Life Conversations with a Twist
Join me once a week for a new interview with a local, badass woman who has an amazing story to tell. Join me in conversation so you too can gain inspiration and empowerment from these stories! If you love hearing about leadership, relationships, families, motherhood and navigating hard times, then tune into my podcast and share with others. If you love what you hear, share and tag me on Instagram at @heathernelson.life. You can also visit my website at heathernelson.life.
Life Conversations with a Twist
Risk-Taking 101: Unexpected Ways to Crush Your Comfort Zone with Tara Polley
"Know your value. Don't ask for permission to take up space. Just get out there and start doing things. We have one life, and we don't get to go bac,k and we have no do-overs. It doesn't matter if people are judging you. The people that are judging you are normally sitting on their couch not doing anything, but judging you. And so if you're out there doing the thing they're judging, you're already winning." —Tara Polley
One word is all it takes— “Yes.”
When you choose "yes," you're not just agreeing to an opportunity; you're declaring war on your comfort zone and challenging the status quo of your own limitations. Each "yes" is a stepping stone to a version of yourself you've only imagined in quiet moments of potential. It's the bridge between who you are and who you're meant to become.
Saying “yes” to American Dream TV, Tara Polley transformed a moment of personal terror into a national platform for storytelling, community connection, and personal reinvention. By embracing the discomfort of being on camera, she unlocked a journey that expanded her professional horizons, allowed her to showcase local businesses and community stories, and discover a powerful voice she never knew she possessed.
Tune in as Heather and Tara dive deep into the importance of going out of our comfort zone, real estate insights, social media strategies, overcoming fear, community connection, storytelling as a marketing tool, embracing authenticity, taking professional risks, and navigating life's unexpected journeys through resilience and intentional "yes" moments.
Connect with Heather:
Episode Highlights:
02:41 Meet Tara: Challenges and Growth in Real Estate
05:17 Reality TV and Its Impact on Real Estate Career
12:55 Client Relationships and Community Envolvement
16:59 Content Creation for Different Social Media Platforms
32:04 Overcoming Fear and Taking Risks to Grow
36:31 The Power of Knowing Your Own Value
Connect with Tara:
Tara Polley brings over 25 years of experience to the real estate industry, specializing in all facets of residential real estate, subdivision development, housing crisis counseling, and luxury properties, including wineries and bed & breakfast establishments. She is dually licensed as a Real Estate Broker in North Carolina as well as a Realtor Associate in California, and specializes in the Raleigh Triangle in addition to Sonoma Wine Country. Her expertise is further enhanced by her role as a host highlighting Sonoma County Wine Country on American Dream TV, an Emmy-nominated national lifestyle and real estate show that showcases properties, events, and local businesses. The show is widely syndicated on networks like HGTV and the Travel Channel and streams on platforms such as Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Prime, and Fire Video.
Heather Nelson: Hello everyone, welcome to this week's Life Conversations With a Twist. I say this every episode, how excited I am to have my guests on. I have Tara Polley here. You and I just met in person this weekend. We were connected through some mutual friends, and I love a little shout out to Kara. She's always making the connections and getting people in the spaces with the right people, and that's what I truly love about her and our community, our little area that we live in. So I'm just excited to have you. So thank you and welcome.
Tara Polley: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. I totally agree about Kara. She's so good at connecting people. It's something you're really good at as well. There's like one degree of separation here in Sonoma County, so it's really nice when you get to reach out and get those vibes.
Heather Nelson: And what I love so much is you need to meet this person, because they know the energy and the magic that's going to happen. And that literally happened this weekend. We got together, and I didn't realize how long we were there. I could have spent more hours with you, and I didn't want to leave.
Tara Polley: I totally agree. It was so much fun. It's so funny. We went to this event, and then we're sitting in the corner at a table just talking to each other the whole time. We didn't even realize that we missed out on the majority of the event.
Heather Nelson: The music and bands and hundreds of people with food trucks, and we're like, oh, my gosh. We didn't even know this was here.
Tara Polley: A shout out to Parliament, because they put on this event. And the churros with the ice cream, the caramel, it was incredible.
Heather Nelson: A session for me. When I got home, I was like, and then I didn't eat them all, and I ate the rest last night. It was amazing. That was so fun. So tell everyone a little bit about who you are? What do you do? You have lots of fun projects and the works, and I can't wait to dive in. But a little bit about who you are, and then we'll start. We'll take it back to little Tara and how you got here, and we'll go into all the things.
