Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hi Gorgeous. This is episode number nine with our amazing guests today Unstoppable Tracy.

Unknown [0:12]
Hi, this is Unstoppable Tracy, you are listening to Heart Sells! with Christine Schlonski please enjoy our episode.

Christine Schlonski [0:21]
Gorgeous, I am pumped to have Unstoppable Tracy on the show. Today, you will be blown away because her story is amazing, inspiring and motivating. Tracy is an international speaker based in Toronto, and she has shared the stage with Jane Fonda, John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Mark Wahlberg, only to name you a few. Her story is just mind-blowing, and she always gets standing ovations. Oprah Magazine shared her story as Quest for the Gold World Cup Sailor, who climbed Himalayan mountains, captained a 110-foot-tall ship, won paraskiing bronze and she’s also pretty funny too. And what’s really unique about her she was born a 4-way amputee. In her business, Tracy just doesn’t talk high performance. She lives it! As a corporate consultant who is laser-focused, she helps teams in times of crisis like Uber and Air Canada, only to give you a few to outperform the stock market. So please welcome with me, the Unstoppable Tracy and I’m so looking forward to this amazing interview. Enjoy

Christine Schlonski[1:48]
Well, I am so happy you’re here today. And we’re talking to unstoppable Tracy. Welcome to Heart Sells!

#unstoppabletracy [1:58]
Well, thank you very excited, Christine.

Christine Schlonski [2:02]
Yes. I’m so happy for you to join me in this podcast episode, and to share your amazing story. So just to give the people like a little tiny bit of a background, and we just met some weeks ago at an amazing event. And I remember that very clearly. Because I looked at you and I saw your face and you were shining like a little sun. And that’s how I recognize you like, in the room. And I was like, wow, this energy, this vibe is so amazing. And then, later on, we had the opportunity to speak and everything I thought I noticed when seeing you the first time just came across the love for life, the energy, the strength, that’s just so so amazing.

#unstoppabletracy [2:59]
Thank you. It was mutual. The two of us … each other.

Christine Schlonski [3:03]
Yeah, it was really it was such a nice opportunity. And I’m so happy we both were at the same time. So the universe could make that happen. Yes. So unstoppable Tracy, what a name! GTracyive us a little bit more of a background because this is a podcast. So people who don’t know you who haven’t met you are seeing you somewhere and by the way, you can just put an unstoppable Tracy at any social media of your choice and you will find Tracy. So give us a little bit of background of your story, please.

#unstoppabletracy [3:46]
You know, as I’m unstoppable Tracy it followed me it there was the climbing the Himalayas and there was sailing World Cup regattas as a female in a male-dominated world, there was bankruptcy with airlines and helping them come through that and form Star Alliance. There was breaking Uber into Canada and a country that was saying no, there’s humanitarian efforts in Nepal and Uganda and Mexico and so as an athlete as a World Cup sailor in a male-dominated world or as a businesswoman in mergers and acquisitions and reform with government when they change big laws and companies still outperform the stock market and on all sides of the coin and on top of all of these bits and pieces on top of business and humanitarian and athlete is that I also happen to be a 4-way amputee and what that means is all four limbs both my legs above me my left arm above elbow and missing my hand on my right-hand side so all four limbs have something missing. Now amputee is a bit tricky because amputee makes you think amputated but I was congenital I was born this way so they don’t know why don’t know why my arms and legs didn’t grow but we call it a congenital amputee.

Christine Schlonski [5:12]
Wow. And yeah, what I mean this biography is just amazing right. And when people see you meet, you are can feel your energy and I’m quite sure it comes through to your voice as well.

#unstoppabletracy [5:29]
Yeah,

Christine Schlonski [5:29]
that’s the love of life, making things happen. Making a decision and, you know, I’m so into, like, follow your heart, make your dreams come true. And, you know, after having met you, I did some more research because I said, Wow, I need to know more about her. And so I discovered that you love sailing and you just mentioned and I love sailing too. I grew up sailing, always being very respectful of strong winds.

