Rekindle Your Entrepreneurial Spark, with Tricia Wingerter

Dan Sullivan: Hi, this is Dan Sullivan. I'd like to welcome you to the Multiplier Mindset Podcast. Really great one today, and this is Tricia Wingerter, and she lives in East Strasburg in Pennsylvania. This is a very rugged industrial part of the United States, a lot of history there. The reason I loved what Tricia had to say so much is that it fits in what I think the central capability is at Strategic Coach. But all the things that people learn at Strategic Coach, I think this is number one. And that is that we allow already ambitious people to become even more ambitious.
 
And this really shows up, as Tricia explains in her story, really explains when other people your own age and your peer group are talking about retirement and they're talking about, you know, I've kind of done what I have to do and now it's gonna be my time. And I would say in 19 times out of 20, it doesn't actually work; that the vast majority of entrepreneurs that I've known who thought this was a great moment in their life when they could just sell their business or leave their business behind and just go out and actually just have all the time for themselves, it doesn't work.
 
They get bored. They don't have the structure anymore. They don't have the purpose anymore. They don't have the teamwork anymore. They don't have the deadlines anymore. They don't have the clients and customers anymore. They don't have the payment anymore. They don't have the applause anymore. Tricia does probably the best job that we have recorded of just talking about what it was like. And as it relates to not only retirement, but people just losing their cognition, they become cognitively impaired. And then you become the caregiver for that person because they can't take care of themselves.
 
I just love this story, and the fact is that where in your family you have a situation where people become cognitively impaired at a certain point, dementia we call it, or Alzheimer's, what they're discovering is that if you keep yourself really busy and keep yourself really focused in your Unique Ability, Strategic Coach 101, Unique Ability, where you love what you're doing, you love who you're doing it for, it's your greatest capabilities. It keeps your brain fresh, it keeps your brain focused, it keeps your brain engaged.
 
And I just think that Tricia has given us one of the best in-person, hands-on experiences and proof of this whole concept, do not retire, do not slow down, okay? And what she's doing is she's growing her ambition. She's becoming more and more ambitious when other people are bailing out. I just wanna thank Tricia for a really, really great real-world proof that you do not retire, you do not stop being an entrepreneur.
 
Tricia Wingerter: My name is Tricia Wingerter. I currently live in Allentown, Pennsylvania via 24 moves and 42 years of wedded bliss. So as you can see, I am a Quick Start. I am a number 9. I'm a 6393. And hey kids, get in the car, we're moving. So they've all learned how to assimilate into new schools. You know, the things that you hear that are so awful for kids to let them finish this, and no, get in the car. You're going to meet some new people. How exciting is this?
 
I own a Visiting Angels franchise and it is my why. It is why I get up in the morning. I named the company Barbara J after my mother and it's all about advocacy for me because I didn't, oh, it was really tough when you get someone who has told you your entire life, I'm the one in charge, you know, I'm your mom. And then you become, the kid becomes the mom and it was pretty difficult. So a lot of advocacy out there for me and I want to do for others. I did not know I was an entrepreneur until I went to Strategic Coach and had it slapped into my face because I never thought validity on the jobs that I created. It's hysterical. I was providing jobs for so many people and I never looked at it as a business. I got slapped in the face with it.
 
When I took my Kolbe and my Clifton and my PRINT and I went to Strategic Coach, I didn't realize it. And guess what? I thought I was just creating stupid little silly jobs for myself. And I didn't realize I had companies. Seriously, I gave myself no credit because I was not working for a big company who gave me a big paycheck. So therefore, I wasn't doing anything real. And interestingly enough, I volunteered at my church. I had three kids under five and got keeping busy all summer. So I created like a vacation Bible schools kind of situation where it went out throughout the year.
 
And I had to get not people to work for me. I had to get them for free. So I would get 30 daycare workers to do it for nothing. And I would have 135 kids and I would have probably 80 adults there. And it was two hours and a speaker and all for nothing, huh? No, it taught me how to hire, you know, a true leader. Always recommend people, tell them what a great job they've done, how they really helped you. And of course, how they do the job better than I. Because guess what? Dan might say that he says that all the time, and that's a success, but I was saying that back in 1980. So I think fine minds think alike.
 
