Ep. 36 with Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner-Larsen Consulting

Barb McGrath 0:02
You are listening to a CJ tr podcast. Welcome to another blustery Wednesday show. so pleased to be here. We’ve got some technology challenges happening at our end. But we are fixing the technology and where we are keeping on moving. Our guest today is Wendy Turner-Larsen from Turner-Larsen Consulting. And she’s going to talk to us about her business about a project that she’s been working on for a period of time and is about to birth, this new baby, no pun intended. And we’re also going to talk about connection. And connection is something that, you know, we hear about a lot in society. We talk about it a lot. But one of the things that was particularly interesting to me is Wendy, and I were teeing up our show today is connection is so important, yet it’s something that we’re sadly lacking. So we’re going to talk a little bit about connection and what that looks like in terms of the business that Wendy has and how she helps others build that connection. So without further ado, welcome, Wendy.

Wendy Turner Larsen 1:10
Thank you, Barb. Happy to be here.

Barb McGrath 1:12
Thank you, and thank you for being here on this chilly Wednesday morning. I let’s start off tell us a little bit about yourself and about your business.

Wendy Turner Larsen 1:21
A little bit about myself. So I’ve lived in Regina for the last 2122 years. Prior to that I moved around quite a bit. Going to school, doing my graduate work in the US. I worked in the US for a couple years. So I was actually there five years and then wanted to come back to Canada. So I chose Regina, although I’m from the Saskatoon area, okay, and began working in private practice as a counselor as a psychotherapist. Oh, my, my background in training though. I had just finished two masters degrees at that time. So at one an adult education and I focused on leadership, there was no Master’s in leadership at that time. Okay. And then the second Master’s in psychology. So my, my real love was always to blend psychology with leadership to really to bring that into the workplaces, for leaders for business owners, entrepreneurs, etc. Hey, I am married to a wonderful step sons, a granddaughter and a grandson on the way.

Barb McGrath 2:26
Oh, wow. Okay, how old are the grandkids? The granddaughter is six.

Wendy Turner Larsen 2:29
And yes, then the grandson on the way to be born? Yes.

Barb McGrath 2:34
Excellent. Do you know are you gonna have a boy and a girl when all of a sudden?

Wendy Turner Larsen 2:39
Because some people know and some people don’t want to know if so? Yes. Okay. We know so very excited. You get to keep the secret.

Barb McGrath 2:45
Yeah. And when is baby do?

Wendy Turner Larsen 2:48
And to December early January, so very soon.

Barb McGrath 2:50
Oh, it could be a Christmas present. That’s right. Or a New Year’s president or?

Wendy Turner Larsen 2:55
Yes, yes.

Barb McGrath 2:56
And so the child or the I guess the woman having the babies this their first or is the six year old also there’s

Wendy Turner Larsen 3:06
Yeah, two different families, different families.

Barb McGrath 3:07
Okay, so, you know, first baby then maybe sometime into January to right. First babies like to delay their entrance. Right? They have a mind of their own usually right? Yes. First children. I know that one. ulti Well, don’t die. Catarina. Okay, so that’s family. Wendy. Let’s talk a little bit about Turner-Larsen Consulting. What the heck do you do? Because that’s a long name.

Wendy Turner Larsen 3:31
That’s a long name. Because Yeah, I hyphenated. My name I started when I started in business, it was Wendy Turner Consulting or counseling. So I wanted to keep my name because that’s how I was known. So what I do, and I think some of what I bring to coaching and leadership development might seem a little out of the box or not necessarily mainstream. So really, what I do is I focus on the development of leaders either through coaching, workshops, group coaching, consulting, and mentoring. And in the last couple years, I’ve brought together a team of other consultants that support me in in this work. And one of the unique aspects of the work that I do is because my background is psychology, and I was in private practice and working as a counselor for 18 years. I, I think the the breadth and depth of what I know about people and how they think how they operate, the whole piece about behavioral science, and most of it, I didn’t learn in books, but learned from sitting across from, you know, hundreds and thousands, really, of clients throughout the past few years

Barb McGrath 4:49
Through the number of years.