#unstoppabletracy [6:05]
Yeah,

Christine Schlonski [6:06]
but I saw a video on YouTube as well, where you actually weren’t in the sailboat, like having so much fun. And yeah, so I think because our listeners here they are amazing people, they are gifted and they decided to bring their gifts into the world. It’s either that they are still in the job and about to embark on that entrepreneurial journey or they already have made the leap of faith and now they’re realizing that to have a successful business, you need to sell your services. I know but for so many people, and they, they might not be very well prepared, because sales never really feels great to them. You know, you have the perception of that, you know, it’s sleazy or pushy, slimy, salesy, the maybe even unethical

#unstoppabletracy [7:07]
and the stories about money and about sales that we bring into our conversations, and then they’re reflected in the conversation unintentionally. So it feels slimy because we’re feeling slimy. So then it is slimy, right? It’s the power of self-manifestation. What you focus on grows. You focus on the uncomfortable feeling, guess what? You have an uncomfortable conversation that it’s so true.

Christine Schlonski [7:33]
Yeah. So tell us a little bit like, how did you get started on that journey? Do you remember the very first thing you ever sold?

#unstoppabletracy [7:43]
Well, and, you know, I think we’re all almost selling all the time. It’s just which conversations and the context and I think, you know, what really helps me now is something that I learned right from a very little girl. And I will say, the first time I had to sell myself or sell something I was I was five years old. You know, in the 70s. Yeah. And you think, holy cow, and how does it relate to us as powerful individuals in business now that are maybe leaving our job and taking on a business or possibly in a corporate world, or maybe real estate selling a home, but bear with me with the story and I promise the dots will connect.

Christine Schlonski [8:25]
Oh, I’m sure

#unstoppabletracy [8:27]
you know, at five years old in the 70s in Canada, they didn’t have support workers so as a 4-way amputee with four limbs affected you know, they were saying, we’re sorry, Tracy can’t go to this school. And, you know, all the other kids on my street, they were all going to that school, and I just wanted to go to the same school as my friends. And they weren’t a bad school. They’re just thinking, like, how is Tracy going to tie your shoelace with no hands? And how is she going to go to the bathroom with all four limbs missing? And there’s one teacher and there’s 30 children? How does one teacher help 30 children at recess time, get ready with all those zippers and all those bathrooms and get an all those shoelaces and get outside with one teacher. So they weren’t a bad administrator. They were just trying to figure out how to set me up for success and how to set up the teacher for success and how to set up the classroom for success. So what my mom taught me that day, that’s really crucial in sales. And just in life. She taught me that no, NO, just means they don’t know. k n. o. w know just means they don’t understand. And I don’t know how that translates to the different languages around the world. It sounds a bit of a rhyme in English, No means know. But the idea of No, know means you don’t understand. What my mom did and what we can do, we can always do when someone tells us no, is what we weren’t doing at the time was speaking to their listening, right. Their concern was they couldn’t help me. Their concern was they would be stuck with me. So what my mom did is she changed the conversation and she spoke to their listening. And she counter offered and she said, How about we try Tracy just for one week. And if it doesn’t work out, no problem. No problem. I totally understand Tracy’s not suited for this school. But can we just try for a week? So his listening of being stuck with me and not being able to help with me was okay because she counter offered no problem if it doesn’t work out, right? Just Can we just try for a week? And so come recess time. The principal knew if I was outside, I could stay at that school. Of course, by then he’d fallen in love with my bubbly personality. And he didn’t want to send me home in a week, right? So he races outside. Excited to be like, let’s see if she made it outside. I never made it outside. So now his heart drops because he wanted me to stay. And he doesn’t want to face my mom to say she couldn’t do it. So he comes inside that find out from my teacher. How come? How come I couldn’t get outside? And the teacher says, Oh, actually, Tracy was the first one with your shoelaces tied their code on and the principles like, well, then how come Tracy didn’t get outside?

#unstoppabletracy [11:52]
Oh, oh, well, some of the kids couldn’t tie their shoelaces.

Christine Schlonski[11:57]
So Tracy had to help.