Tara Polley: Okay. Well, I am a local Sonoma County girl. I got here when I was 12 years old. So prior to that, my mom would open up a map and put her finger down. We would move wherever her finger landed. So I've lived all over the United States. I'll tell you more about that. But once I got here, when I was 12, we settled in. Who would want to leave Sonoma County, right? So we really settled in, and went to high school here. Had children, got married, did the whole family life. I have four children. I now have four grown children and eight grandchildren. Yeah, I raised a family here, deeply rooted in the community. I sell real estate. I've been selling real estate for 25 years. And then two years ago, I was selected to be a host for American Dream TV, which is a national Emmy nominated television show, and we feature our community. They tap real estate agents. We do know our communities best, usually. And I'm able to feature small businesses, local events, real estate and all the things that I already love that just get a national platform now. It's on streaming platforms. It's on HGTV and Travel channel. So it's been a really amazing opportunity.
Heather Nelson: I went straight to your social media the other day. I was stalking you and seeing all the cool people you've interviewed in our community. And I was like, I know them.
Tara Polley: I know. It has been really cool. Sometimes, I just focus on one person or one place. My very first segment I ever did, I featured my friend Gray Rollin at Belly Left Coast Kitchen & Taproom in downtown Santa Rosa. And I specifically went to him because he's a friend of mine. He's been on the chef shows, Top Chef, all that kind of stuff, and he has done TV. And so I was so freaked out by the whole situation. It was my first time on TV. And honestly, when I accepted the role, I was terrified. That's kind of why I did it because I thought, you know what? I'm super uncomfortable. I don't even like having my picture taken, and so I'm going to do it because that's the way you grow. But going to Gray and saying, hey, listen, will you do this with me? I don't know what I'm doing. Please help. And he was so amazing. And since then, we've had so many great people in the community. We've done country music concerts. We did country summer. Last summer, I just did TEDx, which was really fun. We featured the Mill District in Healdsburg, Matheson Quill, and Condor Gallery Lulo noble folk. It's just been a really, really great platform to be able to showcase everybody who's just amazing in our community.
Heather Nelson: And for me, I was like, oh, my God, this is so cool, because this is something I've always wanted to do. To be able to interview all the cool things that are happening here. I was like, again, I had to see all the people you interviewed, and then my favorite one was your bloopers. I was like, dying.
Tara Polley: You know what's so funny? I've only posted two blooper reels. And out of all the things I post, the bloopers are always the ones that people love. It shows our human side. It shows that we're not perfect. Perfection is not the goal. We all are imperfect. And being able to see the bloopers and the behind the scenes stuff, it takes away from the glamorous side of things, but it also just shows that we're human.
Heather Nelson: And that we don't have it, we can never always do it.
Tara Polley: There's nothing wrong with that, right? Failing is a win. I say that all the time. Every time you fail at something, you are learning and growing, and so that's a win.
Heather Nelson: So true. Okay, so take us back. You had mentioned that you grew up with your mom, and you traveled all over the place, and this was like home. What did that look like for you? I want you to tell the story, because I know you're going to bring out this little nugget that was one of those things when I met you.
Tara Polley: Yes, oh, gosh, okay. Well, I don't remember.
Heather Nelson: It'll come. I think you'll come when you tell the story.
Tara Polley: I had a single mom. She was amazing. We were best friends. It was the 1970s when I was born, and so she was a little Gypsy. She just loved to open up a map and put her finger down, and we would move wherever her finger landed. And when you first get to a new town, you have to figure it out. And so we would sleep in the car sometimes until we found a place to live, and until she found a job. It really gave me empathy for people in the homeless community and people who struggle financially, and so that's always been something that has been close to my heart, that I've tried to stay involved in with nonprofits and things like that. But that being said, the resilience you build in a situation like that, you're constantly starting over, you're constantly meeting new friends, you're constantly figuring out how to adapt and fit in and all of it, I honestly think that experience for me was so incredibly valuable. It's really easy to look at that as a negative, but I see it as a positive because it's just helped shape who I am. And now, I know that I could live very frugally. I've done it, been there, done that. I've also done quite well for myself in real estate. I started out trying to just stay home with my kids and spend time with my kids when they were little, and that's why I got into real estate. But it's been a huge blessing in my life. And so being able to experience both spectrums, it's made my perspective one of gratitude.
