Shaping Success Episode 3 Synopsis by Nikki Pavlovich

 Welcome to Shaping Success with Wes Tankersley as Wes talks to his boss Frank Arroues about his story of success.

Frank grew up in Southern California where his father was a Baptist preacher. As a result, the family moved around Southern California. He grew up in Joshua Tree California until he was 7 years old. He had an active childhood playing outside and being obsessed with baseball. His very first job was a paper route when he was very young. Then in high school he trimmed trees for a church called Campus Crusade for Christ.

Frank’s path to success started after high school when he worked at Bonds Grocery Company for 7 years. When he became Assistant Manager, he realized this was not his path. His boss told him that if the employees aren’t afraid of you and they like you, you are not doing your job. It was a mindset Frank did not have. He wanted his employees to know that he appreciated them. He knows he isn’t perfect, and he can learn from his employees.

After Bonds Grocery Company, Frank continued his journey to success by working at Frito Lay in sales. He spoke to the store managers telling them why they need to stock Frito Lay products. Through his hard work, Frank was promoted to District Manager. This was his first experience managing people. He achieved success by learning how to motivate and not to motivate by trial and error. The toughest thing for him was transitioning from friend to employer.  He shares his secret to success in managing people by acknowledging that everyone is different. What works managing and speaking to one person may not work with another. 

After a couple of years, Frank was again promoted this time to Regional manager. He would call on companies like Costco and Walmart sometimes traveling.  In order to build relationships, he would take his clients places such as sporting events. 

Frank also dealt with local and regional companies that was hesitant to buy from him because they wanted to promote the local products. An affirmation for success for Frank was convincing these small local stores that he wanted success for them as well as his company. He had to prove that he would take care of them as the customer. After all, the goal is to have a lifetime customer and not one time customer. 

As a preacher, Frank’s father sometimes would preach in Boise, Idaho taking the family with him back and forth. Because of this experience, Frank and his family moved to Boise in 2000. He had different jobs as he couldn’t find outside sales jobs.  He worked in an office in a cubicle selling copiers and printers. He said that wasn’t a bad thing because in his previous success, he got prideful. This office job humbled him. 

In 2006, Frank had a friend that had a drapery and blind business and gave him a job. He worked with him doing sales and installation. After a year, the business closed down.

At this point in 2007, this set him up for success by starting his own blind business called Blind Appeal.  This was doable because it wasn’t expensive to start.  In the first year the business did well, as the economy was doing well. In 2008, the economy declined, and there was more competition with other blind companies.  Through hard work and goal setting, Frank’s business grew.

Today, Blind Appeal is a family business of 16 employees.  About half the employees there are family including his wife and 2 sons. 

What makes Blind Appeal a cut above other blind companies? Frank says it’s a family business in which the employees get along and are efficient. The people are customer friendly. The workers are very skilled and considered better than average. Also, the employers care about the employees and customers. The customers see this and want to buy from this type of company. 

At first, the business would advertise through flyers that they would give people just moving in to a home. Through Social media marketing, Wes and Frank are working together to get the business out there to even more people. Wes will post about Blind Appeal on Instagram where he has 1200 followers. There is potential for many more customers. Frank would pay for the advertisement.

Frank and Wes are working together to grow the business by posting on all forms of social media such as Facebook and Linkd In as well as Instagram. 

Shaping Success Episode 2 Synopsis by Nikki Pavlovich

 On this episode of Shaping Success with Wes Tankersley, Wes talks to Kyle Uhlenkott about his local business.  He and Wes reveal how they made a connection on Linkd In. Wes posted multiple times a day, and Kyle reached out to him to find out more about what he does. 

Kyle story of success in Cottonwood, Idaho, a small town that boasted of a safe and secure place to grow up. He moved to Boise in 2013 where he attended Boise State University and graduated with a degree in Entrepreneurship.  He then started his steps to building success by working at an exotic car dealership. He realized he wanted to do something more fulfilling. This mindset for achievement led him to commercial real estate which he started in August 2019. This type of real estate focuses on office space, industrial space, and office space. He now deals with office leases. 

What sets him apart from others is using social media as his success maker. He and Wes discuss how branding works. People buy from the individual, not the company. Through social media, relationships are developed.  He started his social media path to success by posting on Instagram and Linkd In. Within the first week, clients noticed and told him to keep it up.  He is trying to grow his Instagram account. 

Being a visual person, Instagram works well for him. Linkd In helps him achieve success by using a more professional platform to reach potential clients. 

He recently expanded his success story by starting Tik Tok.  He and Wes talk about how mostly kids are on Tik Tok and make fun of the older people on there because they don’t understand what they are doing. What is happening is more and more older people are joining Tik Tok.  Kyle talks about how 2 short videos he made went viral and how it doesn’t make sense what goes viral. 

At the request of Wes, Kyle continues his road to success by starting a business Facebook page and grow his mailing list.  The growth on his social media accounts is slow but organic meaning the people that follow him are real people that engage. 

