5.4K
Downloads
157
Episodes
Interviews with Female entrepreneurs, founders, co-founders, business owners, and industry Gurus. These podcasts speak with women (women-identified) across all industries in order to shed light for those just getting into the entrepreneurial game! Histories, current companies, and lessons learned are explored. The series is designed to investigate a female (female identified) perspective in what has largely been a male-dominated industry in the world to date.
Episodes
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
Today I chat with Tamara Klink. Tamara’s life purpose is to empower females working in technology to live a balanced and purposeful life. She founded FIIT Collective to create a global support network for females working in tech, or considering information technology as a career.
Along the way Tamara spent 8 years as a circus performer, graduated from Bond University with a Bachelors of Business and Accounting, then moved into recruitment, before finding her joy in technology. Tamara now works for Salesforce, one of the leading technology companies globally, as a Senior Solution Engineer.
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note, this is an automated transcription please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:00] In this episode, I speak with Tamara Johanna Klink. Tamara is the founder of the Global Support Network. F. I. I. T. Fit Collective. Key points addressed were tomorrow's professional history and current dream job with Salesforce. We also discussed her founding the Fit Collective, which stands for females in information technology and serves as a global support network for females working in tech or considering a career in tech. Stay tuned for my talk with Tamara Johanna Klink.
[00:00:37] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status for industry. We aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen .com , where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod, Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation.
[00:01:35] Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I'm your host, Patricia. And today I'm excited to be sitting down with Tamara Johanna Klink. She's the founder of Fit Collective, a global support network for females working in tech, are considering a tech career. You can find out more about her and fit collective at fit collective dot com. Welcome, Tamara.
[00:01:56] Oh, thank you so much, Patricia, for having me.
[00:01:58] Absolutely. I look forward to unpacking fit collective and everything that you're doing there for everyone. Listening and perhaps new to the podcast series will follow the same trajectory, a roadmap for today's podcast and follows the same trajectories, all of those in the series with our inquiry line. First looking at unpacking tomorrow's academic background and early professional life leading leading her up to father founding of Fit Collective. Then we'll turn straight to Unpacking Fit Collective. We'll get into the logistics of who, what, when, where, why, how, funding all of those things that may pertain to it. And then we'll get into the ethos and the philosophy behind what Tamara is doing with her vision there. We'll then turn our efforts towards unpacking and looking at the goals and plans that she has in the future for both the collective and her other work endeavors. And we'll wrap everything up with advice that she may have. For those of you looking to get involved with fit, collective and or emulate some of her career success. Before I begin peppering Tamara with questions, I'll read a quick bio on hers that can garner a bit of her background prior to her describing herself. Tomorrows life purpose is to empower females working in technology to live a balanced and purposeful life. She founded Fit Collective to create a global support network for females working in tech or considering information technology as a career. Along the way, tomorrow spent eight years as a circus performer, graduated from Bond University with a Bachelors of Business and accounting, then moved into recruitment before finding her joy in technology. Tomorrow now works for Salesforce, one of the leading technology companies globally as a senior solution engineer. Since founding her business, Tamara has been awarded the top five leading ladies in tech on Instagram by women who code top blogs. Young women in technology should follow by code like a girl, a finalist for the air and women in I c t awards and a finalist in the Emerging Leader category of the Empowerment of Women Awards. So tomorrow, that's really exciting. You've had some like really quick early on success and I'm excited to kind of climb through what you're doing now and find out more about it. But before we do that, could you please, for our audience listening and watching today, kind of describe your academic background and early professional life that led you to where you are right now?
[00:04:23] Yeah, no problem. Did you want me to start back in the circus is that way?
[00:04:28] Yes. I want all of it. I do. And you can't drop a little tidbit like that without me just dying to hear more about it.
