many of our affiliates will work with
executives one-on-one, helpingthem with those particular
issues. Our affiliates will alsowork with individuals inside an
organization one-on-one as anexample, Tara is a great
employee, we see that she hasthe potential to go really far.
(03:51):
We want to set Tara up forsuccess. We see her moving into
management levels or into anexecutive level. Instead of just
saying congratulations Tara, younow have a new job (laughs).
Tara Thurber (04:05):
Good luck!(laughs)
Wendy Howland (04:07):
Organizations are realizing that there is a fairly
new skill set involved at thatnew level.
Tara Thurber (04:12):
Yes!
Wendy Howland (04:13):
Let's set Tara up for success. Let's provide her
with a coach to help her gainthose additional skills and
knowledge that she needs to besuccessful. So that's how we
define coaching is when we areworking with an individual
one-on-one to help thatindividual accomplish those
things that are important tothem.
Tara Thurber (04:31):
Okay.
Wendy Howland (04:31):
It could be business, could be organization,
it could be businessorganizational focused, could be
personal focused.
Tara Thurber (04:38):
Okay.
Wendy Howland (04:38):
At times there's both.
Tara Thurber (04:40):
A little bit of everything.
Wendy Howland (04:41):
Exactly from consulting. How we define
consulting is where we'reworking with an organization to
help them grow, attain, achieve,it really varies. Sometimes an
affiliate could go in becausethey're looking for reduction in
turnover. They need to increasesales. They're looking to update
(05:04):
a strategic plan. They'relooking to fix their processes.
So from that standpoint, that'swhere we'll go in after we have
a clear understanding of what itis they're looking to do and
help them with those types ofthings. I will say, how we
differ from a lot of otherconsultants out there.
Tara Thurber (05:23):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (05:24):
A lot of other consultants are going to go in
and say, This is what you needto do with your organization,
thanks, see ya!
Tara Thurber (05:30):
Right.
Wendy Howland (05:30):
That's not the process that we follow. Our
methodology is really workingwith the organization and the
players inside of theorganization, because they know
that organization better thanany of us could ever pretend to.
Tara Thurber (05:44):
Absolutely.
Wendy Howland (05:45):
So we're going to help them come up to what's the
right solutions for that? And Ithink that's a key
differentiator. Our affiliatescan work in just about any
different industry withouthaving industry expertise.
Tara Thurber (05:58):
Perfect.
Wendy Howland (05:58):
Because the people inside the organization
have that industry expertise.
What our folks do is bring thequestions to the table that they
haven't thought to askthemselves, because they're too
stuck in the muck in the mire ofit.
Tara Thurber (06:11):
Yeah, yeah.
Wendy Howland (06:12):
Does that answer your question?
Tara Thurber (06:13):
Yeah, absolutely does and it just kind of it shed
so much light on almost thatmissing link at times, between
an organization and anindividual or and having
executives be stuck in the muckin offering that one-on-one and
then bringing more light to thetable for the entire team. Or
(06:38):
vice versa. Right? Maybe it'sbringing more light to the team
and then expanding out whenyou're speaking with some
clients. I guess it's twofold,because it's organizations, and
then it's one-on-one individualsare their differentiators
between if individuals from anorganization call or reach out?
(07:05):
What helps them determine is itthe entire structure that needs
support? Or is it just thatindividual that needs support?
Wendy Howland (07:15):
That is done through when our affiliates are
working with an organization,we're going to take a step back,
what we do is we help ouraffiliates be able to do this
with our clients. So it's astep, step, step.
When ouraffiliates are working with
Tara Thurber (07:27):
Right.
their clients prior to do anywork with them, they're going to
go in and do an in depthdiscovery to really understand
what is the organization reallylooking to do? Is this issue -
what's the root cause, ratherthan just addressing a symptom,
because you know, you canaddress a symptom, but it's not
(07:47):
going to make the root cause goaway. So we at Trusted Advisors,
work with our affiliates andteach our affiliates how to do
that great discovery tounderstand and find out what's
that root cause? Once we knowthe root cause, then we'll
determine what's the bestsolution to help this
organization with whatever issuethey're dealing with.
(08:08):
That's fantastic.
I like the idea of the in depth,kind of peeling back the layers
to really see what is the rootto it. Very awesome. Now, this
might this is kind of steppingoutside of the box a little bit
here. But for Trusted AdvisorsNetwork when you're working with
individuals or withorganizations, what does that
(08:31):
essentially look like? And Iknow that's kind of two
different paths that one cantake, but just for our listeners
out there, to get an idea ofwhat that path might look like.
Wendy Howland (08:45):
I'm not sure I understand the question
completely. Our affiliates areall independent business owners.