Kyle’s story is one example of how Wes wants to help local businesses in the Boise, Idaho area. 

Shaping Success Episode 1 Synopsis by Nikki Pavlovich

 Kyle Uhlenkott introduces us to Wes Tankersley who has become quite a social medica presence especially on Linked In where Kyle saw him post every day several times a day. 

Wes introduces himself as a window covering salesman with a company called Blind Apparel.  He was from California, but he and his family moved to Ontario, Oregon when he was 10 years old. His story of success starts in sports when he got a scholarship to play football at Southern Oregon University. 

Instead of college, he went to California to visit his grandmother and there he met the woman that would become his wife. They moved to Idaho where he worked at a tire company for 11 years before badly injuring his knee.  

Wes’s story of success took a turn when after his injury he went back to college where he got his Bachelor’s degree in teaching and eventually his Masters degree. He taught Physical Education and coached baseball for 4 years.

Wes talks about how he is drawn to baseball as a game of life. To be a good baseball player, you have to have a .300 batting average.  Three times out of ten you fail. You work together to put a bunch of base hits together to win a game. 

While teaching, Wes continued his path to success by getting his Masters degree.  He left teaching and met his current boss who gave him a job as a salesman which is 100% commission.  That means you yourself are the success maker. No one else. He believed in himself as a salesman.  Wes found success as a salesman and doubled his pay. He even continued his mindset of success by talking to his boss about social media marketing. He has a Facebook page, Instagram, and Linkd In.

His podcast started when he had a slow month, and he was trying to figure out what to do to get things running again. He ended up talking with his barber who introduced him to the books of Gary Vee who wrote Crush It. In the book, Gary talks about all these people doing things to achieve success. He was creating success for people.

Wes realized that he there are aspects of teaching that he likes, but he doesn’t like the school system. His road to success to his podcast started with wanting to make money. He takes Gary’s life lessons of being consistent and posted all the time on social media to keep his presence relevant.  His social media presence then led to networking. People found him and contacted him asking him questions about his posts and what the goal was. He even received job offers which he considered at the time. He realized building success was about the networking helping people find other people and building a brand. Gary says you aren’t selling a product, you are building a brand. Through his networking and selling Wes realized you are finding out who you are. People are buying from YOU as a representative of the company. 

Wes talks about how he struck up a conversation with his pest control man who sprayed his house. They talked about the struggles they are having, and Wes said he is staring a podcast to help people expand their business. Wes says the idea for the podcast turned into so much more.  He likes talking to people, and his long-term goal is to be a motivational speaker.  He wants to make his business and other people successful, but he also wants to grow as a person. 

Wes has created a team that includes Kyle and a man named Darius. His team building has led to a great team that uses the strengths of each person to compliment any weaknesses in the group. Wes says he’s not good with technology, but someone on his team might be. 

Wes talks about being a traveling salesman with Blind apparel selling window coverings.  He travels to people’s homes to measure the windows and discuss what is needed.  There happens to be growth in Boise, Idaho that generates competition among the businesses. This is also where Wes wants to market the podcast. Through hard work, Wes has found success by being the best salesman he can be. 

Wes’s affirmation for success is getting on social media and getting out of his comfort zone. He stays motivated by posting every day; consistency that Gary Vee talked about in his book.  Wes realized that success and happiness go hand in hand. Once he realized that, things took off. 

When he was a teacher, he learned about Tik Tok from his students who were constantly posting.  He is on Tik Tok trying to navigate his way through it, but his creativity is coming out. 

What advice does Wes have to be successful? Realize you have plenty of time in a day. It’s about priorities. Make the time. If you’re not happy in your life, do more work. If you’re not happy, do something!  Stop complaining and just do it. 

The Early Years Part 2

    My father had to do something different, and it was very apparent that he had no choice. He won’t say it, and my grandfather is not here to talk about it but remember this is though my eyes not his.     

    My grandfather had 6 kids, and he seemed to believe that the first born was more important than each child that succeeded the next. Therefore, the oldest obtained the most and my dad was the last born. What exactly did this mean? Well when it came down to it he was the low man on the totem pole. The last thought, as he was the baby. 

    He decided to go out on his own and leave the family business. He originally went to college for a degree in agriculture. At the time a college education was not as important as it had become in the early 2000’s. He was able to start out as a mechanic at a grape farming company, not table grapes but wine grapes. The fertile Salinas valley is sometimes called the salad bowl well, because they grow a lot of things that go in salad. 

    The harvest season was long, and he was gone for weeks at a time sometimes. Can you imagine 3 young boys and their poor mother who never had a chance. We were busy little guys it was interesting, and now that I am raising children of my own I have no idea how she kept up.  I can only assume it was a lot of work, and there was no computer games or iPads to keep us busy. Luckily we had a large yard and played outside a lot. Heck we were little farmers in the back yard.  