[00:04:35] Or I said so ever since I was a little girl, I was a sporty kid and I really enjoyed it and excelled in professional sport. So I went to state swimming, water polo. I was very good at dancing, gymnastics. But none of them had my heart. And it was one day when I was walking down Queen Straight and All in Brisbane and I saw these kids doing circus tricks. And I looked at my mum saying, Oh, my God. That is so cool. That's exactly what I want to do. And she's thinking, my gosh, tomorrow you are already doing a million other things. But okay, let's go to the game. So I started doing circus. At the age of 10 and by the age of fifteen, I moved out of home and was traveling all of Australia with a circus school. So I would still go to normal high school. But the teachers would come and tour with us to ensure that we did allow exam the same as every other normal kid would. At the same time. And we would schedule our tours and performances around those exam timetables. And my ultimate goal at that point was to be in display. That was that was the dream. And in my graduating year, when I was 18 years old, I had an injury and it wasn't surveyed. But it was enough for me to wake up and realize how dominant or how much my body needed to be fit and healthy for me to have a sustainable career at Circus.
[00:06:15] And everything that my parents said about moving out of home. I mean, at the time I was going to an all girls Catholic boarding school before I went to sex. So it was a big shift for them emotionally. So, yeah, everything just came rushing back of them saying that I needed a back. So I decided to listen as much as I didn't want to and put my head in the books and studied really, really hard. In my final year at school and ended up going to university in the Gold Christ, where I studied business management and accounting, and the goal was to just get my degree and then head back to circus. But that wasn't the case at all. I fell in love with university and left my circus career behind. And naturally, I excelled in accounting. So as any, I guess, university student would think. What you excel at. You should pursue. So I ended up getting a part time job in a tax accounting firm and then studying part time and then having three other casual jobs on the side to ensure that I could sustain the party life and buy all the new dresses that I wanted. And at the end of my degree, I realized how much I hated accounting and I thought it was really dull and really boring. And it wasn't for me and I could not stand to look at another tax or 10. I needed some more human interaction. So I was really, really lost at that point and I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I went to my parents for advice and I had two opportunities on the table. One was in change management at one of the top four firms here in Australia, and another was starting up a recruitment firm for an international recruitment agency in Melbourne. And I spoke to them at the time. I was like, what do you think I should do? And they said, Mary, you have two options. You can either be really small fish in a really big pond and start consulting on change management. When you have zeri industry experience and work really, really, really long hours, or you can really step outside of your comfort zone and start a recruitment firm and they you're going to learn how to sell, how to negotiate and build a really, really thick skin because not everyone likes recruiters.
[00:08:46] And so yeah, I decided to start a recruitment firm. I thought it's going to give me a really good perspective of all the industries out there and first hand knowledge of all of the different corporate coaches. And then after that, I'll know where I want to go and guide my career that way. So funnily enough, the recruitment side of the business that I was starting with s schools recruitment. And at the time I had no idea what SAS was, was I was like, what is it, CRM? I just don't understand. And so in the first week, I had to do a presentation to my managers at the time and about sousveillance and the type of candidates that we would hire by the end of the presentation. My manager said to me, When can we get sound? Supposing we need it as a CRM? And I was just so passionate about it. I would be the first one in the firm to be there in the morning researching about Marc Benioff and what technology he's just bought and the latest innovations. And I ended up spending more time learning about Salesforce than actually recruiting. And one day I decided to do what I did best. And that was take a day off and recruit. And I recruited myself into all of the different organizations that I knew had samples so specialized in samples, implementations and just said, look, I'm a junior. I don't know a lot. I've been studying sounds and really passionate about it. Would you give me a chance to work at your firm and I'll do whatever it takes? I work the long hours. I'll do whatever course. And two organizations had said yes. And I decided to go with the organization that specialized in marketing cloud, which is what I specialize in today. And I wouldn't say could not believe that they hired me. I had zero technical knowledge, zero technical skills. And within the first two weeks they put me on site with clients and building the platform. And I just fell so deeply in love with it, ended up being a developer. And then after two years, I got a job at Salesforce. So that's my career journey. I guess where I went, especially where I want to talk about, is with it. Collective came into that.
[00:11:13] Yeah, absolutely. What was the inspiration for launching a collective or was it something that germinated for a long time, or was it just something that kind of hit you one day?
