Posted on October 11th, 2022.

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Michelle Tallmadge, owner of Gemini Transitions LLC., located in Vancouver, WA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I help women and new organizational managers and supervisors discover the leader within by introducing them to their future selves.

Tell us about yourself

I have found my passion alongside being a certified coach focusing on leadership, life, and mindset development. Over the last 30 years, I have assisted hundreds of women and organizational leaders achieve their goals and realizing their maximum potential.

I have overcome many adversities in my life that lead me to have some pretty strong biases. I survived childhood physical and sexual abuse, cancer, divorce, and the blending of two families. I was born in California, raised in Alaska, and earned my bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Carroll College in Helena, Montana.

I was a single mother to my son Alejandro for ten years before meeting my husband Kevin and his two beautiful daughters, Rusty and Madeline.

After a 27-year career with Multnomah Co. Juvenile and Adult Community Justice, I retired at 53 in 2019. My career journey started as a Custody Service Specialist in the Juvenile Detention Center and ended with being appointed as Deputy Director.

A few months before my retirement date, I looked back over my career, trying to figure out how in the hell I got here to that moment in time. I started young, overweight, and full of hope with grandiose ideas of changing the world, making my mark, and making a difference. In my first 30 days, I discovered that this young overweight girl was working in a white male-dominated culture and would have to rethink who I was, wanted to be, and how to get there. It was here that my journey truly began.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Learning that "rolling with resistance" doesn't require me to wear a cape and to know that being successful means I need to surround myself with people who can help me grow.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Giving myself the grace to ask for help. Look! After 27 years of working for someone else, I learned my job like the back of my hand. I could do it in my sleep. Starting my own business was new territory for me. I had to learn that "I didn't know what I didn't know" and asking for help would not kill me or get me pregnant. I got myself a fantastic coach who allowed me to find strength, knowledge, and support to be very successful.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

• Learn to give yourself grace.
• Take all the chances. Growth comes from the ones that didn't work.
• Leadership is NOT about your position but more about how you show up, your willingness to continue learning, and lasting changes for growth.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Let's chat if you need up-leveling your life, your leadership, or the new leaders in your organization. Schedule a free Discovery Call, and let me introduce you to your future self. Go to my website, you can find the link below.

Where can people find you and your business?

Facebook 

Instagram 

LinkedIn 

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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Originally Published: Go Solo