Heather Nelson: And that was the little nugget that I wanted. I know it's going to come natural because that was one of the things that I was like, yeah, you're so right. When you've been through it all, you're like, throw anything at me. I think I can handle this pretty much.
Tara Polley: Especially when you have kids and you're a mom, you never want your kids to go through anything that is negative, right? We try so hard to make their life perfect. Especially in the ways that our life was maybe not perfect, we don't want them to have to experience those same things. So from that perspective, I always worked really hard, and made sure that they had what they needed. But deep inside of me, I know that there's nothing you can't throw at me that's going to make me not be okay, because I've been through all of it.
Heather Nelson: You got married, you had four children that you raised, and then that was what sparked real estate. You had just chatted about that for a second about the direction. What were you doing before getting into real estate? What was that moment where you're like, okay, I need to do something different.
Tara Polley: Again, going back to the nonprofit work, that's what I was doing prior to that. Usually in nonprofits that you're dealing with people who are experiencing homelessness or mental health issues, or things of that nature. And so I was working with nonprofits in a lot of different ways, whether it was human resources, or being on the board of directors, or whatever the case may be. We would try to get with the kids and get out of the house on the weekends, and we would go to open houses like that was what we thought was fun, and it was our way of getting out of the house. I think a nugget of that actually also comes from the fact that we did experience homelessness sometimes. And so I do have this little thing in me. I will drive by homes, especially places like when you go to San Francisco and you're driving down the Marina, and all those beautiful houses are facing the water, and you think, wish I knew what that looks like on the inside. I just had this curiosity about what these homes looked like, and so I started to really gravitate toward getting a Real Estate license. Maybe that's what I should do. And I'm old. So at the time, I saw an ad in the paper, and the ad said, get your real estate license. And I thought, oh, that's an interesting idea. And I did. I went into it thinking, I'll be able to make my own schedule, spend so much time with the kids. And little did I know that that's not how real estate worked. But I had a partner at the time who was super supportive, so it worked out. And especially in the first couple years when things are really hard and you're trying to establish yourself, it was great. My ex husband, my husband at the time, he was really, really a great partner through that.
Heather Nelson: I love that. I don't know why I had this thought, but I did. There's all these reality TVs about these.
Tara Polley: Like the selling sunset.
Heather Nelson: Yeah, and these beautiful homes. You watch them, sell them, and chiching chiching. And I just think that's probably changed a lot of people's perspective of what a realtor is about. Can you speak on that a little bit? What are your thoughts?
Tara Polley: I don't want to get on a soapbox. I've only been doing this for 25 years, but I actually think it's a double edged sword. On the one hand, I get it. Real estate is entertainment that's why I got into real estate in the first place. It really has elevated the industry in terms of, now, we have these beautiful photos that we do, and these walk through video tours and things like that. I think that really helps the consumer, ultimately, to have that kind of information available to them. We didn't used to do that. I got into real estate when it was like a Thomas Brothers Guide and a disposable camera. That's how old I am. But on the other hand, it does get a little frustrating to watch those shows because people think, oh, we're so overpaid. All we do is we just go to lunch with someone and we argue with them, and then we sell the house, and we just made $20,000. It's not real. Reality shows are not reality. One of the things I really love about my show, the American Dream, is that it's not a reality show. It's a real show, because it's real people, real stories, and it's real estate. And so the reality shows the drama. I'm not fighting with my co-workers like that. I'm not selling a house at lunch and making a $20 million commission. It's a little silly, but it's fun to watch.
Heather Nelson: Well, and then they bring in multi million dollar customers, and you're like, well, it's not that easy to find.
Tara Polley: Yeah, right. I was just walking down the street and somebody was like--
Heather Nelson: I just remember you saying how much work. People probably have an image around the realtors and what you guys do. But one, there's so many of you. I think about all the networking events and all the people that I know that are realtors, and I know that it's not an easy industry to find clients, to find loyal clients. You had a perfect example of that with a friend. But talk about what that looks like, as far as client retention and finding clients.
