In this episode, host Lorie Jones sits down with Tali Levin, a business broker for Transworld Business Advisors whose unconventional path to success will ignite your ambition. Starting as a single mom with car troubles, Tali plunged into the male-dominated automotive industry, becoming an ASE-certified technician. Her journey continued with a successful leap into business brokerage, where she now empowers others with her wealth of experience.
Tali’s story is filled with grit, resilience, and a relentless pursuit of self-education. She embodies the mantra that with the right mindset, one can overcome any obstacle. Gain insights into her philosophy of leveraging challenges into strengths and fostering relationships that lead to professional triumphs.
Get ready to be inspired and motivated by Tali Levin’s fearless journey!
Show Highlights:
- How a car repair led to Tali Levin’s automotive industry career. [05:56]
- Golden rule for discovering your perfect career path. [10:17]
- Why it’s better that women avoid industry romances. [11:07]
- Advice for navigating male-dominated fields using women’s strengths. [14:15]
- The importance of trust in calculated risks in self-employment. [16:46]
- The power of owning your perspective irrespective of advice. [19:00]
- How to genuinely remove impostor syndrome from your life. [26:48]
- Pivotal advice for young women to unlock freedom to grow. [29:47]
- Is there a self-imposed ceiling in your life? [35:34]
- Explore the progress women have made in the auto industry. [40:40]
00:01.20
Lorie Jones
Good morning. We are here today with Tali Levin. And she is a business broker for Transworld Business Advisors. um I'm so excited to listen to her story. She's been working in male-dominated industries for quite a while now. And I'm really excited to hear her insights and hear a little bit more about her journey. So thank you so much for doing this for me. I appreciate it.
00:26.66
Tali Levin
Thank you so much for the invitation, Lori. It's such an honor and I never dreamed that you know I would be sharing this kind of experience. So thanks for the invitation.
00:34.77
Lorie Jones
I appreciate it. So my very first question always is, I'm a reader. I love reading. um Any and all suggestions, what is your favorite book?
00:44.26
Tali Levin
That's so funny. This was the hardest question to prepare for. I'm an avid reader, too. Thank God. I'm self-educated through reading. I didn't go to traditional college. Hell, I hardly made it through high school. um I've read most of the classics, and I really enjoy literature. My favorite there is probably East of Eden by Steinbeck. But the most impactful books I've ever read are the Sapiens series by Yuval Harari. Sapiens, it's a brief history of humankind. It talks about the journeys our ancestors took over thousands of years. and our collective future as a species.
01:16.75
Tali Levin
And then his next two books in the series are called Home of Dias and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. And the way that he's able to paint in big broad strokes, like what it was like, what happened, and what it's like now, and what's around the corner.
01:30.90
Tali Levin
I mean, it's fascinating to me. And it has this theme of reflection in my life, that piece. So they're great.
01:36.82
Lorie Jones
Oh, that's so interesting.
01:36.97
Tali Levin
I highly recommend them.
01:38.87
Lorie Jones
I've never heard of those. Are they like fiction or facts?
01:42.12
Tali Levin
No. So it's fact, it's history, but he's spun it in a narrative that you can read it like ah like a fiction, like a novel. And it's fascinating.
01:51.25
Lorie Jones
ah
01:52.25
Tali Levin
It literally talks about, you know, when when we go to the Nature and Science Museum and you see the evolution of man and it's like, you know, it's got Neanderthals and chromatin men and and you know all the different species of humans I always thought that like one was a predecessor of another and they kind of superseded each other but I've learned that they a lot of them lived at the same time and it was really interesting to see all the different kinds of humans and who killed whom and who bred with whom and how we became the only species of human left and the fact that they just found that cave a few years ago in Siberia with the finger bone of some new kind of human and that they can actually test the DNA for Neanderthals in you now, it just blows my mind.
02:35.76
Tali Levin
So it's wild.
02:36.28
Lorie Jones
Yeah, that's it would probably make the ah science museum the history and science museums more interesting too.
02:43.70
Tali Levin
What the hell is this? They have a working paleontology lab in there and it really like brings to life a lot of how we fit into the past and how those choices or are projecting us into the future.
02:58.56
Tali Levin
Like the 21 choices for the 21st century lessons, it's terrifying.
03:03.45
Lorie Jones
Oh, wow.
03:03.78
Tali Levin
It's terrifying. The technology that we have and what we can do with it, like designer babies and how that will create a whole task system. And I could talk forever just on that. But yes, I'm an avid reader too.