So our affiliates are servicingthose end users, either the
coaching clients or theorganizations.
Tara Thurber (09:01):
Got it!
Wendy Howland (09:02):
So, how they're getting in front of them varies.
Tara Thurber (09:06):
Right.
Wendy Howland (09:07):
Most times, it's through networking events,
speaking engagements.
Tara Thurber (09:11):
Right, right.
Wendy Howland (09:11):
Through their personal connections, chambers
of commerce. But they make andthey get an introduction into
that decision maker.
Tara Thurber (09:20):
Right.
Wendy Howland (09:20):
And it's through those conversations that the
interest is garnered and youknow, discovery into
facilitation of it.
Tara Thurber (09:28):
I love it. And kind of another question to that
facilitation. I'm justinterested as an organization,
if I was interested in bringingtalent advisors into an
organization, what are the arethey in person meetings? Are
they what does that look like?
Wendy Howland (09:50):
Depends (laughs).
Tara Thurber (09:51):
Yeah, all right.
(laughs)
Wendy Howland (09:54):
But it really does. It's very unique. If
somebody was interested in Theyfound us, of course, if you
reached out to Trusted Advisorsdirectly and said, Hey, I think
I might have an issue. Do youhave somebody that could help
me? We, of course, would put youin touch with one of our
affiliates.
Tara Thurber (10:10):
Okay.
Wendy Howland (10:11):
How our affiliates work with their
clients really depends.
Sometimes it's face to facemeetings.
Sometimes it'sdone virtually, sometimes it's a
Tara Thurber (10:17):
Yep.
combination of both. And that'swhy I said, it really depends.
There's not necessarily oneright answer. Generally, we like
to meet with organizationsweekly, because we spaced
repetition, that's how you getthem to internalize it. So often
(10:37):
you think about going to a localchamber event, you go to hear
somebody speak, if you reallythink about it, when you come
home, you have the bestintentions, but you get started
on your daily work. My questionis, when did you get to
implement all those good thingsyou heard about?
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (10:58):
Most oftentimes, we don't. Because when we hear
something, once we get back intothe day, in the day, we kind of
forget about it. So that's whyours is our methodology and our
concepts are built in such a waythat we build in spaced
repetition. Because when youhear something over and over
again, you're gonna retain it.
Tara Thurber (11:16):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (11:17):
Think about advertising.
Tara Thurber (11:18):
Yeah. Yes!(laughs)
Wendy Howland (11:19):
They're great at getting that. You know, never
had a Big Mac and all my life,but I can tell you what's on
one!
Tara Thurber (11:25):
Yeah! (laughs)
Wendy Howland (11:28):
So that's an example of really helping the
individuals internalize that. Soit generally is we break it into
weekly sessions. Like I said,sometimes it's in person,
sometimes it's virtually,sometimes it's a combination of
both. Are there times where wehave to do something outside of
(11:48):
the box in order to meet theclient's needs? Sure.
Tara Thurber (11:50):
Right.
Wendy Howland (11:51):
But affiliates are really good. And they're
able to schedule the sessionsfor what makes the most sense
for the client.
Tara Thurber (11:59):
Absolutely amazing. I love now, where are
the affiliates based? Are younationwide? Or what's your
location?
Wendy Howland (12:06):
There's pretty much affiliates nationwide.
Tara Thurber (12:09):
Okay. Wonderful.
That's great to know, for all ofour listeners, too. So I want to
take a break here and just askan out of the box question.
We've been doing this this yearwith our with our guests. If you
could give one piece of adviceto your younger self, what would
it be?
Wendy Howland (12:29):
You know, it's funny that you mention that
because I think about that allthe time. And having kids I
often kind of share this advicewith them.
Tara Thurber (12:37):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (12:40):
Key piece of advice, and it's kind of I'm
gonna step up. Never give up onyour dreams. And no matter what
chronological age you hit,continue dreaming. Obstacles are
merely stumbling blocks. There'sother ways around it, just
(13:00):
because you hit a wall doesn'tmean you stop, you know, climb
over it, walk around it, pick adifferent direction. And have
fun. Live your purpose, liveyour passion. I've been doing
this 30 plus years now, and I'lltell you what, I don't work.
(13:24):
This is, it's what I do. It's apart of who I am. And I truly
love it. So, live your purpose,live your passion. And I know
I'm going a little bitoverboard, but you're never
gonna have to work a day in yourlife, you know, is every day
peachy keen? No, but you know,you'll have that joy. That's the
advice I would give to myyounger self.