Tara Polley: What a great question. In my opinion, I never think of real estate as being a sales job. I'm not prospecting for clients. I guess there's an aspect of that, right? But for me, it's about relationships. That's what it comes down to. So people who get to know you, they like you, they trust you, they want you to help them. This is a huge transaction in most people's lives. A lot of people don't do that often. Once, twice maybe in their lifetime. So I take it really seriously. It's something for me and my industry that I just want to make sure that we're always showing up for our clients. And when you can show people that you don't have to cold call, door knock and do all these crazy things that sales people do, there are plenty of people who do that. But you're right. Everybody knows 500 realtors, so it has to come down to the relationship. And I think being able to offer something other people aren't offering, like in my case, I've really leaned into the television show because it does feature our community, and it does ultimately get my clients more exposure for their home. Even if their house isn't on the show, my role on the show is getting more exposure for all of my listings. So I think when you pair the relationship with the ability that you have to get them, everybody wants the most money for their house as they should, right? And so if you can do that by getting them more exposure, then you're winning. And so, yeah, finding the people who actually care about the outcome is the key, I think, rather than just trying to make a buck and make the next sale.
Heather Nelson: I have a very good friend who sold my house, Amy Bridges. I don't know if you've met her. She's really familiar. She's in Petaluma, and she has a podcast too. She reminds me a lot of you as far as being a realtor and investing in the community, because she has this podcast. She brings on small businesses to talk about their business, to bring exposure. She's very much community minded, and then she sends the cutest freaking gifts. I already sold my house, and she like, always touch base with me, and she sends me cute little Valentine's, you know? I think it's those special moments that make a person want to trust and continue to give business, which is part of what my consulting business is. Bringing that awareness for all businesses, that growing relationships, nurturing them and not making it sales, and being authentic is so important.
Tara Polley: After 25 years in the business, some of my clients come back over and over again. I'm not going to lie, two of my clients, I really consider them friends. They moved out of state. I'm going to cry right now. I literally cried when they left because I was like, I'm losing a friend. The worst part of my job is that I have to help my favorite people move away. And that's the worst part, right? It can't just be about one transaction. And it's crazy, because people do think that we make so much money. We don't make money unless the house closes. And I could actually put something on the market. I could invest all the money into marketing that property. We can get it into contract, and then it could all fall apart. I've made zero money, and I put money into the marketing. And now, I have to go back and start at square one. I'm doing basically the same job twice, but I'm only getting paid for it once. I don't think that people always think about everything that a realtor does, that they think we make so much money. And sometimes, we do. I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes, we do. But we earn that money, and we don't get paid unless we deliver the result. We're not getting paid unless we close the escrow for you. It's always interesting to me when people have an issue with that.
Heather Nelson: I just think of all the times, coming to the house for all the different inspections, and then a walk through, and then somebody wants to, at the drop of a dime, come see your house. Literally, the most stressful four months of my life. No, it's probably a two month process. It sold pretty quickly. But oh, my god, it was so much work as someone trying to sell it.
Tara Polley: I'm actually licensed in two states. I don't know if we talked about this, but I'm in California and also in North Carolina. So I have a team in North Carolina. We represent Raleigh the Triangle. And yeah, it's funny because there's a ton of stuff that goes into that. And sometimes, it takes a week to sell your house. Sometimes, it takes a year to sell your house. It just depends on the market and all the factors that are involved in that. But there's a lot that goes into it, for sure.
Heather Nelson: I have a major respect for you guys.
Tara Polley: Thank you. I appreciate that. We don't always hear that, so that's kind of nice to hear.
Heather Nelson: It's a lot of work.
Tara Polley: I think one of the biggest things that I think about a lot is that when I got into real estate, I was really lucky because I had a broker who taught me how to make sure that I'm using integrity. That I'm leading with integrity. There are a lot of real estate agents out there that are brand new. They just got their license. And getting your license and practicing real estate are two very different things. And if you don't have a good mentor, or you don't have a coach, or you don't have someone that's teaching you how to run a business and not just sell real estate, some of these brokers, they'll just turn these brand new agents out into the streets with their license and they're figuring out how to write a contract. They really don't know what they're doing, and that was actually why I was mentioning North Carolina as well. Because in California, we fill out all of our contracts. We're doing a lot of the legal work involved in selling a home, or making sure that you don't get sued. There's all of this stuff that goes into it. In North Carolina, you basically sell the house, you write the contract, but then the attorneys take over. So it's a different kind of thing. But I would really like to see some of the brokers out there just helping their agents more. Some of the newer agents.