[00:11:23] Well, being in recruitment and specializing in tech recruitment, it sounds folks recruitment. I started to notice how many men I was talking to, and at the time it wasn't an issue at all. I love men. I think they're great. I think they're really intellectual and very smart. And when I started my job at Kaleido, which was the partner that first hired me with serious technical skills. I very quickly realized that my team were olman, and that wasn't an issue at all. They didn't discriminate against me. They really looked after me. They gave me so many different opportunities. I wouldn't be where I am today without them. But I couldn't say what I couldn't see. And there was no senior management there at the time that were female. And I was lusting where my career path could go. So I started looking online for some tech events that I could attend and meet other women who were in tech. And I found some really, really great events with girls in tech and cried like a girl and they were just phenomenal. But the issue at the time was that I didn't have time to attend these events all the time working in tech. You do have implementation projects that require later hours at times. And I found myself signing up to these events, but not being able to go. So I looked online looking for some other career stories about women in tech. And the ones that I found I didn't feel were authentic. I felt like it highlighted all of the success, but it didn't talk about the challenges that women have to go through to get to where they are today. And they missed such a big piece of the puzzle, which was the life aspect. You know, it focused on the career. But what about the life? And what about falling pregnant and going on maternity leave and what it's like to come off maternity leave and the guilt that you have behind that? Why aren't we talking about that? Like, why is that seen as a weakness? So I started off with an Instagram account just to save. That was an audience out there. And if there were other women in tech who wanted that holistic view in that work life balance and being more purposeful in life, work and life. And my Instagram account just blew up and I thought, OK, this is an opportunity. Started a website and now it's time to into a podcast, which I absolutely love. And yeah, there's just so much that I want to do with it.
[00:13:51] So I'm curious, when your audience started to grow. Was it local? Did you. Did you make it immediately global or was it Australian?
[00:14:01] And was it largely women or female identified? Or did any of those profile elastic characteristics matter?
[00:14:09] Yes. So I thought that my audience would be predominantly in Australia. But it's actually masked mostly in the US, which is amazing. I love. I definitely want to go to the US again one day. I think it's such an incredible country. And. But I do have a lot of men as well. And that's not a problem for me at all because men are part of the picture. And that's what an equal workforce looks like. And we need them to have that do best by thinking when we need them to help us get to the levels that we deserve. So it was global. Straight away, us predominant. And then I would say Australia and then the Asian countries.
[00:14:53] OK, let's get into some of the logistics. So am I correct? It's a fit collective stands for females in information technology.
[00:15:03] OK. And so that's where you're getting the acronym. When was it founded? Did you take any funding? Do you have any co-founders and. Yeah. Let's start with those three.
[00:15:15] OK. Awesome. So the website started May 2018 and that was just made blogging about my experience as a female in tech and talking about the different areas of life. So tech well-being and balance and getting other women in tech to share their stories and their advice and how they got to where they are today and what I found in doing that. It was very time consuming and I'm not a natural writer at all. That's something that I've struggled with. Having a mother who comes from the Netherlands, I guess her English wasn't his strong suit, ADA. So it was very time consuming for me. And I thought I was doing a disservice to those women by not sharing their stories to a wider audience. So that's when my partner, Joe Norson, thought that launching a podcast would be a great idea. So the podcast launched in September 2019, and it's absolutely skyrocketed since then. And I love doing it.
[00:16:21] And then your last question was about the fandoms reality. Yeah. You and what did you found it alone. And since have you brought on other founders? If so, and did you bootstrap or get funding?