Tara Thurber (13:46):
That just gave me goosebumps. And it's so true,
especially when speaking to justyounger people in general, young
professionals that are justgetting out there. Individuals
that don't think that way. Atany age, right? It's just a
(14:06):
matter of breaking through. AndI absolutely love, love, love,
love that advice. Wendy, shareyour Top5 Reasons to Join
Trusted Advisors Network,please.
Wendy Howland (14:19):
The reason affiliates really become
affiliates and part of ournetwork.
Tara Thurber (14:26):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (14:27):
There's several pieces to it. Number one, their
time tired of working forcorporate America where they're,
I want to say, kind of leavingtheir future in someone else's
hands.
Tara Thurber (14:42):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (14:44):
And they want to take all the expertise that they
have, because most of ouraffiliates are seasoned.They've
been in business, you know, inthe business world for 20/30
years.
Tara Thurber (14:54):
Right.
Wendy Howland (14:55):
They're at a path where they're looking for a
change, looking for change for alot of different reasons. Could
be I'm tired of being downsized,right sized asked. I'm ready to
retire from corporate.
Tara Thurber (15:07):
Yep.
Wendy Howland (15:07):
But not ready to be sent for pasture (laughs).
Tara Thurber (15:10):
Right.
Wendy Howland (15:10):
Still things I want to do. And a lot of times,
they're also coming to usbecause they're looking for
more, I'm going to say lifebalance life blend. They're
tired of flying all over thecountry, they want to be
available to family. So I wouldsay for those reasons, one of
(15:33):
the first things is with TrustedAdvisors, you're in your own
business. So you're in businessfor yourself, right? You're not
by yourself. So I think that'sone. The second thing is the
fact that our affiliates successis our success.
Tara Thurber (15:54):
Right.
Wendy Howland (15:55):
And it's not, it's truly about building your
relationship with each and everyaffiliate. We are their personal
coach, we are really there tohelp them with marketing, sales,
pricing, facilitation. And weactually, I kinda laugh when we
have our initial and ongoingtraining at our ongoing
(16:16):
trainings, we think about goingback to a conference, and you
get a lot of the handshakes. Imean, ours feels more like a
family reunion (laughs).
Tara Thurber (16:25):
Right (laughs).
Wendy Howland (16:28):
So I would say it's, it's that coaching
relationship that we have withevery affiliate to really help
them focus on what does successmean to them?
Tara Thurber (16:37):
Right.
Wendy Howland (16:38):
Because it's an independent definition to
success, and then helping themwork towards that. The initial
and ongoing training, not onlydo you get them started, but for
their ongoing personal andprofessional development, helps
them very much in the way of ifyou are a coach or a consultant,
(16:59):
helps them walk the walk andtalk the talk.
Tara Thurber (17:01):
Right. Absolutely.
Wendy Howland (17:03):
Credibility's there because they believe in
their own personal andprofessional development.
Tara Thurber (17:06):
Yep.
Wendy Howland (17:07):
So I would say, coaching, ongoing support,
initial and ongoing training,the power of the network.
Tara Thurber (17:14):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (17:14):
Being able to talk with members of the network
Tara Thurber (17:18):
Wow.
to say, Hey, do you haveanything on this? I'm looking
for speech that has to do withthat, can we brainstorm,
strategize this? So having thoselike minded individuals, that
peer network. And the last pieceof it, is having the proven
materials to use with theirclients, instead of having to
(17:39):
invent something or reinventsomething each and every time
they have a client, we've got aset of tools that our affiliates
use, when they service theirclients. They're able to take
those tools and tailor it toeach client's needs, but they
Wendy Howland (17:53):
Those are really the top five reasons why, you
don't have to create clientevery time they work with. I
mean create materials every timethey work with a client.
know, affiliates become part ofthe Trusted Advisors Network.
Tara Thurber (18:13):
And it's fantastic. I mean, you know,
I've spoken to so many leadersand so many leaders that feel
alone, you know, co founders andfounders that I've spoken to
over the course of the past twoyears, that's been one of the
biggest topics is loneliness.
Because you're there you don'treally know, or have that
(18:34):
immediate support. So that'shuge, Wendy. And I think another
thing too, that I am absolutelyblown away by is the fact that
an individual wanting to startsomething has almost an
immediate space or place withinto have the peer, to have the
(19:00):
network, to have the training,to have all of that. And it's
all of which sets this oneindividual up for success. And
it's just such an amazing thingthat I've been hearing and of
course spoken to one of youraffiliates and learning from her
as well, where she got to andit's exciting. I know a lot of
(19:22):
candidates that I speak to areon that - they're they're
teetering between, do I keepapplying? Do I keep applying to
all these corporate level roles?