Heather Nelson: I love that. How did the American Dream, okay, you mentioned that this project came onto your lap. How did that even evolve? I can't wait to dive more into that world.
Tara Polley: That was really fun, actually. So obviously, again, realtors, we know our communities. So they were looking for people in the area, and somebody referred them to me. I met with the executive producer, he explained what the show was. They offered me the role, and then I had to make a decision whether or not I was going to do it. And it did take me a minute. Because truthfully, I've actually been approached about a couple of other reality shows, and I've already told how I feel about reality shows. I just didn't know if I wanted to do it, and I just decided to take the leap. It has been the biggest blessing in my life ever. I think there are moments in your life where you sit at a crossroads, and taking a road can just change everything in ways that you didn't expect. And this did that for me.
Heather Nelson: Tell everyone about the project you're leaving for tomorrow to do, which I think is such a cool thing. Are you allowed to talk about it?
Tara Polley: I'm actually really excited. This whole morning, I've been working on it, and I just kind of nailed everybody down. I have a pretty clear picture of what we're going to do. So it started out as a project where hosts from around the country. There's one in LA, one in Pasadena, one in Palm Springs, one in Arizona. And then myself, we are all coming together down in LA, and we're going to do a 30 minute commercial free show around the LA fires. Here in Santa Rosa, we've experienced that. We know exactly what that looks like, and what the recovery looks like. We want to offer people in LA hope in this transitional phase of just grasping what's happened. The shock is starting to wear off a little bit, and so they're trying to figure out what the next steps are. And so we're coming together as television hosts.
We're going to cover their stories and tell people what it was like for them. We're doing it from an aspect of what it's like to lose your home and what that looks like. Maybe one of them lost a business. We'll talk about that. We're covering first responders and what their experience was. And my segment, which I'm really excited about, is about pets and reuniting them with their owners if they got separated during the fires. So a good friend of mine is country singer Tyler Rich. He's got a new tour, he's got a new album, and he agreed to be part of my segment. I'm super excited about this, because Tyler does this thing called Rich's Rescues. He's on tour, he will stop at shelters and bring attention to adoption, and getting pets back with their families. So he's going to help me in a part of the segment. And then the other part is Firefighter Brent Pascua, who was part of this viral story between Casey and Oreo, the dog who got separated during the fires. And Brent was the firefighter that got him back into his neighborhood when they were not letting people in, and he was able to reunify with his dogs. So that's something I'm super excited about. I can't wait to cover the story, and to be able to help them get their voices out into the world.
Heather Nelson: Oh, my god, so good. I started following Tyler, and he just keeps showing up in my feed. I was like, oh, my god. He's so cute.
Tara Polley: He's like the nicest person in the world. He's kind, and so is his wife. And they're just amazing people.
Heather Nelson: I love that so much. One thing that I didn't realize, everyone's like, she is on TV and does all this, but you do a lot of the work. You had just said, you have to line up the camera, people, you have to write the script. You have to do all that work. Talk about what that process looks like.
Tara Polley: Yeah, absolutely. Again, double edged sword. Amazing opportunity, but a lot of work. I'm the content creator, basically. And so because I know my community, because I get to figure out who should be featured and all of that, and ultimately, it's up to the producers. I don't always get the last say, but I do get to pitch them the people that we want. But it is up to me to line up the guests and storyboard, and figure out what is the story we're telling. Because it's not just about putting people on. That's not how that works. You get somebody on the show, and there's a story there, and you have to figure out how to tell that story in a way that really does them justice. So figuring all that out in advance can be a little challenging, but it's super fun. It's the creative side of what I'm doing right now. And sometimes, contracts and real estate stuff is not super exciting, so this is nice.
Heather Nelson: This is fun. I do have to say that when we first chatted, we were talking about social media and content creation. It's this daunting project. Especially people who are entrepreneurs, they feel like it's the one area of their business that they're lacking in, because it is a lot of work. But you're just nailing it. But you said, I had to embrace TikTok. I had to embrace doing stories and all the things. Can you talk a little bit about social media content creation? How has that kind of shaped your business, or some of the things that you've learned through the process?