[00:16:33] So will I. So I founded it by myself initially, but my partner, Joan Auton, I would also classify him as a puppet found on whether he likes it or not. But it honestly wouldn't be where it is today without him. I wouldn't have slept through so many hoops outside of my comfort zone to launch the bug and the website. And he's very technical and helped me a lot with the Web site and is a very good writer. So you raids and edits everything that I write. So I definitely classify him as a founder, if not the same, when helping me lead the way. And in terms of funding, no, it's all self-funded by myself. So I'm very grateful that I do have a very good salary at Salesforce to help fund my business. But it is getting to the stage where, you know, I am looking for sponsorship. I'm really hoping to increase the amount of podcasts that I release and start advertising on there. But it's a fine line of adding ads to a podcast and making sure those ads are helping my audience. I don't want ads that aren't relevant or that are disrupting their listening and it's not bringing value to them. So, yeah, it's a very fine line. And if you have any advice, I'd love to know how.
[00:17:57] Well, I. The same. No, I think you're right to be very considerate.
[00:18:01] I host four different podcasts and I, I take myself seriously because of the communities that I'm speaking with. Not on the whole as a person, I don't think I take myself that seriously. However, working with women and female identified non binary individuals such as yourself and telling the professional chronicles over the past three years, it's been a struggle. I haven't done a lot of partnerships and sponsorships. We've had offers for acquisition that couldn't go through simply because I couldn't guarantee the authenticity and value staying the same to those audiences. I think it depends on the niche market. You speaking to women? I think that's getting better. I think that the actual industry is growing up before our eyes. Podcasting is was very much so still the Wild West three years ago. And now there seems to be some kind of a tenor, you know, and an appropriate following and things like that. And even though there's still variance in how people put them out, I was always like, where's the structure? Like, how do I know what I'm getting? And I think a lot of those things are carrying over into sponsorship and partnership as well. I think the people are starting to get that. You don't want to just go rogue and have some anti female ads suddenly on your, you know, female podcast. That would be daunting. So I do think that that is happening before our eyes. But I do think you are also very wise to consider those kinds of aspects before you just kind of throw it all into the wind, because you do you have an onus, you have a responsibility to this community that's been sharing stories with you and listening to each other's stories and things like that. And so there's there's a reference, at least for me, that I think is required. I love your work, like your website design. I think it's very clean. There's been a lot of change. I originally came up in Silicon Valley and, you know, the newest rage and stuff like that with website design can be like the worst color of orange for a prom dress that you've ever seen. Like, it's just kind of like you can't fall too quickly for, like, the new things because they're very fad, like. And so I like that your site has like a classic timelessness to it, which I feel like any site that's supposed to be for a collective or that kind of a word has a lot of heti meaning for me. And so I like the the design and what it looks like. But I also like that you very judiciously and succinctly get into like a clear mission, you know, about what you what you're meant to do, what you what you're intending for, the collective and things like that. And I want to kind of ask you about that. I grabbed the quote you it's from your site. It says, Our vision is for 50 percent of the global information technology workforce to be female. And I think that that kind of a mission is cool. I think it's important to say those kinds of things, even though it's it's a lot, you know, it's it's a lot of people would say that and be like maybe, you know, there's a lot that goes along with that. But I like that you're stating it. You also talk about transparency and communication and all of these values that you really you uphold in the collective. And I want to kind of unpack that a little bit more and see where some of the future or current action items are in how they're meeting up with those philosophies. So can can you kind of speak two main areas of conversation that your collective is happening or are there initiatives that people are getting behind? Is it as much as petitions being signed or are there any things that people are actually doing to start putting some of these goals into actual work, real action items?
[00:21:36] Yeah, there is a lot that's happening. And I'm so grateful that a lot of Mella allies are running these petitions and pushing for regulations to be changed. So in Australia, there's a lot happening with equal pay and southpaws. That itself has you know, I think they've balanced the pay by twelve million dollars now to ensure that all of the employees, no matter what race, gender, religion, that they're paid the equal as their colleagues. There is a lot of movement like that happening and having paternity leave. So giving men the option to be able to take that paternity leave. Scandinavia's definitely leading the way. Then they make it mandatory. So you either use it or lose it. So when an employer is looking to hire male or female, both of them could have the opportunity to take twelve months of the year. So there's no discrimination and there's no unconscious bias when hiring a male or female. So that's knocked off the park straight away. That is a lot of it's not. Some organizations are a little bit more aggressive, and that's not the approach that I would like to take. Like I mentioned before, men are out of the picture. And Fickett Collective isn't about females taking over the world. It's just about simple equality.