But that's kind of dimming theirlight. It's not helping their
(19:43):
light shine as bright as theyreally, really passionately want
it to. So the fact that there isa place for these individuals
that want to pivot out of thecorporate world or want to pivot
into something that lights themup a little bit stronger. And
there's a place for them to goto with all that support is is
(20:05):
just phenomenal.
Wendy Howland (20:07):
Thank you. And it is really important to us
because we do respect the factthat and understand this is
something that could be a dreamfor them, kind of going back to
my it's their dream.
Tara Thurber (20:20):
Right.
Wendy Howland (20:21):
But there's fear associated with that dream.
Tara Thurber (20:23):
Of course, of course.
Wendy Howland (20:24):
You know, how do I do this? Where would I, where
would I go? What would it looklike? We really helped them
create that plan. So it's not asscary.
Tara Thurber (20:35):
Yeah. This is all amazing. I feel like I could
keep digging and digging andtalking and talking. How does
somebody sign up? Or if somebodyreaches out, how does that
process begin with TrustedAdvisors Network?
Wendy Howland (20:51):
Yes, there is actually a process involved, you
would reach out to usTrustedAdvisorsNetworkllc.com,
you can email, you can call on.
Our website is our phone number.
Tara Thurber (21:03):
Okay.
Wendy Howland (21:04):
We'll start with an initial conversation, just to
see, does this seem like itwould be a good fit? If it does
seem like it would be a goodfit, the next step is attending
what we refer to as a mutualevaluation. A mutual evaluation
is the opportunity for theindividual to learn much more
(21:25):
about Trusted Advisors. Duringthat mutual evaluation, you will
meet my partner, Tammy, as wellas my partner, Gerard, we're the
three that work closely with ouraffiliates. So you'll get the
opportunity to work with all ofus. After those calls, you'll
have an opportunity to reviewthe materials for a little bit
of time, and then we're going tocontinue those conversations.
(21:47):
Based upon what you've learned,does this make sense? Where do
we go from here? And then if itis a mutually agreed upon, it
fits for both us and it fits forthem, then they could become an
affiliate at that point in time.
Tara Thurber (22:02):
That's fantastic.
Absolutely in order forsomebody, it's I like the mutual
conversations, because it is soimportant to make sure that it
all does come together.
Wendy Howland (22:14):
And there is an initial investment and for that
initial investment, they geteverything that they need to
start that, build thatsuccessful business.
Tara Thurber (22:24):
Amazing. Wendy, this has been such a pleasure
learning so much more aboutTrusted Advisors Network. I
can't thank you enough forholding some time and space for
us today.
Wendy Howland (22:36):
Oh, thank you.
And I appreciate you giving methe opportunity to share a
little bit more about TrustedAdvisors.
Tara Thurber (22:42):
Wonderful. And then when we launch this podcast
out, I will make sure to get alink to the website in all of
our social so that if anybody'sinterested, they can reach out
directly or if somebody comesthrough us I will make sure to
get them over to you all. I'mreally looking forward to
continuing this offline with youand seeing where it can take us
(23:06):
together.
Wendy Howland (23:08):
Thank you. I'm excited too.
Tara Thurber (23:11):
We are DefinedTalent at DefinedLogic
service coming to you at Top5.
Make it a great day.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Top5 brought to
(00:02):
you by DefinedTalent. We are aresults driven service working
with clients to connect themwith quality talent as well as
working to make an impact withinthe recruitment industry. We
talk straight about today'sprofessional world with real
world professionals, experts inrecruitment, job seekers and
business owners alike. Have aquestion for us? Send it in and
(00:24):
you might spur our nextconversation. I'm Tara Thurber,
co founder and director oftalent partnerships at to
DefinedTalent. And joining metoday is Wendy Howland Partner
at Trusted Advisors. Hey, Wendy,how are you today?
Wendy Howland (00:39):
Good. Thank you for having me.
Tara Thurber (00:41):
Very excited to have you. Would you kick this
off with just providing a littlebit of background for our
listeners?
Wendy Howland (00:48):
Sure. Trusted Advisors is a network of just
about 200 affiliates. And ouraffiliates are really coaches
and consultants. They work in avariety of different industries,
really helping organizations inthe areas of strategy, people
and process. They also coachexecutives, to help them with
(01:10):
you know, whatever it is they'relooking to accomplish. So that's
who our customers serve. Andthen what Trusted Advisors also
does is we work very closelywith our customers who we refer
to as affiliates, helping thembuild successful businesses. So
we provide a lot of the toolsand the support that they need
(01:31):
in order to do that.
Tara Thurber (01:33):
Wow. Now, how did you get to where you are today
doing this?