Tara Polley: Again, it's one of those things that's fun for me. I see it as being really creative. Getting a little bit older, having to learn all these different platforms has been a challenge, but it's also been really fun. Especially Tiktok in particular. I was like, oh, my god, I do not want to learn another social media platform. Are you kidding me? But it's got so many cool editing tools in it. And then once I started to get into it, I really realized that each of these platforms has its own personality. To me, Instagram is the glossy version of everything. It's the magazine version where you get to post sizzle reels, the stories and the behind the scenes and all that stuff. Whereas Tiktok is very raw, like the Gen Z's that really started and dominate Tiktok. They don't want the influencer. That's not what they're looking for. They're looking for you laying in bed with no makeup, talking about your day. You know what I mean? They want the rawness, the realness and the authenticity. And I think that's really cool. I actually give them a lot of credit for that, so I love that. And then Facebook is like your mom and aunt who are telling you how great you're doing, and your neighbors sharing their recipe or whatever. It's so much more of a family community, I guess, but older. Your grandma's sharing the minion memes, and it's so funny. It's been fun to get to know each of these platforms, and then curate the content for that.
Heather Nelson: Thank you very much. You inspired me this weekend about embracing that. I did some stories this morning, so thank you. They were very good. I used to do them all the time, and people are like, we miss seeing you because you're so inspiring. It's just rattling off whatever is on my head, but I'm trying to embrace it a little bit more. But you have so many great ideas. We're just going to take these videos, and you click on this, and it creates something. And I'm like, oh, my God. I think that's the thing too, is that if you can find time, which we all know we do, because we're scrolling and scrolling on everybody else's stories and everyone else's like, take the time and learn. There's so many cool features out there that make it a lot easier. I need to do that though.
Tara Polley: I think of it as playing, right? Just playing with it. What does it do when I click on this, and what happens when I post that? Oh, I got two views on that. I guess people aren't that interested in that, but this one really took off. So okay, people are more like, it's just playing and figuring it out. It's really interesting. I think it's super fun.
Heather Nelson: Interesting. Because when I look back, especially on Instagram, you can go back and it'll tell you your top post or whatever. Everyone loves when I post a picture of me and him, or it's very interesting.
Tara Polley: Interesting. Yeah, I love that. I was looking at your stuff too, and I saw some pictures of you and your husband.
Heather Nelson: Yeah, he's definitely the content creator that's why I'm like, can you just do it for me? But it takes him a long time. He's a perfectionist, so it very much takes him a long time, but he definitely has the eye for it. Especially filming, taking videos and things.
Tara Polley: And I think you know what's happened over the years with social media, especially since COVID, right? People really crave the realness, the rawness and the authenticity. I think that's why TikTok took off so much. And before COVID, you could get away with a lot of like, I work with Sotheby's International Realty. They are a Stellar Corporation, but they're a corporation. So as far as being represented in real estate, the connections are there. Obviously, it's representing luxury, all these things, and your experience, not just the price point. But I don't feel like people connect with that kind of thing anymore. They don't want to hear from a corporation. They want to know who you are, what is your dog's name? What do your kids like to do with you on the weekends? Who are you? What do you like? For me, you can call it a brand if you want, but it's who I am as a person. Everybody knows I'm a realtor, everybody knows I'm a mom. But you'll notice in my content, I'm usually at a country concert, or I am doing something that has to do with hockey or football. I love sports. I love watching sports. I went to the Super Bowl with the show, which was really cool. So amazing, right? Such great opportunities. I love my dog. All those things that's what people want to see. And so social media is such a cool way to share with other people, and then they get to know you without having to take time away from their families to go grab a beer.
Heather Nelson: That's so true. It was so funny because we met again, and then we're near the end. I'm like, oh, my god, we didn't even take a single picture. We didn't take anything for social media. So you were really good at it, really quick at the end. But that's the thing I struggle with so much, especially when I'm having a meeting with someone. I'm so present, and I'm so connected. Sometimes, it's hard to take the content. but if you can just snap a couple photos before or after, just showing people like, oh, what? Where is she today? What cocktail is she drinking today? Everyone always wants to know that in my life. And so just like trying to remember, to document that is always my hardest thing.