#unstoppabletracy [11:59]
It turns out 30 of the kids couldn’t tie their shoelaces. My mom had said to me before she left for home. She’s the Tracy you make sure that you and everybody’s included together, course she meant me included with my friends. Don’t leave myself out. Right. But what I heard was everyone included. So by the time I tied 30 shoelaces, the recess bell, the lunch bell gone off. So So how come the only girl with no hands was the only girl required to be able to tie her shoelaces. And at the beginning of this, it almost makes sense, right? Of course, one teacher can’t help a 4-way amputee but none of the kids could tie their shoelaces. And so sometimes as women in a business world we think Well, yeah, make sense that a man is a fireman, for example. Or we’re a business person, male or female. We’re like, oh, it makes sense that they have a master’s in business. Or we’re really short. And we want to do basketball all will it make sense for too short, or we’re really tall. And we want to be a ballerina. Oh, it makes sense. Because I’m a man or because I’m really tall that I’m not short enough for feminine enough to be a ballerina. So whatever our sport is, or businesses, or we need to generate some funding from backers to support our business model. And sometimes it makes Oh, well, why would they want to fund my business idea, you know, it makes sense sometimes. But there’s a place for each and every single one of us, no matter whether we’re a 4-way amputee, whether we’re male, whether we’re female, whether we’re black, whether we’re white, whether we’re tall, whether we’re small, it doesn’t matter, right, we just need to believe it. And it isn’t just believing like the really big powerful pieces, we really believe it. And because we believe it’s so deeply, then we’re willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, right?

#unstoppabletracy [14:14]
If we don’t fully believe it, then we don’t do whatever it takes to make it happen. And, and so I believed I was supposed to be in that kindergarten classroom, I supposed to play with my friends. And then that happened when our national pharmacy had the government used to pay for our pharmaceuticals. And then overnight, they changed pharmaceutical funding. And so there was a pharmaceutical reform, there was a bill that changed, we don’t pay pharmacy anymore. Well, the business model at the company I worked at 55% of our profits were pharmaceuticals. So overnight, our profit changed. But we still outperform the stock market one month later. And what we did is we started to increase instead of just pharmacy items, which was 55% of our profits, we increased food items, and we increased baby items, and we increased beauty items, and we increased convenience items. Well shame on us. Because all those years, we were only doing pharmacy, we were missing out on all those profits in convenience, and food and beauty and baby. And so when we have these conversations about selling, you know, say you’re in real estate, and you feel all I don’t want to, you know, push my neighbor there, my next door neighbor there, my friend. And then they go have a bad experience with another real estate or that was all about the money and they could have been friends to friends with their real estate experience. Because you know, you’re going to buy a house with what if you like it or not, you’re as a real estate agent, you’re not really selling them a house, you’re supporting an experience. And so shame on you for being too polite, to be a supportive realtor to your neighbor, or your friend or your family or, or this other person that crossed your path. Because, you know, you’re going to have this authentic supportive experience. But because you’re too worried about being an icky conversation, they have an icky experience and they may be get robbed for a bad price or an uncomfortable experience. So sales like shame on me if I didn’t help all those kids with their shoelaces. And, and so I thought it was about unstoppable Tracy about Tracy being in kindergarten, but it wasn’t, it was about unstoppable everyone. And so sales isn’t about selling, it’s just about no means they don’t know. And you are a facilitator of knowledge and positive experience so that everyone’s included and set up for the best possible transaction. And sometimes that sale sometimes that’s raising a fund for your business. Sometimes that’s, you know, having a conversation with your teenager about how short their skirt is, right? And you want want to set them up to be received in a world more, respectively. So sales takes on many forms, but it doesn’t have to be icky. And I get it, I remember being really uncomfortable with sales until I connected the dots about everyone included. And it stopped being unstoppable Tracy, and it was more about unstoppable, Christine and unstoppable you and an unstoppable world and then I stopped selling just started to be – How can we all be everyone included with the most unstoppable life and experience in our business? in our humanitarian efforts in our sport, life in our personal life, and our love life, in our parenting life, whatever it be. And so, so this is, this is my first experience with sales. And I’m so lucky that I was born a 4-way amputee I don’t want to be any different. Because I was born a 4-way amputee I got to learn five years old -No means they just don’t know. So every time somebody says no, to me, which is pretty much every day because they look at me as a 4-way amputee and they think well, how is she going to eat? or How is she going to work? or How is she going to drive? or How is she going to break Uber into Canada? or How is she going to help the pilot strike at Air Canada? or How is she going to go to Russia where, you know, you just don’t see people with disabilities working and out and about, and that, that they either give up for adoption, able body children never mind, every single child with a disability is given up for adoption. How am I going to make a difference in Russia? And it just no means they don’t know. I say Russia because I just got back from there a couple days ago. And I was in 20 countries in 2018.