03:14.42
Tali Levin
Those are great books. I highly recommend them.
03:16.91
Lorie Jones
That's so interesting. I'll have to pick them up and add them to my stack, which is getting bigger as we speak.
03:21.00
Tali Levin
Pretty thick, I'm sure.
03:24.27
Lorie Jones
So tell me a little bit about your journey. How did you get started? Where, how did you get where you're at today and kind of what you do now?
03:32.29
Tali Levin
Sure, so I'm a business broker now but I'm coming out of 30 years in the automotive industry and how that happened is I was a single mom with a broken car and I took it in to get fixed and I was treated like a dumb blonde and I didn't know enough to challenge what I was being told and I knew it felt slimy and I knew I didn't trust it and I knew it wasn't addressing my initial concern and I felt like I was being upsold but I didn't know enough to challenge it and I hate feeling vulnerable like that I felt at the mercy of some man in you know and with my car and I needed that to be able to get around and be successful and care for my life and and so it really had a huge impact on my ability to be a productive person a transportation and so
04:18.85
Tali Levin
My grandmother, God bless her, you know she said, if you can read, you can cook. And i really and I've like internalized that to be my guiding light. like There's no excuse. If I can read and apply what I'm looking at to what's in front of me, whether it's following a recipe or instructions or a schematic, I can do anything. So I enrolled in automotive college.
04:42.16
Tali Levin
and graduated as an ASE certified technician so that I don't have to feel that way any longer. And so that's how I got in the automotive industry and why I learned after that education that you know I don't want to work on cars. I don't have the strength or the desire or the dexterity to be a contortionist and beat book time and and be a ah ah good technician, but now I have all this time and education invested in the automotive industry. so I went into the parts department first and and then eventually worked my way up into service and so I spent 20 years in parts and service doing everything from um you know running a speed and marine performance counter to working in dealerships to service advising to creating a parts an online parts website but like rockauto.com and then
05:36.79
Tali Levin
I spent the next, I elevated myself, I leveled up and spent the next 10 years in sales and finance, um the last nine of which now have been self-employed as an auto broker.
05:43.78
Lorie Jones
yeah
05:49.73
Tali Levin
So I took everything that I loved about the automotive industry and the reasons I got into it, the advocacy piece, the transparency piece, the helping women navigate male dominated and intimidating space piece and just kept building upon that
05:51.40
Lorie Jones
Okay. Okay.
06:06.78
Tali Levin
um Owning two businesses in that space. um you know i almost own my cars started with Almost all my stories start with, I sold this guy a car. So I sold this guy a car who was a business broker. And I was like, what is a business broker? like I've never heard of that. To be in an office surrounded by brokers and never having, that's such an under the radar occupation. you know If you're not a business owner or in that space, then you know ah it's really not a career that's on your radar.
06:36.72
Tali Levin
um But once I crossed paths with it, I was like, wow, that feels like such the right space for me to take all of this experience that I've had in helping women make good decisions with limited education and access to information.
06:54.87
Tali Levin
and But they're really high risk decisions. To be able to guide women through that space has been really a good rewarding place for me.
07:01.79
Lorie Jones
no.
07:05.10
Tali Levin
so
07:05.24
Lorie Jones
I love that. I was wondering yeah how you got from the automotive into the business brokerage um because that's a that's a weird that's a weird shift, right?
07:06.07
Tali Levin
That's how I got here.
07:16.03
Tali Levin
Yeah, it is. It's a curvy path, but you know it's interesting how your decisions from yesterday you know impact the the choices you make today. You build on what you did yesterday, and suddenly you're in a whole new space that wasn't exactly on the map with the targeted goal, but it's exactly where you're supposed to be.
07:38.53
Lorie Jones
Yeah. I find that really interesting. They, so I was reading something not too long ago and it talked about how the average person now goes through, it used to be like three career changes and now it's somewhere up in the like seven to 10 or something like that through their career.
07:53.76
Tali Levin
that
07:53.83
Lorie Jones
And so I, yeah, I think it's really important that you, that you look at what you're doing now.
07:55.21
Tali Levin
yeah but
08:02.86
Lorie Jones
and and take advantage of all the different opportunities that you have because what you're doing five or 10 years from now may not look anything like where you're at now.