Wendy Howland (01:41):
Actually, I was part of a another organization
that was around probably forclose to 40 years. In 2018 we
did some restructuring to keepthe authenticity integrity of
the brand. And that's whenTrusted Advisors was formed. So
our network has been around forjust about 40 years. Trusted
(02:04):
Advisors since 2018.
Tara Thurber (02:06):
That's fantastic.
Now let's kind of dive intoTrusted Advisors network.
Wendy Howland (02:14):
Sure.
Tara Thurber (02:14):
What is the mission of Trusted Advisors
Network? And I know you justtouched base on who you serve.
But what is the overall mission?
Wendy Howland (02:23):
The overall mission is we are the first
choice among professionals forassistance in creating and
building a successful coachingor consulting practice.
Tara Thurber (02:36):
Wow.
Wendy Howland (02:37):
That is our overall mission.
Tara Thurber (02:38):
That's awesome.
And then when we take when wethink about coaching, and then
there's also consulting, can youdescribe the difference between
coaching and consulting?
Wendy Howland (02:50):
Yes, I can share how we define the difference.
Tara Thurber (02:54):
Perfect.
Wendy Howland (02:55):
We define coaching as working with an
individual one on one.
Oftentimes, when we're workingwith an individual one -on-one
tends to be more in theexecutive route.
Tara Thurber (03:05):
Right.
Wendy Howland (03:07):
They are looking for life balance, they are
looking for, you know, sittingup here at the top of this
organization gets to be verylonely (laghs).
Who can I talk toto really help me with my daily
Tara Thurber (03:19):
(laughs) struggles, issues, challenges
that I face on a day to daybasis?
Right.
Wendy Howland (03:28):
So many of our affiliates will work with
executives one-on-one, helpingthem with those particular
issues. Our affiliates will alsowork with individuals inside an
organization one-on-one as anexample, Tara is a great
employee, we see that she hasthe potential to go really far.
(03:51):
We want to set Tara up forsuccess. We see her moving into
management levels or into anexecutive level. Instead of just
saying congratulations Tara, younow have a new job (laughs).
Tara Thurber (04:05):
Good luck!(laughs)
Wendy Howland (04:07):
Organizations are realizing that there is a fairly
new skill set involved at thatnew level.
Tara Thurber (04:12):
Yes!
Wendy Howland (04:13):
Let's set Tara up for success. Let's provide her
with a coach to help her gainthose additional skills and
knowledge that she needs to besuccessful. So that's how we
define coaching is when we areworking with an individual
one-on-one to help thatindividual accomplish those
things that are important tothem.
Tara Thurber (04:31):
Okay.
Wendy Howland (04:31):
It could be business, could be organization,
it could be businessorganizational focused, could be
personal focused.
Tara Thurber (04:38):
Okay.
Wendy Howland (04:38):
At times there's both.
Tara Thurber (04:40):
A little bit of everything.
Wendy Howland (04:41):
Exactly from consulting. How we define
consulting is where we'reworking with an organization to
help them grow, attain, achieve,it really varies. Sometimes an
affiliate could go in becausethey're looking for reduction in
turnover. They need to increasesales. They're looking to update
(05:04):
a strategic plan. They'relooking to fix their processes.
So from that standpoint, that'swhere we'll go in after we have
a clear understanding of what itis they're looking to do and
help them with those types ofthings. I will say, how we
differ from a lot of otherconsultants out there.
Tara Thurber (05:23):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (05:24):
A lot of other consultants are going to go in
and say, This is what you needto do with your organization,
thanks, see ya!
Tara Thurber (05:30):
Right.
Wendy Howland (05:30):
That's not the process that we follow. Our
methodology is really workingwith the organization and the
players inside of theorganization, because they know
that organization better thanany of us could ever pretend to.
Tara Thurber (05:44):
Absolutely.
Wendy Howland (05:45):
So we're going to help them come up to what's the
right solutions for that? And Ithink that's a key
differentiator. Our affiliatescan work in just about any
different industry withouthaving industry expertise.
Tara Thurber (05:58):
Perfect.
Wendy Howland (05:58):
Because the people inside the organization
have that industry expertise.
What our folks do is bring thequestions to the table that they
haven't thought to askthemselves, because they're too
stuck in the muck in the mire ofit.
Tara Thurber (06:11):
Yeah, yeah.
Wendy Howland (06:12):
Does that answer your question?
Tara Thurber (06:13):
Yeah, absolutely does and it just kind of it shed
so much light on almost thatmissing link at times, between
an organization and anindividual or and having
executives be stuck in the muckin offering that one-on-one and
then bringing more light to thetable for the entire team. Or
(06:38):
vice versa. Right? Maybe it'sbringing more light to the team
and then expanding out whenyou're speaking with some
clients. I guess it's twofold,because it's organizations, and
then it's one-on-one individualsare their differentiators
between if individuals from anorganization call or reach out?
