Tanya Targett’s first start-up may have survived the global financial crisis, but no amount of cash reserves could prepare for the disaster that followed. The Darling Downs inland tsunami that killed 28 people.
Between sunrise and sunset on January 10, 2011, award-winning journalist and former investigative reporter Tanya Targett watched as Mother Nature “swallowed” her high six-figure retail business. But as the waters receded and the living buried their loved ones, Tanya realized the storm was far from over.
Time to hustle
Her personal life and safety net was crumbling around her. Suddenly separated from her husband of 10 years, she found herself a single mother. It was canal front-living in the morning and welfare support by nightfall. Now was the time to hustle.
So Tanya decided to share her media and publicity skills with small business owners. And she was successful. She built a six-figure business in six months helping her clients generate more than $10 million in free PR.
The 41-year-old “plane-hopped” delivering 90 live workshops and 100 keynote talks throughout the next two years.“It was a race against time,” says Tanya, “You never know what’s around the corner. For instance, no one could have predicted a tsunami in a city 155 km away from the nearest ocean, yet one hit. And likewise no one knows when the next health or relationship crisis might land. So to find myself on my own this time without any safety net or family, I knew I had to hustle.”
Moving her genius into a virtual space
Initially, Tanya’s end goal was to create a fully-automated online product and program. “The marketing advice three years ago was to build a physical product and profile to use as a springboard to go online,” she says, “But it was exhausting, because every 10 days I traveled to another city. And often I would wake up wondering where I was and what time zone I was in.”
The hectic pace came as she worked to create a Security Buffer to insure against natural and “human” disasters. And also a legacy for her 12-year-old daughter.
“But what I didn’t understand was that because I was still exchanging time for money, my sales funnel was actually a traditional profit business mode’,” Tanya says, “That meant that when you took me out of the business, there was virtually nothing to sell. To create a true legacy for my daughter I needed to change the model to one that produced income without either one of us actively working inside or on the business.”
The winning publicity formula
In March of 2016, she launched her media training platform for small business owners: The Winning Publicity Formula.
She says a second pivot came after consulting with Dr. Tony, founding director of MindShift.money. “I came to see I had been suffering from ‘entrepreneur blindness’,” Tanya says, “I needed to separate myself from my business, as well as my business from my purpose to break the link between time and money. Because while I relied financially on my business for income, neither I nor it was free.”
The first step to sever the links were identifying her Freedom Number and Base Lifestyle Number. That’s the minimum monthly amount needed for basic survival.
“It’s important to distinguish that the Freedom Number is not the Beyoncé number. It’s not the penthouse, the jet or the limousine,” Tanya says, “It’s the minimum monthly amount needed in income from outside your business to cover food, rent and living expenses with a timeframe woven throughout. We’re talking true passive income from other sources.”
Experiencing Cash Flow Cure
With a baseline figure of $10,000 per month, she started evaluating her business. Existing and forecasted products went through Cash Flow Cure’s Perfect Product Mix Evaluation. This process assesses their ease of automation, profitability, potential inspiration and impact on her exit plan.
“Points were awarded to each of the six products in my portfolio,” Tanya says, “With a maximum of 40 points available to any one program those with the highest score were the obvious next best move. So it was another pivot point. It became very clear once emotion was removed where time and resources should be invested. And that has been a game changer.”
Tanya says her initial vision for an online program has changed. So she’s decided to move toward a membership site and publication/service platform with potential investor opportunities.
“I’m now building an intentional life that exists beyond money,” she says, “One that can withstand anything Mother Nature or human nature throws at it.”
To learn more about Tanya Targett, visit our Specialist Panel.
Makaylah Rogers is the co-founder of MindShift.money. She is a Thought Leader for her generation, teaching people how to rewrite their “money rules.” With an extensive background in wealth building and personal development, Makaylah’s path has taken her into executive roles in various fields including launching startups, real estate sales and motivational keynote speaking.