Wendy Turner Larsen 4:50
Yes, right.

Barb McGrath 4:52
So, like, when did Wendy Turner Consulting or counseling, when did that business? When was it in Korea? When

Wendy Turner Larsen 4:59
Did that get First, since we’re talking about birth,

Barb McGrath 5:02
Yes,

Wendy Turner Larsen 5:03
22 years ago, oh, so my business has morphed and changed a lot. But at the core of it, it is people centered, people focused. I didn’t always work with, you know, just leaders, most of my work now is with leaders. And most of my focus now is women, women leaders, women in business, women, women entrepreneurs. So that really is my love. I love working with women, because of their engagement with themselves openness, they tend to be vulnerable. Mm hmm. really blend their personal lives with their professional lives, sometimes they really can’t separate that. So my love is to really support women.

Barb McGrath 5:45
Good for you. So okay, let’s talk a little bit about some of the work that you do. You’ve got some workshops, you work one on one with leaders, and then you’ve got another project on the go. So tell us a little bit about this other project.

Wendy Turner Larsen 5:58
The other project, as Barb has alluded to, it has been, you know, in the wings for a number of years. So I’m close to launching, my first book that I’ve written. And the focus of this book is for women, and I bring together all the things that I’ve learned through my education, through my experience, and in my own personal life. So every, every piece of information in this book, I apply and have apply to to my own life. So it is it brings together psychology, neuroscience, personal development, brain nutrition, spirituality and creativity, because I did have a stint as a pastor early on in my life. So I really am interested in in, you know, the holistic approach to our lives, and then, you know, how we, how we bring that into our business or leadership.

Barb McGrath 6:55
Okay. Um, so like, tell me about the process bringing a book what, what made you decide to invest that time and energy? Because that’s a huge project?

Wendy Turner Larsen 7:04
Yes. So because I’ve been in in learning and development for a very long time, I had information before there was PowerPoint. And so I used to write out every single word of my seminar. So I had files and piles of seminars and speaking engagements. So I had delivered and about three years ago, I thought, you know, I really want to bring a workbook to the forefront that women can engage with the Information Practices, it’s really set up to do in community and other women in the workplace or, you know, in your personal life. So I thought that how hard can that be? I have all the information. I you know, I kind of hadn’t had a title and you know, put it all together, I had, you know, 11 or 12 chapters. So, I yeah, I felt like everything that I learned it would be, you know, a great way to, you know, bring something solid like that to the world. I had no idea how hard that is. Okay, so the process in the beginning was I’m pretty sure this is easy. This shouldn’t take that long. And then I hired a couple women that work together as editors, but they’re really writing coaches. And so they really have worked with me to pull out more of the gems more of the magic, more of the story. Yes. So yeah, there’s been you know, when they say blood, sweat and tears, there’s been sweat and lots of tears. Oh, maybe not blood, but not Yeah, you get that far. You’re not going to bail?

Barb McGrath 8:41
No, once you get started like that. There’s no way you’re turning it back. Right. So when the I had the opportunity to see you speak at the leadership, accelerator, or when during a power house, thank you, great house, back in September, and one of the gals at that event does something very similar. Is that who you were working with from a leadership or from?

Wendy Turner Larsen 9:03
Yeah, yeah.

Barb McGrath 9:05
Even the short exercise and I’m you can tell me her name. I can’t remember her name right now. Tina, there we go. Yeah. So the shorter size that Tina did with us where she was getting us to, you know, think about things differently and try and pull out those gems. For someone like me, who, who isn’t big on here, I’m gonna, you know, share everything being vulnerable. That was a really hard exercise. And so to think that you’ve gone through that process for an entire book, right? Imagine it Wendy right. Imagine it.

Wendy Turner Larsen 9:39
Yeah, yeah, it, it changes you. It’s, you know, it’s made me a better writer, a better communicator. I think more. I mean, this sounds kind of strange, a more integrated person. The process of writing I really trust myself in my writing now, I had always considered myself not great writer. And a lot of my writing over the years had been really technical thesis, a workshop, you know, putting the technical information together and the the richness of the workshop and the stories I just filled in, you know, as I spoke, and so, you know, for a book to come across in a way that’s interesting and engaging. There’s a lot of, there’s a lot of pieces to it. So absolutely, yeah, very valuable process. Yes, that’s right.