08:12.67
Tali Levin
Yes, which is why I think it's important to find a problem that you care about that you want to fix and focus on that because if you build a career around your interests, your interests are going to change a million times as you grow as and as a person. But if you find a problem that you want to fix and and you can center your work around that, then it'll lead you on this you know winding path. but It has a theme and you're able to advance in your career in kind of the same vein so that you can build upon it and have a full career in and be a subject matter matter expert in that space and not like, you know, bounce around hard from one career to a totally different to a totally different thing youre or whether you say a ah jack of all trades and master of none. Yeah.
09:03.70
Lorie Jones
Yeah. um How old were you when you decided to go to automotive school?
09:09.73
Tali Levin
I was 19 and so you know I dragged one of my best friends with me so I wasn't Smurfette in Smurf Village. Literally, we were the only two women in a school of 3,000 men and I was 19-year-old blonde. um so you know it was It was definitely the epitome of being a woman in a male-dominated space.
09:30.94
Tali Levin
and having to kick down the the door. And I had to fight OSHA early on. I mean, they tried to make me cut my hair, um you know, as a woman. And that was one of the retaliatory things. Like I wasn't welcome in that school at first. I was seen as a distraction. I was seen like I was there to find a boyfriend. I was, you know, I was just viewed through this lens of not being taken seriously. Like I was there for decoration um and and having to,
09:58.74
Tali Levin
build a reputation and establish a presence as as a capable female and just another, and that became one of the guys in that assimilation.
10:08.83
Tali Levin
But, you know, getting to the point where I was taken seriously was was tough in the beginning.
10:14.09
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I can imagine being being one of the groundbreakers in some of those male-dominated industries. ah you know like Finance has a lot of that as well. But um we I had other people who came before me and kicked down some of those doors.
10:29.66
Lorie Jones
i i It would be a whole different experience to be the door kicker.
10:30.02
Tali Levin
Yeah.
10:34.29
Tali Levin
It was 1992. And this is when they still had you know calendars on the wall with girls with their breasts hanging out.
10:36.63
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
10:42.44
Tali Levin
And that was the norm. And that was acceptable. And you know I got into the speed and marine space, performance space, where you know girls are roller skating through there. And that was you know how we were seen as in that industry.
10:56.40
Tali Levin
like We were there to to decorate the cars. and and carving a reputation in that space, you know it stinks that we still have to protect our reputations with both hands. i mean it was I'm so glad that and like I never dated in the automotive industry. You have to be careful to protect your reputation. And we still do. And we like to tout that we're you know a progressive society and that we're you know less misogynistic and more equal rights and all those things. but
11:27.12
Tali Levin
We, as women, still have to work twice as hard as the guys do to, one, establish ourselves as a serious contenders and not just there you know for their amusement.
11:38.66
Tali Levin
And then we have to beat them. but you know So so that's you know you've got to fight for the right to compete.
11:41.03
Lorie Jones
yeah
11:44.42
Tali Levin
And then you've got to skunk them. So and we have to work twice as hard. and And protecting our reputation in that space is really an integral thing that I think I would like to bring up.
11:55.67
Tali Levin
you know that even though we are a progressive society, you can't be water cooler talk as a woman in this industry.
11:55.93
Lorie Jones
yeah
12:01.85
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
12:02.32
Tali Levin
And I challenge you to to keep your yard clean, you know to not yeah so not date in your industry and become that girl.
12:08.82
Lorie Jones
yeah
12:14.84
Lorie Jones
Yeah, and that's important to remember too. What is the best investment you've made in yourself? Was there a turning point for you or like an aha moment or like, oh my goodness, if I hadn't have done that, I definitely would not be where I'm at today.
12:31.86
Tali Levin
Yeah, absolutely. Coming to the realization that I can trust myself and my sales and and leaving a salary position to step into a 100% commission role was the most brave and most pivotal point in my career of change.
12:51.15
Tali Levin
Like I was a service advisor, I had been working parts in service, fixed ops, you know, and I had
12:51.36
Lorie Jones
and
12:57.93
Tali Levin
gotten to a point where I was salary and then I had a bonus structure and when my one of my first bonus checks beat my salary commission my my salary check I was like okay Tolly don't ever be scared of this. i'm This is a relationship business and we have an advantage over the guys because we are are so much more nurturing and caring. And really, if you focus on the person in front of you and their problems, business becomes a natural byproduct of that. But if you just focus on the transaction, then you'll get it done. But there's no relationship. There's no repeat client there. And so learning that that was my superpower and that the way that I cared for my clients resulted in higher paychecks.
