Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gwen Tinsley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Gwen , we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
At a young age I was forced to grow up almost overnight as my parents divorced very suddenly handling the situation poorly impacting me for the rest of my life. I was out of control and on a ride I never signed up for.
As a 12 year old entering middle school (we all know how awful middle school was already) my world had turned upside down and no one ever asked me where and who I wanted to live with. I didn’t know this then but that lit a deeply fueled fire to never let someone else have that much control over my life. I made a promise to myself that I would forever be in the driver seat going forward.
Academically I struggled to the point I was diagnosed with a learning disability and suffered the social shame of this label for years but once again used this as fuel to prove my value and worth. I went on to get my Bachelors and Masters Degree in Business.
My confidence and self esteem is something I work hard at every single day. Its the lens I choose to look at life through. You are either a Victim or a Victor. Victims live a life of things happening to them, I choose to live a life of things happening for me!
Things that have helped me along the way is surrounding myself with people who love me for me and do not judge! We all make mistakes in life, its how we respond with the lessons learned that make us resilient. I also use my past as my superpower anchoring myself in the fact that nothing will be harder than what I have already been through so what’s ahead is easy in comparison. I remind myself that people’s opinions of me is not of my business and it’s okay to not be for everyone. In fact, I try to be for very few! Lastly, I know God has been refining me for his will and that we may not always see it in the moment but there is a reason for our hardships and I embrace that!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Hi! I’m Gwen! I am first and foremost a Mom, Wife and Friend! My love language is quality time and connection which is why I love what I do!
Interestingly I didn’t aspire to be in sales. In fact, I spent most of my career running from it…
Sales used to feel like something you had to trick people into—a slimy, hard grind with no fun and only short-lived wins. It was a last resort and certainly not a role anyone admired. I bet you’re picturing a used car salesman right now—I know I did!
But I couldn’t have been more wrong,
My career path found me after many years. I spent most of my career running from sales because the people I love were skeptical and trying to keep me safe. They told me how hard, scary, and inconsistent a sales career can be. Also, let’s be honest, who wakes up and says, “I want to be a salesperson”. I knew I wanted to be in the business world but as a female, I didn’t know how. In fact, my first job as a recruiter ended abruptly when my male boss attempted to conform me to the standards of slimy selling with pressure tactics. Determined to avoid selling norms, I went back to school for my MBA at night while working for a career coaching company to learn how to serve businesses from the “human side” AKA HR. The universe had other ideas as a few years later I found myself thriving in Mary Kay Cosmetics as a Director earning free cars running my own business and coaching other women how to have a successful business of their own. As my family needed me more at home, I was hired as the Director of Sales and shortly after VP of Sales & Marketing for a small marketing company. For the next 6 years, I helped take the company from 1 million to over 6 million in revenue by refusing masculine sales norms and ignoring the traditional business hierarchy.
I’ve had the honor of leading and coaching hundreds of females to run their own Mary Kay businesses as well as a sales team of both men and women. The turning point has been very serendipitous and began when one of my male team members left the company. In his exit interview, he expressed that the sales training and mentorship I provided had a huge impact on his success and made him a better salesperson. I knew then more than ever that there is a gap in sales training and I could make an impact. Shortly after, an opportunity came when a former colleague and friend asked me to coach her in sales. She had also left the company years before to pursue her own business. She remembered sitting in a sales training I had conducted years prior walking away feeling empowered and inspired. After a few years of growing her business, she knew she needed coaching to help her company grow to the next level and was certain she was leaving money on the table because she didn’t like following up with people. Six months later she had doubled her revenue and credits my sales coaching for the boost and now sales foundation she uses to train new sales members on her team. Super proud momma moment!
This was the beginning of Grit & Tenacity Consulting! I currently work with service based female entrepreneurs helping them put in place processes and systems around the conversations they have with their potential clients. This might seem like a no brainer but it’s crazy how much money, training and energy we put into things like Instagram and our websites but then aren’t prepared when it comes to the simple task of answering your potential clients basic questions of how you help them. Most end up self sabotaging a potential sale because we aren’t talking about the things that matter the most to them or we stop after 1 to 2 follow up attempts because we have the wrong mindset. It’s crazy how much money is left out there because of the lack of simple yet effective sales conversations we aren’t having!
My Confident Sales Accelerator Framework transforms how those I work with think, feel and approach the sales conversation, giving them complete control. No more ghosting, no more anxiously hoping and praying they say yes, no more turning yourself into a pretzel trying to be flexible and likable so they say yes! This framework teaches you how to talk about your services in a way that excites people, shorten sales cycles and stop under pricing yourself with CONFIDENCE.
Check out my website for more details if curious. www.gritandtenacityconsulting.com
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Great question!
Mental Agility
Emotional Flexibility
Grit & Tenacity 🙂
My advice is to not conform to what others are doing. Educating yourself and consuming information is no doubt important but be careful on how much you consume vs how much you create!
Remember that your skill set got you to this point, trust your instincts and if it doesn’t’ feel good to you, find out why and pivot even if it isn’t popular!
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
I shared my story about having to grow up overnight at the mercy of my parents decisions. What I would like to add here is I am so grateful for this time in my life. Their divorce had both negative and positive impacts but both my parents leaned into helping me find the good, helping me find where I could feel and be in control. Beyond this though, the single most impactful thing that helped me through it was was my love and involvement with horses. My Dad knew that the teenage years would be hard and he wanted me to have a safe space to learn, grow and love. Yorkie, my horse was my best friend who taught me unconditional love, hard work and that he counted on me to show up for him every single day, even when I didn’t feel like it!
Once you realize that you can control an animal over 1500lbs you realize that you can do almost anything! CONFIDENCE!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gritandtenacityconsulting.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gritandtenacityconsulting/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwentinsley/
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