Barb McGrath 10:27
So how would a listener find the book once it’s available? And what’s the timeframe until it will be available?

Wendy Turner Larsen 10:33
I have a link to a landing page that’s, that has just been created. And so that’s just signing up to be notified when the book is available. Perfect. Okay, so the plan for the book is spring. 2020. Spring 2020.

Barb McGrath 10:49
Yeah, if you’ve got a landing page. Wendy, please share it with us.

Wendy Turner Larsen 10:53
We’ll put Yes, well. Oh, right now, yeah, I’m not sure by memory. Well, yes. Yeah, it’s I’m not I don’t have a by memory. Can we put it in the

Yeah. Thanks. Well, sorry. We didn’t get that straightened out. I had did we

Barb McGrath 11:08
Know that’s quite alright. We know. That’s an exciting endeavor for you. And so when it is available, is it hardcopy or just a lot electronic? And we’re where folks can find the book.

Wendy Turner Larsen 11:19
Hardcopy and, and ebook so it will be available on Amazon, hopefully hard copies in bookstores. that will that will be my side of things, too.

Barb McGrath 11:31
You know, she decided to think about that. That social media selfie, where you stand in front of your books, and the shelf is full of Wendy Turner-Larsen books, and there’s right what a good idea.

Wendy Turner Larsen 11:39
Yes. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it’s, um, yeah, definitely a great project. And it does pull together all facets of the, you know, the work that I do.

Barb McGrath 11:51
God, oh, that’ll be super exciting. Okay, so, um, let’s, let’s talk about connection. That’s something that, you know, I don’t know if I got it from your website, but it’s certainly something that I’ve heard you talk about. And, you know, if I can just share a personal story as we start the discussion. It’s something that I’ve become acutely aware of my kids are becoming preteens or they are preteens. Maybe they’re becoming 29 year olds, and they’re already the preteens I’m not exactly sure where they’re at, but, but I’ve really watched our connections start to change just with my kids. And of course, you know, you’re talking about connection from the business standpoint. But it’s given me a really acute sense of, or strong awareness for the importance of connection. Hmm. So talk to us a little bit about the work you are doing with connection, and, you know, share some nuggets of wisdom with us.

Wendy Turner Larsen 12:52
I’ll share some of the work that I’m doing and hopefully some nuggets Fallout for you. Excellent. Yeah, the idea of connection has come to me for for a number of years, and so in, in my work with, with leaders, and in my own personal life, I really emphasize connection with yourself first. And so a lot of my work through the years has focused on that your own self awareness, taking care of yourself as the most important not FAFSA, but most important person, you know, in your life, getting to know yourself. concepts like self compassion. So I really think that everything that we do, everything that we do, as humans, so you as a mother, and you and your business, me as a spouse, as a as a friend, but in my business starts with our connection to ourselves. And we I think one of the things that we’ve lost through the years, is we focus on connection to others, first and those behaviors and not the connection to ourselves first. And so to me, that’s the gap. And so what I mean by that is, say in leadership, we focus on the behaviors, the competencies that a leader needs to be successful. Okay, but what about them, the person as a leader, so that’s really where I focus my work. I think that that’s why leadership coaching is so popular, people get to talk about them, not just about what they’re doing, okay? And it creates, it creates that link. So that’s what I think is incredibly important. The second piece of connection that’s been important to me is, you know, the inner world of intuition, my connection to what I call the divine, I don’t see it as religion, but it’s something that is kind of my growth edge is bringing, you know, bringing that forward with people that are interested and a lot of people talk to me about intuition and so you know, really What is that and exploring that? And I think it’s, it’s a very fascinating piece. So to me, that’s a deeper connection with self with something higher. And I think we’re, we’re missing if we don’t, we’re missing a piece of ourselves if we don’t access that, and I think it’s in everybody, okay? And what people call it might be might be really different. So how it’s shown up is, you know, in one on one conversations, people, you know, x, you know, talking about intuition. And so we really talk about how do you access that? What does that look like? What’s the benefit of that? Because it can be? Excuse me, it can be very abstract. And so to me, it’s bringing something that we all have, but we haven’t been comfortable talking about in terms of the workplace or leadership?