(07:05):
What helps them determine is itthe entire structure that needs
support? Or is it just thatindividual that needs support?
Wendy Howland (07:15):
That is done through when our affiliates are
working with an organization,we're going to take a step back,
what we do is we help ouraffiliates be able to do this
with our clients. So it's astep, step, step.
When ouraffiliates are working with
Tara Thurber (07:27):
Right.
their clients prior to do anywork with them, they're going to
go in and do an in depthdiscovery to really understand
what is the organization reallylooking to do? Is this issue -
what's the root cause, ratherthan just addressing a symptom,
because you know, you canaddress a symptom, but it's not
(07:47):
going to make the root cause goaway. So we at Trusted Advisors,
work with our affiliates andteach our affiliates how to do
that great discovery tounderstand and find out what's
that root cause? Once we knowthe root cause, then we'll
determine what's the bestsolution to help this
organization with whatever issuethey're dealing with.
(08:08):
That's fantastic.
I like the idea of the in depth,kind of peeling back the layers
to really see what is the rootto it. Very awesome. Now, this
might this is kind of steppingoutside of the box a little bit
here. But for Trusted AdvisorsNetwork when you're working with
individuals or withorganizations, what does that
(08:31):
essentially look like? And Iknow that's kind of two
different paths that one cantake, but just for our listeners
out there, to get an idea ofwhat that path might look like.
Wendy Howland (08:45):
I'm not sure I understand the question
completely. Our affiliates areall independent business owners.
So our affiliates are servicingthose end users, either the
coaching clients or theorganizations.
Tara Thurber (09:01):
Got it!
Wendy Howland (09:02):
So, how they're getting in front of them varies.
Tara Thurber (09:06):
Right.
Wendy Howland (09:07):
Most times, it's through networking events,
speaking engagements.
Tara Thurber (09:11):
Right, right.
Wendy Howland (09:11):
Through their personal connections, chambers
of commerce. But they make andthey get an introduction into
that decision maker.
Tara Thurber (09:20):
Right.
Wendy Howland (09:20):
And it's through those conversations that the
interest is garnered and youknow, discovery into
facilitation of it.
Tara Thurber (09:28):
I love it. And kind of another question to that
facilitation. I'm justinterested as an organization,
if I was interested in bringingtalent advisors into an
organization, what are the arethey in person meetings? Are
they what does that look like?
Wendy Howland (09:50):
Depends (laughs).
Tara Thurber (09:51):
Yeah, all right.
(laughs)
Wendy Howland (09:54):
But it really does. It's very unique. If
somebody was interested in Theyfound us, of course, if you
reached out to Trusted Advisorsdirectly and said, Hey, I think
I might have an issue. Do youhave somebody that could help
me? We, of course, would put youin touch with one of our
affiliates.
Tara Thurber (10:10):
Okay.
Wendy Howland (10:11):
How our affiliates work with their
clients really depends.
Sometimes it's face to facemeetings.
Sometimes it'sdone virtually, sometimes it's a
Tara Thurber (10:17):
Yep.
combination of both. And that'swhy I said, it really depends.
There's not necessarily oneright answer. Generally, we like
to meet with organizationsweekly, because we spaced
repetition, that's how you getthem to internalize it. So often
(10:37):
you think about going to a localchamber event, you go to hear
somebody speak, if you reallythink about it, when you come
home, you have the bestintentions, but you get started
on your daily work. My questionis, when did you get to
implement all those good thingsyou heard about?
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (10:58):
Most oftentimes, we don't. Because when we hear
something, once we get back intothe day, in the day, we kind of
forget about it. So that's whyours is our methodology and our
concepts are built in such a waythat we build in spaced
repetition. Because when youhear something over and over
again, you're gonna retain it.
Tara Thurber (11:16):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (11:17):
Think about advertising.
Tara Thurber (11:18):
Yeah. Yes!(laughs)
Wendy Howland (11:19):
They're great at getting that. You know, never
had a Big Mac and all my life,but I can tell you what's on
one!
Tara Thurber (11:25):
Yeah! (laughs)
Wendy Howland (11:28):
So that's an example of really helping the
individuals internalize that. Soit generally is we break it into
weekly sessions. Like I said,sometimes it's in person,
sometimes it's virtually,sometimes it's a combination of
both. Are there times where wehave to do something outside of
(11:48):
the box in order to meet theclient's needs? Sure.
Tara Thurber (11:50):
Right.
Wendy Howland (11:51):
But affiliates are really good. And they're
able to schedule the sessionsfor what makes the most sense
for the client.