[00:23:03] And it's funny when you look more and more into it and say how many aspects of the organization molded to fit a man's world. So, for example, the air conditioning, that's at a level that is most comfortable to men and not women. Women like it a little bit more woma. So it's just simple things like that that organizations are becoming more aware of. And I don't think any organization is purposefully making unconscious bias or discriminate discrimination against any gender or religion or so forth. I think it's just more about being open and aware of what is equal and that we're not asking for anything more than what a man would ask for. So there is a lot happening. I wouldn't say this petition, so forth. I don't think we need to get ahead. But there are slightly changing regulations all over the Web.
[00:24:00] Do you make goals? And if so, is it a collective? How does it work when you have so many people kind of belonging to this union? And has that changed since the launch?
[00:24:12] Do you make goals as to what you would like to see it be a part of what you would like to see fit? Collective have. It's like some print on its like signature too. Or are you still kind of forming that?
[00:24:28] Yeah, it's, it's funny because I'm so passionate about it collective and I'm so passionate about Salesforce. I could not think about losing one of the other. So I'm very big goes by. But then it comes that whole lot of balancing and fame really stake in what you can and can't achieve. So I guess within the first next three years, what I would like to do is really increase the cost, because that is saying such an incredible shift. And the reviews and the direct message, things that I get on Instagram and on LinkedIn, I just mind. And I have a best selling authors contacting me, asking me to be on their podcast. And I have women messaging me, opening up to the stories that they've had that they resonated with some of the guests that I've had on the show. Like, it's just it honestly, those guys would cry because I'm so grateful to be able to have that impact on a female and make them feel like that they can have it all and that they can pursue their wildest dreams and they are worthy of receiving that. So the first one to call is increasing that tech podcast frequency. So currently it's fortnightly and so hopefully get it to weekly, then create a number of eight learning programs to really help women in tech accelerate their career. So I've got one. Got a few ideas, but I've got one that's due to be launched soon. And then I have a really ambitious idea, and that's to develop an and pay for a female centric productivity app. So I'm super excited about bots and as well as, you know, really big goals for Salesforce as well. So really big goes there. And I'm very ambitious to get them. But as long as I'm putting my mental and physical health as a priority, because that's everything that I talk about and it's really important and then not intact, then you can't possibly table the goals that you want to.
[00:26:37] That's absolutely true. And it's it's good to recognize it young.
[00:26:41] I think a lot of the women that I speak to and female identified individuals are, you know, in a place of of a little bit more pain and sacrifice after they've come to that conclusion. It's good to recognize that at a younger age. I'm curious about your podcast. And I'm I so I had the opportunity. You're in Australia. We talked about this prerecording and I had the opportunity to be in Sydney and actually do a couple of podcasts there. And I went to a meetup group based on local podcasters there and had the opportunity to speak in and kind of share the platform idea. I wasn't sure how different it would be where you're at versus my side of the globe. But I did learn that there is a lot of different networks and there's a lot of different ways, like you said, ads and things like that. There's a lot of podcasters in the states that are just, you know, cow people. They will just kind of up and bootstrap it all and just figure it out as they go. And they don't really think about those things. And I found at least a lot of my Australian counterparts to be very thoughtful and particular. At said that at that pace that they were finally out. When I am when I met up with them at the Meetup group and I'm wondering with you. Are you on? So I know your podcast is you can locate it on your website. But are you hosted on other networks? You. Australia has a very famous podcasting female network that Kelly Glover. I interviewed her and she used to work for it, but it was one of the first ones I had ever even heard of, even including in the States. But I'm wondering if you have if you host it yourself or if it's nestled in different indexes, how does that work for you guys down under.