Barb McGrath 15:52
Yeah, absolutely. Do you find that more women connect to the concept of connection and intuition? I know, having done the Myers Briggs test a few times, there’s the one question that talks about, or I guess the the one category that talks about intuition versus judgments, I think it is INTJ.

Wendy Turner Larsen 16:13
Now maybe they’re golden intuition versus sensate. There, right?

Barb McGrath 16:16
Yes. And and I was always very high on the I, I go by gut feel I go by what my intuition says. Yeah, so tell us a little bit about that.

Wendy Turner Larsen 16:28
Yeah, that’s an interesting question. I think it’s not personality type, but shows up differently. Through a person’s personality. Okay, and so and i and i, and men have it as much as as women, it may not be something that there’s comfortable talking about. But I’ve had those conversations in one on one coaching. And now again, known again, actually, when I spoke at power house, I talked about this peace to connection with yourself, connection, this deeper connection within, because I really believe that’s where annoyingly our passion and purpose comes from, hmm, it fits with our personality at which is kind of the self connection. And then from those two places, our connection to others, you know, is enhanced or, and our connection with others sort of challenges those other two pieces, I have to say my connection with others has really helped me understand myself better, you know, they all sort of intertwine.

Barb McGrath 17:29
Yeah, as I’m listening to you, Wendy, one of the things that’s occurring to me is, I find it much easier sometimes to connect with someone else. Whether we’re talking business, personal, whatever it might be, in Never mind, take the time to sit back and think, Okay, how am I really feeling about something. And, you know, I kind of grew up in that generation where you went to work, and you worked hard every day, go hard, was the philosophy. And that’s what was considered success. Now, I know that is changing. And I think that’s a good thing to see that changing. But I know, as someone who has sort of always had that philosophy, when I know I have things on my to do list that I could be doing, and maybe I’m taking Friday afternoon off for the kids or something. It’s still niggles at me. Right. And so now I’m ignoring that connection to self hate, because, well, in whatever, because I want to at that point in time, right, but but can you talk about how does someone strengthen that connection to self? And then of course with others?

Wendy Turner Larsen 18:39
Right, you know, as you’re talking and thinking about, you know, being in business, I don’t really separate my business from my personal life, right.

And so, I do I have created out of necessary ness, necessity, city, time for myself, a cause of having years and years of really low energy and quite extreme fatigue, which is what led me to brain nutrition, and I found some really great resources there. So that was part of why I stayed in entrepreneurship because I could really control my, my time. So most of my work does really help people shift back to connection with themselves. Okay. And because as I said, you know, that’s really necessary, but I get it that that’s not always

Barb McGrath 19:35
It’s not always going to be the case.

Wendy Turner Larsen 19:36
It’s not always easy. It’s not always an interesting draw. Right? And I think that that’s okay. So if people are interested in that and see, the necessity of it, you know, that’s what I walk through in my workshops. is, you know, understanding, you know, what I describe is, you know, the iceberg beneath the surface, we see what we see what’s sticking above. The behaviors that maybe get in the way of us being having the life that we want being as calm or happy, or successful as we want. So I try to look at what’s beneath the surface because we don’t have time. Generally, that’s where I really dig at that the beliefs and the emotions. I work a lot with emotions, because we’re a society that does not really honor that or support that. And even even the training and emotional intelligence, really, I think, just hit the tip of the iceberg. scratching the surface scratchy, great way to say it. Yeah, just scratching the surface. So through my workshops, I lead people through processes, assessments, exercises to ask themself questions, and then, you know, what do they do after that’s sustainable? How do they create some time? You know, that sustainable if somebody hasn’t paid attention to themselves, they’re not likely going to know how to or love half hour of meditation. Okay, I like meditation, but I’m not a long meditator.

Barb McGrath 21:03
No, and I can’t sit still, for too long.