Tara Polley: Yeah, I can totally relate with that. And there's a fine line. You don't want to be that person that's constantly got the phone out. You do want to be in the moment. You want to be experiencing everything. But it's funny that you say that about the cocktail because right before Tyler showed up the other day, I went with a girlfriend. We were in San Jose at Club Rodeo. We went and got sushi. And I'm telling you, this garlic roll was amazing that we got at this sushi place. I've never had anything like it. And I took a three second video of the garlic roll. I never post food. I just feel like it's so cliche, but I posted the garlic roll. I am telling you, likes on that one story are blowing my mind a little bit. They like to see the food. They like to see the cocktails. It's hilarious to me.
Heather Nelson: I have so many food and cocktail photos on my phone. It's ridiculous. I should post them because, again, it's representing everybody in our industry, in our community, our restaurants, our wine partners and things like that. But again, you inspired me to be more diligent about doing that.
Tara Polley: I think the key is to keep it short. I do three second videos of a couple of things, and then I go right into TikTok, and use that little auto cut feature, which will make it look way cooler than I could. Just that one little tip, just take a couple three second videos. Scan the room, scan whatever you're doing, and then hit auto cut in those apps because it will create a video for you that looks really neat.
Heather Nelson: I have a question for you. So through real estate, through being on television, what kind of advice, or what are the things that you've learned through this process that would inspire others, either to lean into something that you know they're inspired to do, or lean into that goal, or that's been on their heart to do.
Tara Polley: I would say that in the last two years, my biggest piece of advice is a couple of things. Actually, I think the number one thing that I would recommend doing is the thing that scares you, the thing that makes you uncomfortable. If you have an opportunity to do something and it makes you uncomfortable in your soul, do it. It's so funny because it started with the show, but the show turned into a whole snowball effect of doing that. And it also made me realize that that's what my mom was doing. She was putting her finger down on a map and moving wherever her finger landed, the risk involved in not knowing what is about to come, and taking that risk anyway, and letting that take you wherever it's going to take you. To me, she inspires me. She passed away in 2013, but she continues to inspire me everyday in that way, just being willing to take risks. And I can tell you, it started with the show. And then through the show, I started getting asked to do speaking engagements. Again, public speaking, I didn't even like to stand up at the realtor meetings, and we call it pitching a listing. You have a new listing. You're telling everybody what's cool about it. Come over to the broker tour. Check it out today. You've gotta sell it a little bit. Terrifying to me to stand up in front of a room of people that I totally know and have known for 25 years, and tell them about this. But I was invited to be a speaker, and I thought I'm scared, and I'm just going to do it. And I did it. And now, I'm doing speaking engagements all the time. So it just takes you on a journey. And I remember, it's so funny. The first speaking engagement I did, I literally blacked out on stage. I have no idea what I'll do.
Heather Nelson: I know. I've done the same.
Tara Polley: I was like, oh, you did a great job. I was like, oh, thank God because I don't remember anything I just said. Two days later, I went and jumped out of a plane. It didn't bother me at all. I could skydive, and it doesn't bother me at all. But getting up on a stage in front of people, I don't know, it's terrifying.
Heather Nelson: I haven't done anything that big, but even being in a room with 50 people and talking about something I'm passionate about, which is why I'm always like, okay, maybe I need to be more of this moderator interview type of person because that doesn't scare me. But if I have to get up and talk about something that I'm passionate about, or an experience or something I like, I go through a whole thing. I'm like, I have no idea what I said. That was so great and so inspiring. And I was like, I don't even know what I said. Yeah, it sounded like it was good.
Tara Polley: This is what's helped me overcome some of that. I think when I make it about me, it's terrifying because I'm afraid of being judged, criticized or whatever. If I don't make it about me and I make it about others, I lead with service, all of a sudden, it stops being terrifying. Because now, I'm able to put the spotlight on someone else, which is what I really love to do anyway. So for me, I think anytime I try to get my ego involved and make it about me, I get really scared. But turning it around and spotlighting someone else, or show, or teaching them how to do something, or making it more about them and what they're going to get out of it, that solves the problem for me.
Heather Nelson: Good. What's next for you? What's on the horizons? What cool things, I know we talked about the LA feature, is there anything else cool that you can tell us that you have in the pipelines?