[00:28:25] Yes. So I didn't know about that old female podcast racing. You'll have to have to look out for her up after this episode. That's really interesting. Sorry, it's just on all the regular podcast channels like Apple and Spotify and Stanzler and Chain I Heart Radio. So on my Web site. I do think that. I have had a few emails lately that it is opening up into the Scandinavian countries and I just assumed that they would be there already. I don't know if you've had the same as well. So I would assume that it's that it's available globally. But that could be naive of me to think that.
[00:29:08] Well, I wasn't sure either.
[00:29:10] I actually did podcasts about a year and a half ago out of Sweden and Ireland, and I wasn't sure when I was there. And the people that I contacted, I gave them just my natural like I tune Spotify address. And and I did get notifications. They were all able to access it. But I also got notifications that they're kind of doing their own hosting of channels and things like that. I think people again, you know, you're kind of witnessing the toddler doom of of podcasting. It's growing up before our eyes, which is kind of a ride. I mean, you how how frequently can you say that? It's like being around when the computer first launched, it would have been a riot. So that's interesting. So I'm wondering, given that you're doing this within the podcasting, as you know, this kind of beloved creature of yours, how is it based? Are you doing an all interview based? How are you running a length? Are you picking topics? Are you lousing the collective to weigh in on what is spoken about? How does all of that work when you're doing your fortnightly podcast?
[00:30:10] Yeah. So it's a combination. So when I first started, because I was a bit nervous thing behind the mike, I thought that someone would just be my partner, Joel and I, talking about some of the challenges that women in tech face and how to overcome them, as well as acknowledging some of the discrimination that men have as well. Second, for example, you know, I don't know if you have them in the States, but Father's Day Marquises is typically at seven a.m. and then Mother's Day breakfast is at 10 a.m. So there's discrimination on both ways. Assuming that the father is working and the mother is not just talking about some of those things and that it's also difficult for men to leave work early to pick up that child, it's often that thinking, well, why isn't the female doing that? So this discrimination bikeway. So I really want to have him on the show to have it ensure that we have that collective, at least from a male and female standpoint. And just in my preliminary launch, I hadn't even launched a podcast yet. It was just all marketing and showing little sound bites of the podcast. I actually had the CIO of Susan Group, which is a huge Aussie fashion brand here in Australia, contacted me saying I wanted to be on your cost and I'd love to be interviewed. And I'm looking at my Poncho's thinking what this was meant to be. Season two, I'm not ready to interview people, especially not a CIO of a major fashion company. You're kidding. And then just like, what are you doing? Forget season one. Get her on the show. You just need to learn and guide for it is sort of being ad hoc since then. I definitely get the input of my collective. I ask all the time on Instagram what are the topics that they want me to talk bad? Or I ask specific questions like what are some of the challenges that they're facing currently right now and get their input. And we do talk about a lot of those topics. And then with the interviews with the guests, I've been very fortunate. A lot of them have come to me to be on the podcast, and I initially have a 30 minute conversation with them and look at their background and had some ideas of the topics that we can talk about and then get a feel of what they're comfortable in and what they're passionate about and what is the impacts that they want to make. When the podcast is finished. How do they want to transform a female and text lives? Or how do they want to help a male ally help women in tech get to the top?
[00:32:43] So, you know, it's it's definitely very collaborative. And I am. Very proud that they guess that I've had on the show a very authentic and talk about the challenges. That's really, really important to me. And I do try my best to pull them out and be vulnerable and open because that's where people really start to relate. So, yes, it's definitely a combination of everything that you talked about.
[00:33:10] Just fantastic. I think the goal to I mean, you know, Melinda Gates was telling David Letterman on his inquiry's show that launched a couple of years ago.
[00:33:19] She just said, listen, if we have to keep women at the table, there's less women in tech right now than 10 years ago. And it's a huge concern for, you know, women who are allied to women in tech or women who are in tech. I have two daughters for that reason alone. I mean, you know, it's it's scary to think that we're losing our place at the table because we will lose our voice in the future. And the future is tech. And we want to have a seat at that table. And we need about 50 percent of those seats. Not one, you know. And so I think it's so crucial to have organizations like yours and Fit Collective like out there sharing stories, making sure we're still having these important conversations.