Anytime somebody does the job better than you, you recognize it, you tell them how great it is, and you are a success, 100%. And you say that humbly, right? And I thought everybody did that. I thought everybody did. I am so shocked to find out that's a Unique Ability. How's that? I truly believe in franchises. Why should I create another one when there's already a great one with a standard in place? And I worked for McDonald's, not the corporation. I worked for individual owner operators. And what I found is most of them could not afford what I brought to the table.
 
So I just worked for as many as I could get. And through word of mouth, they kept hiring me, and I would work for all 13 in the one hour. So I was able to have three kids at home, work 10 to 15 hours a week, and really help them get good hires into their company. And I got great mentors out of it too. And they would sit one-on-one with me and, you know, give me their Fortune 500 experience, so to speak. I knew when I was an empty nester when my son went into college and then now subsequently the Navy. I was bored and looking for something to do and I never knew what I would be dealing with my mom.
 
At 62 she started showing signs of dementia and it became my why really quick. I was her POA. The baby of the family—my brother's 11 years older than I and my sister is eight years older than I. My sister fell apart. It was too much for her. And my brother really stepped up. So between the three of us, she had everything written down that she wanted. And we did the best we could, but we would not put her in facility care. We kept her at home. I learned how to manage her funds, how to get the people hired in there to care for her and figured out how to get advocacy. Keep in mind, this was before the internet. You know, I couldn't get benefits from the VA. I couldn't figure a lot of it out. So got a lot of good advice and learned a lot.
 
So when she passed away from complications to Alzheimer's, I purchased a Visiting Angels home care agency. I did it in the Poconos in Pennsylvania on the New Jersey, New York border, where lovers go to honeymoon. And after about a year, I bought more territory in Christmas City, which we know is Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. That's a Hallmark movie in the making. Unfortunately, they've never done a movie there. They did it in Canada and they called it Bethlehem.
 
Anyway, I love what I do. I do great things every day. And I do it in my mother's memory. And I think I wrote in here why I went to Strategic Coach. You know, they make you sit and think. It's not all them talking at you. You're sitting there and they're like, it's quiet. And they want you to really dig deep and come up with answers to some of the questions they pose for you. I signed up for Strategic Coach because I was thinking about retirement, because I hit that magic number 62. And 62 is when my mom started showing signs of dementia. My grandmother, the same. My aunt, my cousin, all about 62. And then my brother and my sister.
 
So here I sit, turning 60. What am I gonna do? So I thought, well, I gotta sell the business. I gotta move on. I've got to figure out my next chapter. And listening to Dan say, hey, you could live to 156. Wow. There's nobody that's saying that it's an edict for me that I'm going to get Alzheimer's. Nobody's saying that. My situation is different than all of them. I was never a smoker and I've always been an exerciser. So, you know, I've got these positive things in me and I never recognized it until I went to Strategic Coach and it was the second workshop.
 
And I left there on fire for my business. I could not wait. I got my mojo back. And I couldn't wait to get everybody as excited again as I was, because I was really in a bad place, thinking this is it. I will add that we also run on EOS, and that was a game changer for us. That's how I found out about Strategic Coach. And for years, my husband was my Integrator, but I didn't know. We were doing that role autonomously. And when he retired for the business, I am not him, okay? I am a Visionary and he is not. He holds people accountable. I could not ever do that, ever, ever.
 
We also ran a construction company together that we created. You know, I'd like to say that, what's the word? I want to say it right because Og Mandino is where it comes from. It was something I learned in one of the workshops and it really validated my situation when my husband left, and it was, all of my problems, discouragements, and heartaches are, in truth, great opportunities in disguise, for I was brought forth for a purpose. And listening to that, boom, I miss my husband. I miss him in the business because I'm so positive that the worst experiences, bam, I am positive, not Pollyanna positive, not that kind of person. I can find something good out of it. The good is he's coming back because he's bored to tears.
 