Tara Polley: So that's a great question. Obviously, I sell lots of real estate, right? That's my main goal. I did have someone tell me the other day that she listed her home with somebody else. And I said, why did you do that? And she said, well, you're so busy with the TV staff and everything else. And I thought, oh, my gosh, that's the last thing I want people to think. The whole reason I'm doing all these other things is in service of the real estate. So really, that's my focus. That's my primary job. That's the thing that I love most in the world. I always want to come back to that, and I don't want to dilute that too much. But that being said, yes, the TV show has been amazing. And from that, I'm even branching out into coaching now. So that's something I'm actually really excited about. Again, going back to people with a license that are just getting into real estate, and not knowing what to do with that. It's one thing to have your license. It's another thing to sell real estate. And so I'm really starting to like coaching, mentoring programs, and helping people. Now that I've been doing the TV show, I understand the media a lot more and how to leverage media for your business. And so helping people and coaching them through that kind of thing, that's kind of what is next for me, I think. I know it's the right direction, because I get so excited about it. You and I talked a little bit about that. Sometimes, there are only enough hours. There's only so many hours in the day. I can't do everything, so I think what I need to do is maybe get more assistance.
Heather Nelson: I just interviewed a lady earlier today and her business in two years, she went from doing everything on her own, like you and I are doing, and now she has this full team literally in two years. Because, she said, the number one thing is that she learned, she told me about a book that we, I don't know if you read it, it's called Who Not How by Daniel Sullivan. She says it was life changing. I'm assuming it's about trying to do it all. But she said that once she got a team and was able to peel off some of those things, the opportunities and the business group.
Tara Polley: That's kind of a no brainer. It's one of those things that I know I have to do. It's so hard to let go. Why is it so hard to let go? My standards are so high that I'm just like, if I'm not doing it, no one else can do it. So yeah, I just have to let go of it, and really do the same thing that I did with the TV show. When I started the TV show, I thought, I'm just going to suck,I'm just going to embrace the fact that I'm going to be terrible at it. And at some point, I'll get better, and that's going to be okay. It's okay to just be bad at something. Maybe I just need to do the same thing with taking on new hires. It's not going to be perfect at first, and I'm going to have to ask for grace from my customers at times. But you're right. I think in the long run, it's one of those things that you just have to take the leap.
Heather Nelson: So good. Is there anything else we didn't talk about? I feel like we definitely chatted on all kinds of things. But is there anything else in your world, in your life that would inspire others that we didn't talk about?
Tara Polley: I don't think that maybe, if you have a business of your own, embrace storytelling. I feel like storytelling is really something that can make a difference in marketing rather than trying to sell your product, or your service, or whatever. Talk about things. Talk about the stories. I have found now that I've gotten used to doing it, that I find stories in everything. There's a journey in everything. And if you can embrace the journey and document it along the way, which I know you're considering doing. Have you talked about any of that stuff yet?
Heather Nelson: A little bit. We're gonna get there. There's a couple more important people by the time this goes out. But I have a couple family members that I need to tell first, and then I can let it out.
Tara Polley: Yeah. Well, I think that anytime you start a new journey, if you can document that journey along the way, not just for others, but for yourself, right? Time goes so quickly. Sometimes you look back, I look back at my first episodes of the show when I cringe, right?
Heather Nelson: I don't even want to listen to my podcast.
Tara Polley: But it's that painful growth period. And then you get to see the arc of, here's where I start, how it started, how it's going, right? Being able to look at that, I think that's super important. And then just know your value. Don't ask for permission to take up space. Just get out there and start doing things. And I think the biggest thing, I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, I'm realizing that we have one life, and we don't get to go back and we have no do overs. And it doesn't matter if people are criticizing you. It doesn't matter if people are judging you. The people that are judging you are normally sitting on their couch not doing anything but judging you. And so if you're out there doing the thing they're judging, you're already winning. I think that's super important.
Heather Nelson: I gotta leave it at that, because it's so good. Thank you so much for being here. I'm so glad we connected. Thank you for telling your story. This is not the end of our friendship and journey, so thank you for being here.
Tara Polley: Thank you for having me. This was so great. Your podcast is so amazing. I'm super excited to be a part of it. And also, I think that there's anything I can do to connect you with other people in the community. I'm happy to do that. This is a podcast that really deserves to get out there, so I hope people are sharing and promoting for you just as much as you're a selfless giver, and you're doing the same for others. I think it's important.
Heather Nelson: Thank you. Thank you for that reminder.