Wendy Turner Larsen 21:06
I have to listen to something I need to write or journal. So extroverts often need to do something to engage. introverts often are more naturally, more naturally reflected, you can withdraw

Barb McGrath 21:20
Yes, a little bit easier. Mm hmm.

Wendy Turner Larsen 21:22
So time back into my book, the book is set up so that you don’t have to think about the questions or what to do. That you, you know, it’s not a workbook per se. But you need a journal off off to the side, but lots of exercises so that you’re interacting with the material. Yeah. I think that that’s really what I love to do. And one of my one of my strengths, a lot of times people, that’s not what they’ve grown up learning about. So, yes, the the connection to self again, right.

Barb McGrath 21:53
Yeah. You know, Wendy, like, I find that very interesting. And just based on some of the research you’ve done, from brain nutrition to connection to being a pastor, like what a what a background, you’ve got a strong background, I’m old,

Wendy Turner Larsen 22:07
I’ve had a lot of time to do lots of different

Barb McGrath 22:08
Things, all of this when she was a three, actually still only 29. Just a couple years experience, but you know, she’s, she’s been 29. When you we only have a couple of minutes left. So I want to ask you two questions, I am going to ask you to share your contact details in case anyone wants to get in touch with you. But one of the questions I like to ask my guess is, if someone were googling, what would they be googling to find you? What’s the problem they’re trying to solve when they’re looking for your business? Do you know what then do you know?

Wendy Turner Larsen 22:42
Yeah, I think a lot of it is stress management, how to feel better. How to Overcome Anxiety. I think the problem is we’re so focused on success. And your goals to success. We’re missing the you. And that’s that connection to self workshops on women. coaching, they would you know, they would find me that way. But the pain piece Yeah, the pain point is Yeah, the the you what’s getting in the way. Yes. The busy mind.

Barb McGrath 23:17
Yeah, slowing you down. Yeah. There’s there’s an awful lot of fun. Social media means that that float around and talk about, oh, you know, that two o’clock in the morning and my brain is waking me up. Right. Right. Those sorts of things. Yeah. I did some mindfulness work. Probably a year or a year and a half ago. fantatic fantastic. I have not had a sleepless night since we learned that. Wow, Rex, Graham. Anytime I do wake up and I can’t fall back asleep. I go back to what I learned in that class, and I’m back asleep like good.

Wendy Turner Larsen 23:52
What a great yeah, great results. It was fantastic. Okay, and contact details. How do we find the contact information? Email is w.tl@sasktel.net. Okay. website is turnerlarsen.com. Larsen is en.

Barb McGrath 24:12
Actually. Yeah, good point. I wouldn’t have thought of that. Yeah, good point. Okay. And the book is coming out based on plans right now. Spring 2020. Right, right. Okay. Well, that sounds very good. Um, we are pretty much out of time today. Gosh, time goes fast in these discussions. So fastest 30 minutes of my life. And it’s some four minutes longer than it used to be because we have 26 minutes so either way Time flies. Alright, so a thank you to everyone for joining us today on 91.3 FM CJ tr for Jenna community radio for the Secret Life of entrepreneurs. Thank you to Wendy from Turner-Larsen Consulting, for joining us to talk about your book to talk about connection and to talk about how Each of us can benefit from finding connection within ourselves. I think that’s a real skill nowadays, being able to connect with ourselves and and as I mentioned to Wendy it’s it’s something that I think many of us like to ignore ignoring that that niggling feeling that’s inside. So Wendy, thank you so much for sharing all of that with us today. My next guest is some is a lady who’s not unfamiliar with many of the things that we’ve talked about today. Jessica, Jessica McNaughton is the CEO of memorykpr. And as a startup business, she will share why we need her business, what her business is all about, and how you might be able to access sort of that early startup phase for all of the different work that she’s doing. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, you can email me at barb@googlegirl.ca. Or you can just reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Above the Fold Canada. Just a reminder, you can submit questions in advance of the live show on our Facebook page. I’m your host, Barb McGrath, local business owner and Google girl. Remember, you worked hard for your success. Don’t keep it a secret. Bye for now.