He read the book that Dan gave me and was like, I'm sitting around doing nothing all day. This is crazy. Like, I miss it. But you could be a Fractional Integrator, right? You don't have to work 55 hours a week. He can work 15, maybe 10. He does it right. So great quote, great session, game changer, because that's who I am. We ended up renting an apartment at One Cardinal Way over the ballpark in the middle of COVID because he wanted to go see a game at every ballpark. And instead, the games came to him.
 
But what we found with the community we're in is, what are we drinking today? What time are we going to start drinking? Who are we drinking with? Who's going to hold my seat at the pool? And I'm like, this is not for me. I still have a lot more to do. And he bought into it to a while because, you know, he's a 75-hour kind of guy and I'm not. And all of a sudden he has nothing to do. Went into a deep depression, not good. And when I came home from that, I want to say it was the second workshop, I handed him the book about Dan's Lifetime Extender and he read it and was like, game changer. Game changer.
 
So we started talking again, I'm like, Mike, I'm not hitting enough with my Integrator. I've tried for three years now, we are not doing well, and I really need you to come back. So given him purpose, and him reading the book, The Lifetime Extender, brought my great relationship back, because we always worked well together. Yeah, I thought, if this is what retirement is, who? How shallow? What are we gonna do? Talk about politics all day and argue? Like, come on. Like, I've got advocacy to do.
 
Like, so many people helped me with the situation I was in with my mother. And every day I get to get up and do that for other people. I mean, unbelievable. And when I was working with the Implementer for EOS and getting started on it, he kept wanting, you know, let's talk cash. What are your goals for cash? Cash, cash, income, revenue, revenue. And it's like I had to put my fist on a table and go, it's not about the money. It's about the families. So let's count the families. And it's not just the client's families, it's the caregiver's families, because they have to earn a living. And it's not just about the caregivers and my clients, it's about the community, because I don't even care if they hire my agency. I'm going to help them. I'll give them some news, some information, send them to the right place.
 
And guess what? We're successful in spite of ourselves. Like that was our mission. Okay. It's been that way since 2011. And it's that way today. And if you don't fit in with the mission or the core values, you know, it's angel, it's advocacy, nurturing, growth, ethical, and loving. And you have to match those to work for me. And unfortunately, some people leave and it causes a lot of stress. And I'm sorry, what did I say about augment? You know, like opportunity every day when something crappy happens, right? Every day.
 
So anyway. There are so many short books put out by Dan Sullivan and Strategic Coach. And you can read them in an hour. They're quick, they're fast. But the one that resonated was the Lifetime Extender book. And you know, it says live to 156. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, I get what you're saying, Dan. You know, maybe I'll leave a legacy and have it go to 156. But you know, I really thought when I had to do that exercise with the other team members there, my number was 62. Isn't that shameful? Like what day do you think you're going to die? And everybody had to stand up and say it. And anybody that said under like 65, why? Why? And it was shocking to hear it was just like mine. Everybody in my family died at that time. That was really it.
 
So I thought, okay, that's me too. So I just kind of quit and gave up. And after going through the process of saying, but what if you had 10 more years, what would you do? I don't know. I know what I'm not gonna do. I'm not gonna sit around and drink all day and find people to drink with me. I want to have a mission and a purpose still. And what better mission than my own business, which is home healthcare? It keeps people at home. Who wants to go to a nursing home, right? I didn't wake up and say that. I wanna stay home in my family with my community.
 
So I get to continue to do good things. And I am not looking at 62. I put it up to 80. I felt that was realistic, but I'm shooting for 90. I'm going to say the number one thing I got from Strategic Coach happened even before I went to my first workshop. It was the Unique Ability. I was very confused about it because I had none, okay? I have no Unique Abilities. I didn't see it in myself. And the little narcissist that I am really dug into that more than anybody else. You know, I made my calls to the office, setting up appointments so I could talk with somebody so they could walk me through what those meant.
 
And I am absolutely shocked at my Unique Abilities that I did not even think I had. Like I said, I got validation for what I do and what I do best. And I was given the okay to work on where I do best. I'm the Visionary, I'm a 9. I'm constantly given implementation and tasks that need to be done on a deadline. I'm always the bottleneck. I never get my tasks done. And I found out I've been working in the wrong area. Like why? So boom, here I am in my Unique Ability.
 