    It didn’t take long for dads boss to see he was a hard worker, he basically noticed this when he came to the hardware store and saw my dad work. You see I am pretty sure he headhunted my dad right out of the hardware store. A short time after he was hired as a mechanic he was promoted to a supervisor. 

    I feel like I missed something, you see my dad was a jack of all trades. I never thought anything of it growing up because he could pretty much do anything with his hands. From working on cars, to remodeling a house or even building furniture. 

    The fact of the matter he could do anything, he was a worker and a leader all rolled up into one. He wasn’t afraid to get dirty when he needed to, but he could also dress up and lead the meeting if needed. He does a lot of the latter now, but who could blame him he is getting up there in age. The thing was it wasn’t uncommon for him to be overseeing his many employees, but also get under the hood of a harvester and get greasy. When it was harvest season, we knew he would be home much and when he was he was sleeping. 

Wes Tankersley the early years…

    It was December 3rd 1980 early morning and that’s when Wesley James Tankersley was brought into the world

    Tom and Laurie Tankersley’s second son, Gregg was born 2 years earlier and now had a brother. At this point Tom and Laurie live in Soledad California. Laurie was a home maker, something that was not looked down upon in the those days. Tom worked at Soledad Hardware store, a family owned business started by his father Drury and his best friend. Drury or Dude as most people knew him was what most people would call an Entrepreneur these days. He spent some time in the Army, and Navy. He had 6 kids 5 boys and 1 girl. Leslie his wife had been by his side for many years. 

    We lived in the hills near the Soledad Mission the first few years of my life. Sometime around the time I started Kindergarten my parents purchased a triple wide mobile home and put it right down the road from my grandparents home. Just a quick walk though the almond orchard, and we were at Grandma’s house. She always had treats in the cookie jar, whether it was cookies or whole made candy you could always count on Grandma. 

    Grandpa drove an old station wagon, the kind that had the wood paneling and back seat that faced the back of the car. This was the last resort when you had a bunch of people in the car. I remember my mom used to borrow the wagon when she was hauling the us and our friends. 

    Mom and Dad didn’t have much, and one month before I turned 2 my little brother was born. I sure as hell don’t know how my dad and mom did it. At 42 my son Nolan turns one tomorrow, and my daughter Tatum is nine. Let’s just say Kristine and I had a late start in parenthood, but more on this later.  

    Dad didn’t make much at the time working at the family hardware store. He always worked his ass off though and passed this work ethic on to his children. I am not sure how they made it in those days, I am pretty sure he made something like 5 dollars and house at the time. Can you imagine that today? Raising 3 boys, and trying to take care of your wife and self as well. It’s really crazy when you think of it. 

    So crazy that when he asked my grandfather for a raise of 1 dollar he said no, and my dad started looking for another job. You see he wasn’t tied to his family, and realized he must do something different. 

I’m not Crazy, I’m just not you…

There have always been outsiders in your life and mine looking in with judgment. They have desires and dreams, however they are not your dreams.  The dreams are theirs and they won’t understand you. Most times when you discuss this with them they will look at you like you are crazy. Like what the hell is this guy doing…

I was a different person 20 years ago, I was a different person than I was yesterday. Many people call me an over thinker, what they don’t understand is that I am an analyzer. I am looking at the goal and finding all the different angles in terms of how things will work. It’s amazing to me how much I can flip a scenario and find the good in the bad or vice versa. 

The problem with outsiders that truly don’t take the time to get to know you. To truly understand who you are, they make assumptions that you are a different person than They want you to be. Living up to others expectations will never yield the results YOU are looking for. 

So… What’s my point? Do not ever sacrifice who you are to meet others expectations. If you know what true North is, stay on the path. Your path may be filled with twist and turns, the finish line may not be a straight line. You may have to change and redirect your path, but remember where the end is!

If you are reading this, you are a Success Warrior!

We must take Action…

I want to write a book… There I said it, if you haven’t heard me say then now you have. It’s something I have wanted to do for a while. 

So what do I do? Why hasn’t it happened?  I have not taken action on what I want to accomplish. This blog has been just sitting here, empty of words for years. 

The first step is the first step… 

In order to make this happen, I need to hone my writing skills.  This blog is just that, you see the action that I am taking by writing this information is improving my writing skills. I personally am always in a place of self reflection and trying to make myself better every day. 

You may have heard that it takes 10,000 hours to be proficient at something. Take a deep breath and then think about how many things you have spent 10,000 hours on in your life. All that this really means, is that you need to practice in order to get better. You can not just expect for things to just happen for you. You must take action, if it isn’t happening for you then make it happen. You must do everything in your power to succeed. 

So this is it, this is me practicing for what is to come…

The great John Wooden said “Never cease trying to be the best you can be”. 

You see this is how I try to live my life. One day at a time, every day better than the last. What are you passionate about? Learn about whatever way you can. Read a book, watch a YouTube video, always be open to a dialog. Understanding that criticism will make you better, by viewing it as a good thing. I hope this helps you look into the future and be a better you daily. 

-Wes