[00:34:02] And to be clear, you know, pay parity, sexism across all boards, across all genders, it services nobody. Men lose out, women lose out. Non binary people we all lose. There I can show everyone that paradigm very, very quickly. Any kind of bigotry actually doesn't service to society very well. And that's why ones that go about eliminating it have a happier work life balance and just a happier citizenship in general. So it's definitely for you know, I have two boys and two girls and it's for everyone. But I do think that your mission is as audacious and awesome and I love it. Olympic collective. I love everything about it. We're wrapping up and running out of time, which I wish we weren't going to. I mean, I'll go into my final question, which I am I'm known for. It's one of my favorite. Everyone's like, are you ever going to change it? I was like, No, never. And I'll be forever. So if you were at a safe social distance from someone and a gardener a park tomorrow and they walked up to you and it was a young woman or female identified not by an individual, anyone other than a straight white male for purposes of this podcast. And they said, listen, tomorrow, I'm so glad I caught you. So check it out. I know I had this incredible background in sport. And I am. I went in to uni. I got my stuff done. I thought I was gonna go back to the spa and up not doing it. And then it turned out that I was setting something at uni that I had to kind of pivot. Then people gave me two options and I chose the harder of the option. I found my niche. I found this company. This works that I'm obsessed with. And I'm getting ready to launch this this side Passion Hustle project that I'm just I'm related to do it, but I'm getting ready to do it without a whole lot of mentorship. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that individual knowing what you know now?
[00:35:57] I would definitely say ensure that this is your purpose. The purpose is very different to following your passion. And I think a lot of people get confused between the two and your passions change, just like in my story. My passion was circus than it was accounting. But they change your purpose, doesn't it? And I was very, very grateful to find that very early in my life. And it is tough finding it. You have to dig really, really deep and open all the skeletons out of your closet to understand what that is. Because if you follow your passion, you end up just creating a job for yourself. And that's no different to what you are doing today. Whereas if you follow your purpose, you're intrinsically motivated to continue even through the most challenging times. So I'd say that would be the first piece of advice. The second is just get started. It's so easy to get caught in a trap of striving for perfection, whereas you just need to get it and they pay out that test the market. Is there an audience? I start with an instant. Family can do whatever way that works for you. And then just test it. Right. Test it. Right. And then you evolve and build a product that you're really, really proud of. And the third one, if I can only choose three to get a mentor, I wouldn't be where I am today without my mentors. So with that, my partner, John Wharton, and the mentors that I have at schools and outside of Salesforce, they are a big part of where I am today.
[00:37:29] Yeah, absolutely. And I'm not sure the end the word mentor, like there's a lot of people calling it different things, but I, I don't know of anyone who got to happiness or the top of a mountain or hill without some kind of an advisor, teacher, a mentor that they could really guide themselves by.
[00:37:47] All right. So I've got to ensure that this is your purpose. It's different from your passion. So recognize what your purposes and make sure that this endeavors that just get started and get a mentor. Absolutely. Yeah. Fantastic. Those are perfect. Three, I love this. And they really do cross like industry genre. Like you could tell that to a young artist. It's perfect. The next biochemist.
[00:38:12] Well, Tamara we're out of time, but I wish we weren't. And I thank you so much.
[00:38:16] I know you got up early for this and I know you're busy. Everyone is. But you in particular. And I really appreciate you sharing your story and your candor and all of your information with us today.
[00:38:28] Thank you so much, Patricia. I've had a lot of fun, and I wish you all the success that I'm looking forward to here in the process when it gets launched.
[00:38:35] You bet. You as well. And for everyone listening, we've been speaking with Tamara Johanna clink and you can find out more. She's the founder of Fit Collective. And you can look it up online. It's Ficke collective dot com.
[00:38:48] Thank you for giving us your time today. And until we speak again next time, remember to always bet on yourself. Slainte!
Comments (0)
To leave or reply to comments, please download free Podbean or
No Comments
To leave or reply to comments,
please download free Podbean App.