Christine Schlonski [18:47]
Wow.

#unstoppabletracy [18:48]
20 countries in 2018 and that’s only countries like I was in 11 countries in Europe, but I was in 33 cities. And then in those 33 cities, I was in two or three events. So it was it was like 100 events in those 11 countries in 22 days is incredible.

Christine Schlonski [19:09]
Yeah, absolutely incredible. And I mean you-you’ve always traveled you and you know what I really love about your story too that you’re so determined to make stuff happen. So and you said something earlier that you need to believe that it is possible for you. So you have any advice for a heart-centered entrepreneur who has a beautiful gift that they would love to share with the world. But since that gift comes so easy to them, they don’t see the value in the world. And they might be doubting themselves a little bit like is this really worth the price? Can I really make an offer? Can I even ask for money? Shouldn’t I be giving that for free? How can we support them with your knowledge and your experience to show them that you know, just keep going and giving and keep persisting until success? What can you share them?

#unstoppabletracy[20:25]
I was there too. I know I give many many speeches for free you know, I’m just a 4-way amputee and they’re excited. Oh, I sail and I ski and how do you do that without arms and legs and I do it in an able-bodied world. You know, World Cup guy and 27 able-bodied men with their arms and legs, able-bodied meaning that they’ve got their limbs and their muscles. And they’re not legally with a disability. Right. And then there’s me and two other women and all 30 of them have their arms and their legs. And, and so it’s it’s not just sailing, but in this grand scale, world cup regatta and I think I remember being too humble and thinking small.

#unstoppabletracy [21:11]
So why would they want to pay to hear that story? And, and it’s my story. And when I did share that story, people overcame things like suicide, and they were 10 years thinking about leaving their job and then after an afternoon with me, they did it 10 years thinking about it. And then that day, they phoned their boss it didn’t even leave. They didn’t even go face to face. They call them up and they’re like, I’m doing this right here right now. What am I doing? suppressing myself and they own their boss and they quit a good telephone because they realize they need to live for themselves. And these are the kinds of breakthrough so people were having when I would share for example, one of my sailing stories and so shame me for not getting that out so that people could not feel suicidal and feel a new found love with their life partner or their kids or take those brave steps to share with their world their phenomenal coaching skills, or their amazing product in a beauty line or yoga skills or maybe they’ve invented an amazing light switch for a Christmas tree that makes life easier, you know, like, whatever it might be. And so you say, how do you get through that believing in yourself and going for it. And you know, if not a lot of us on this group here are coaches or if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re Christine and you’re getting maybe some podcasts coaching skills just by listening to her. But I highly recommend that all of us need coaching and coaches need coaches. And, and I knew this in sailing. And I knew this and skiing, I had a ski coach, a sailing coach, but I never had one in my life. And so January 2017, I got one in my life, big, important, phenomenal, exponentially expensive, but who you surround yourself with is who you become. And so I wanted to become more. So I surrounded myself with a really valuable coach, not just best friend to best friend, free coaching exchange. Somebody that’s extraordinarily high performance, like skiing, like I did was sailing. And what I saw was that it was really important that I elevated by 10. So they said, picture yourself as vision, your dream, right. So I saw myself on a stage with 3000 people and lights and fame and everybody giving a standing ovation of applause. And books and audio CDs at the back of the room. And people running to buy all my books and buy my books because not because I wanted to be selling like I felt bad selling. Like, because we have this conversation about feeling bad. But because those funds could be used to make a difference for others. Like if you have your home paid for and your car paid for and you have a comfort in your life. Any surplus, you can now be a philanthropist, you can make a difference with others. But if you don’t give yourself oxygen on the airplane, when the plane is crashing, if you give the oxygen to the person sitting beside you, and then you die on the way and they’ve got nobody to drag them off that plane and say life is worth living because you died. And now they’re depressed because the person that saved them died saving them. What good is that you need to give yourself the oxygen, you need to give yourself and thrive for yourself. And give yourself that oxygen so that now with oxygen, you can give your other airplane passenger their oxygen mask. And you both live.