Tara Thurber (11:59):
Absolutely amazing. I love now, where are
the affiliates based? Are younationwide? Or what's your
location?
Wendy Howland (12:06):
There's pretty much affiliates nationwide.
Tara Thurber (12:09):
Okay. Wonderful.
That's great to know, for all ofour listeners, too. So I want to
take a break here and just askan out of the box question.
We've been doing this this yearwith our with our guests. If you
could give one piece of adviceto your younger self, what would
it be?
Wendy Howland (12:29):
You know, it's funny that you mention that
because I think about that allthe time. And having kids I
often kind of share this advicewith them.
Tara Thurber (12:37):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (12:40):
Key piece of advice, and it's kind of I'm
gonna step up. Never give up onyour dreams. And no matter what
chronological age you hit,continue dreaming. Obstacles are
merely stumbling blocks. There'sother ways around it, just
(13:00):
because you hit a wall doesn'tmean you stop, you know, climb
over it, walk around it, pick adifferent direction. And have
fun. Live your purpose, liveyour passion. I've been doing
this 30 plus years now, and I'lltell you what, I don't work.
(13:24):
This is, it's what I do. It's apart of who I am. And I truly
love it. So, live your purpose,live your passion. And I know
I'm going a little bitoverboard, but you're never
gonna have to work a day in yourlife, you know, is every day
peachy keen? No, but you know,you'll have that joy. That's the
advice I would give to myyounger self.
Tara Thurber (13:46):
That just gave me goosebumps. And it's so true,
especially when speaking to justyounger people in general, young
professionals that are justgetting out there. Individuals
that don't think that way. Atany age, right? It's just a
(14:06):
matter of breaking through. AndI absolutely love, love, love,
love that advice. Wendy, shareyour Top5 Reasons to Join
Trusted Advisors Network,please.
Wendy Howland (14:19):
The reason affiliates really become
affiliates and part of ournetwork.
Tara Thurber (14:26):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (14:27):
There's several pieces to it. Number one, their
time tired of working forcorporate America where they're,
I want to say, kind of leavingtheir future in someone else's
hands.
Tara Thurber (14:42):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (14:44):
And they want to take all the expertise that they
have, because most of ouraffiliates are seasoned.They've
been in business, you know, inthe business world for 20/30
years.
Tara Thurber (14:54):
Right.
Wendy Howland (14:55):
They're at a path where they're looking for a
change, looking for change for alot of different reasons. Could
be I'm tired of being downsized,right sized asked. I'm ready to
retire from corporate.
Tara Thurber (15:07):
Yep.
Wendy Howland (15:07):
But not ready to be sent for pasture (laughs).
Tara Thurber (15:10):
Right.
Wendy Howland (15:10):
Still things I want to do. And a lot of times,
they're also coming to usbecause they're looking for
more, I'm going to say lifebalance life blend. They're
tired of flying all over thecountry, they want to be
available to family. So I wouldsay for those reasons, one of
(15:33):
the first things is with TrustedAdvisors, you're in your own
business. So you're in businessfor yourself, right? You're not
by yourself. So I think that'sone. The second thing is the
fact that our affiliates successis our success.
Tara Thurber (15:54):
Right.
Wendy Howland (15:55):
And it's not, it's truly about building your
relationship with each and everyaffiliate. We are their personal
coach, we are really there tohelp them with marketing, sales,
pricing, facilitation. And weactually, I kinda laugh when we
have our initial and ongoingtraining at our ongoing
(16:16):
trainings, we think about goingback to a conference, and you
get a lot of the handshakes. Imean, ours feels more like a
family reunion (laughs).
Tara Thurber (16:25):
Right (laughs).
Wendy Howland (16:28):
So I would say it's, it's that coaching
relationship that we have withevery affiliate to really help
them focus on what does successmean to them?
Tara Thurber (16:37):
Right.
Wendy Howland (16:38):
Because it's an independent definition to
success, and then helping themwork towards that. The initial
and ongoing training, not onlydo you get them started, but for
their ongoing personal andprofessional development, helps
them very much in the way of ifyou are a coach or a consultant,
(16:59):
helps them walk the walk andtalk the talk.
Tara Thurber (17:01):
Right. Absolutely.
Wendy Howland (17:03):
Credibility's there because they believe in
their own personal andprofessional development.
Tara Thurber (17:06):
Yep.
Wendy Howland (17:07):
So I would say, coaching, ongoing support,
initial and ongoing training,the power of the network.
Tara Thurber (17:14):
Yeah.