And what I did in that quiet moment, because he really pushes, I'm going to call them clarity breaks, but I'm sure there's another title for that, where you sit down, he's got a worksheet. And there are so many on the Strategic Coach website that you can sit down and really think about a question. And the one that came up to me was, I'm a relationship builder. I'm incredibly positive always, and not like a Pollyanna, but inspiring relationships to be my Who, to step up and do something I need to get done. I can cite this just because it's so personal to me.
 
Many people judge me for the decisions I make on a daily basis, because it's a life and death situation a lot of times when you're in home health. Unfortunately, it happened to my family. So I went to put a new caregiver into a new client's home all the way on the New Jersey, New York border. And when I got there, the gentleman said, I'm going in to have chemotherapy. I will be back in four hours. Fantastic. Can't bring the wife. She's a charge nurse, but she has Alzheimer's and she goes behind the desk at the hospital all day. So she needs to stay here and I'll be back in four hours.
 
Caregiver wasn't showing and I'm there. And a phone call comes in. One of your clients is on the way with an ambulance having a heart attack and the caregiver ran into the ambulance. So they're both going to the hospital. Now, what do I do? Do I leave the client and abandon because the caregiver is not there? Or do I go running to the hospital that's an hour away? No, you call a Who. You call a Who. And I called the caregiver to go in and sit until I could get there. I called my husband and found out he was in the hospital with a brain bleed an hour and a half away from the house that I'm at. So what do I do? So the ideation kicks in. Didn't realize that was the thing, everybody. Didn't know it.
 
And then my Unique Ability with the relationships—I didn't call them what Dan Sullivan does—you have to have a Who. I knew who the Who's were. So I called the caregiver that belongs to the client that had the car accident. Personal phone call. I really need you to go to the hospital for me. Jane's very scared. Her family's too far away. Can you go and sit with her? Absolutely. Anything for you, Trish. Boom, in she went. And then I called my daughter, who goes to Kutztown University. She's 20 minutes away from Cedar Crest Hospital. She left her classroom and she went down there and she took care of her dad until I could get there.
 
I taught her to thrive and what's important. And you know, you'll get your class back, whatever, but you're gonna be with your dad and you've got that in your pocket now about what an awesome person you are, right? Like you did it. And then, huh, in comes the caregiver, takes care of Jane. But guess what? The client doesn't come home. He's stuck at the hospital because his cancer is too far advanced. So the caregiver agreed to spend the night for me and stay with Jane because I have Who's and I didn't recognize that until I read, you know, about Dan.
 
So at eight o'clock at night, an hour and a half away from that house, I got to go see my husband and relieve my daughter and tell her how proud of her I was. Right. What do you do? No arrogance for me. It was 100% success for those who did that work for me. I humbly sit back and got criticized because I didn't get to my husband and I didn't get over here and I didn't go over there. But guess what? I'm a success 100% and would never second guess that. It was a great, wonderful learning curve for me and I didn't recognize it as a Unique Ability.
 
Thank you, Dan. I cannot say I have my mojo back. I'm getting ready for my fourth workshop in October. Of course I will be re-signing, thank you very much, and I am bringing a few people with me. I was tasked and I signed a contract with Delegate a few weeks ago and I have a team of assistants now because this task business and being the bottleneck and finding out I am not a bad employee, I am a good one, okay, yeah, I just need people to do some of the work I don't do as well.
 
And Strategic Coach helped recognize what my Unique Abilities are and I was not working in them or recognizing them for that matter. Everybody's is different. And there's only one Trisha Wingerter out there. And I'm pretty spectacular in the Unique Ability role where I have great skills that the team at Strategic Coach helped me recognize. And now I spend the biggest part of my day in my zone where my Unique Ability sets relationship building, ideation, and incredibly positive. Very much so, in all ways, because positivity, what? Brings opportunities. I've never met a person I didn't want to have a conversation with.
 
And now, you get to meet people just like you. You know, I thought I was an odd duck, and I guess I'm not, because everybody out there has the same kind of mindset that they just really want to grow their business. So you're in a room of 45 people that are like-minded like you, that want to grow their business and want to create something different and unique, and what a great, like, format for it. Fantastic.