#unstoppabletracy [24:51]
You know, being too humble, to take wages for your efforts, doesn’t do other people a favor. If you can thrive, then everyone can thrive with you. So you need to make a difference and give yourself oxygen so that you can support others. And so believing in yourself. I remember getting that high-performance coach and they had me envision like being successful. I’m really we see it and we dream about do I believe it and it took me like repeating over and over and over in the mirror like really believing I have worth $1,000 first paid stage gig. And that was January 2017. October 2017, nine months later, 9-10 months later, I was on a stage for $10,000. So you asked me: What’s your advice? Believe in yourself and picture that dream. But we don’t know what we don’t know. I didn’t know that I could ever make $10,000 on a stage in Russia. Right. I was picturing $1,000 in Canada and 10 months later, $10,000 in Russia and thriving and in an 11 months later #1 international Mega Success Speaker and the 10 months later, I was on another stage with Jane Fonda called the Top 10 Event and John Travolta. Opening for John Travolta. I was the I was the 15 minutes right before John Travolta went on stage. Like all of these big things happened within 9-10 months. So what’s my advice for believing in yourself is I believed in myself through a lot of self-talk and getting a really great coach that was an investment. But it was an investment in myself to be bigger myself. And it paid off very quickly. But also you don’t know what you don’t know. So you pitch you this dream like mine was $1,000 a stage gig will multiply your dream by 10,

#unstoppabletracy [26:51]
I needed to picture your $10,000 a stage. But I couldn’t see that I couldn’t believe that until I I’d gone a little further. And so picture yourself being really successful. And because you’re successful, everyone around you thrives so that you don’t have guilt around the money because you can be a philanthropist and multiply it times 10 because you don’t know what you don’t know yet. I didn’t know that I could be $10,000 in Russia. And now a year later, Russia invited me back and I didn’t just go to Soki, Russia now I went to St. Petersburg and Moscow and Taganrog and Rostov and all these other cities all around. And now they want me back again. And now they want me in the North Pole. And they want me in Siberia. And they want me in Greenland. And so everywhere I go, it snowballs to other possibilities and other opportunities. And so you got to multiply it by 10, believe it and multiply by 10. Because sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know about ourselves until we believe in ourselves.

Christine Schlonski [27:53]
What a beautiful advice. Thank you so so much, Tracy, for spending the time was asked for sharing your amazing story. And for all the inspiration. To connect yourself to the Unstoppable Tracy just google unstoppable Tracy you find her anywhere on social media and her homepage unstoppabletracy.com. Well, I really hope that this was an inspirational episode for you because I loved the distinction between the NO and the know and I think it’s really, really helpful for all of us in business understanding that no means they don’t know. I hope that makes your life so much easier. For the full show notes for the transcript for other resources, come on over to christineschlonski.com and have a look at this episode. And I’m inviting you to change your perspective today by starting with the sales journaling prompts. These are the prompts that I have used to change my mindset in regards to sales and to create millions and revenue. So come on over to christineschlonski.com. Get your sales journaling prompts out of my free membership called the Success Library and start following your dreams today by making your business stronger by selling more from your heart. Thank you so much for being here and make sure you tuning in for the next episode where unstoppable Tracy and I are going to continue the conversation.