Wendy Howland (17:14):
Being able to talk with members of the network
Tara Thurber (17:18):
Wow.
to say, Hey, do you haveanything on this? I'm looking
for speech that has to do withthat, can we brainstorm,
strategize this? So having thoselike minded individuals, that
peer network. And the last pieceof it, is having the proven
materials to use with theirclients, instead of having to
(17:39):
invent something or reinventsomething each and every time
they have a client, we've got aset of tools that our affiliates
use, when they service theirclients. They're able to take
those tools and tailor it toeach client's needs, but they
Wendy Howland (17:53):
Those are really the top five reasons why, you
don't have to create clientevery time they work with. I
mean create materials every timethey work with a client.
know, affiliates become part ofthe Trusted Advisors Network.
Tara Thurber (18:13):
And it's fantastic. I mean, you know,
I've spoken to so many leadersand so many leaders that feel
alone, you know, co founders andfounders that I've spoken to
over the course of the past twoyears, that's been one of the
biggest topics is loneliness.
Because you're there you don'treally know, or have that
(18:34):
immediate support. So that'shuge, Wendy. And I think another
thing too, that I am absolutelyblown away by is the fact that
an individual wanting to startsomething has almost an
immediate space or place withinto have the peer, to have the
(19:00):
network, to have the training,to have all of that. And it's
all of which sets this oneindividual up for success. And
it's just such an amazing thingthat I've been hearing and of
course spoken to one of youraffiliates and learning from her
as well, where she got to andit's exciting. I know a lot of
(19:22):
candidates that I speak to areon that - they're they're
teetering between, do I keepapplying? Do I keep applying to
all these corporate level roles?
But that's kind of dimming theirlight. It's not helping their
(19:43):
light shine as bright as theyreally, really passionately want
it to. So the fact that there isa place for these individuals
that want to pivot out of thecorporate world or want to pivot
into something that lights themup a little bit stronger. And
there's a place for them to goto with all that support is is
(20:05):
just phenomenal.
Wendy Howland (20:07):
Thank you. And it is really important to us
because we do respect the factthat and understand this is
something that could be a dreamfor them, kind of going back to
my it's their dream.
Tara Thurber (20:20):
Right.
Wendy Howland (20:21):
But there's fear associated with that dream.
Tara Thurber (20:23):
Of course, of course.
Wendy Howland (20:24):
You know, how do I do this? Where would I, where
would I go? What would it looklike? We really helped them
create that plan. So it's not asscary.
Tara Thurber (20:35):
Yeah. This is all amazing. I feel like I could
keep digging and digging andtalking and talking. How does
somebody sign up? Or if somebodyreaches out, how does that
process begin with TrustedAdvisors Network?
Wendy Howland (20:51):
Yes, there is actually a process involved, you
would reach out to usTrustedAdvisorsNetworkllc.com,
you can email, you can call on.
Our website is our phone number.
Tara Thurber (21:03):
Okay.
Wendy Howland (21:04):
We'll start with an initial conversation, just to
see, does this seem like itwould be a good fit? If it does
seem like it would be a goodfit, the next step is attending
what we refer to as a mutualevaluation. A mutual evaluation
is the opportunity for theindividual to learn much more
(21:25):
about Trusted Advisors. Duringthat mutual evaluation, you will
meet my partner, Tammy, as wellas my partner, Gerard, we're the
three that work closely with ouraffiliates. So you'll get the
opportunity to work with all ofus. After those calls, you'll
have an opportunity to reviewthe materials for a little bit
of time, and then we're going tocontinue those conversations.
(21:47):
Based upon what you've learned,does this make sense? Where do
we go from here? And then if itis a mutually agreed upon, it
fits for both us and it fits forthem, then they could become an
affiliate at that point in time.
Tara Thurber (22:02):
That's fantastic.
Absolutely in order forsomebody, it's I like the mutual
conversations, because it is soimportant to make sure that it
all does come together.
Wendy Howland (22:14):
And there is an initial investment and for that
initial investment, they geteverything that they need to
start that, build thatsuccessful business.
Tara Thurber (22:24):
Amazing. Wendy, this has been such a pleasure
learning so much more aboutTrusted Advisors Network. I
can't thank you enough forholding some time and space for
us today.
Wendy Howland (22:36):
Oh, thank you.
And I appreciate you giving methe opportunity to share a
little bit more about TrustedAdvisors.
Tara Thurber (22:42):
Wonderful. And then when we launch this podcast
out, I will make sure to get alink to the website in all of
our social so that if anybody'sinterested, they can reach out
directly or if somebody comesthrough us I will make sure to
get them over to you all. I'mreally looking forward to
continuing this offline with youand seeing where it can take us
(23:06):
together.
Wendy Howland (23:08):
Thank you. I'm excited too.
Tara Thurber (23:11):
We are DefinedTalent at DefinedLogic
service coming to you at Top5.
Make it a great day.
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