13:43.46
Tali Levin
And I could trust that, allowed me to step into sales and finance and 100% commission. And from there, I mean, that's the most money you can make without a college education and not have a college education. Hell, I barely made it through high school, like I said. So to be able to succeed on this level took a huge leap of faith and trust in myself.
14:02.20
Lorie Jones
Yeah. that's and And it is hard. I i know um you know you have the same thing in all sorts of other industries, where you're going from um a paycheck to a commission base.
14:13.78
Lorie Jones
And that is a really hard transition, I think, especially for women.
14:17.63
Tali Levin
Yeah, we have to, you know, especially as a single mom, you know, I'm a sole income household.
14:17.78
Lorie Jones
um
14:20.91
Lorie Jones
and yeah
14:23.59
Tali Levin
And so but that, that step allowed me to be brave enough to become self employed. And that's when the whole world opened up to me, you know, the balance between family and finance and all of those things that we all strive for only became possible once I got out of my own way and stuck my neck out trusted in myself and and took the leap of faith into self-employment.
14:50.38
Lorie Jones
What gave you the courage to do that though? Because I see a lot of people on the press, ah ah so you know, they're like between the steady paycheck and the, and the, um, the unlimited upside potential and scared to death.
15:04.95
Lorie Jones
And I see some of them go for it. And some of them go like, Oh, maybe not yet. Like, did you have where you're, maybe you had to get used to that before you got to the place where you're willing to take that lead.
15:17.10
Tali Levin
I have a high tolerance for risk and so and I get burned sometimes but I honestly you know I I see all of these lessons cars are cool you know bad days make good stories and so I have this I don't know maybe it's stupidity but unwavering faith that it'll be okay you know and my dad had this poster on the office wall when I was growing up and it was one of those
15:29.03
Lorie Jones
yeah
15:41.48
Tali Levin
70s cartoons like the Tootsie Roll Owl kind of a guy but it was a turtle and on the bottom of it it and he had his neck sticking a long neck and and it said behold the turtle that only makes progress when he sticks his neck out and for some reason that has really guided a lot of my my decisions, you know, no guts no glory and and you know the if I want the big reward and then sometimes I need to take the big risks.
15:55.04
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm.
16:02.82
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm.
16:10.63
Tali Levin
And I always try to temper it with footwork. So as long as I keep doing the footwork to shore up the gaps in the risks that I'm taking, then I trust in the universe that I will have done the right thing to become the right person to receive the right thing when it's my turn.
16:28.75
Tali Levin
you know And as long as I keep doing the footwork, I'm in the right position to receive. And that's been my experience. So I just keep busily doing the next right thing for the right reason. and building on that from yesterday and somehow it's brought me through to the other side. So trusting in myself and doing the footwork.
16:46.14
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I like that. i And I think that's an important thing to bring up too, is that like like you can trust in yourself all day long, but if you're not putting forth the the work in order to to make the things that you that you want to see happen, happen, sometimes you don't succeed.
17:04.42
Lorie Jones
you know
17:04.61
Tali Levin
Yeah there's some saying something like faith without work is dead you know I mean you can believe in yourself the whole time but if you don't do the footwork to actually put yourself in the position to receive and be worth and be the person you need to be to and be worthy of receive then you know then you're just spinning your wheels so you got to do the footwork.
17:08.80
Lorie Jones
yeah
17:22.96
Lorie Jones
yeah So Tali, I love this question. What is the worst advice someone gave you? And did you did you take it? Did you not take it? What did you learn from it?
17:33.15
Tali Levin
nah, nothing comes to mind. Truthfully, I mean, I tend to focus on the positive. So the best advice I ever got was if you can read, you can cook. I mean, that, you know, that's the best advice I ever got.
17:40.73
Lorie Jones
yeah
17:42.93
Tali Levin
There's no excuse for not being able to do something. I mean, being self educated, I gave myself a lot of obstacles, both self imposed, there were some external, I mean, picking such a male dominated industry doesn't matter.
17:54.75
Tali Levin
It comes down to how bad do you want it? And what are you willing to do it? And so Advice, you know, I try to turn off my head and listen to my gut. I mean, that's one of the benefits of being female is our intuition. You know, that whole life is a series of doing the next right thing for the right reason. I train myself to preload the hard work so that the results come easily. You know, when I take the easy way, life's hard. But when I do the hard stuff up front, life's pretty easy. And so that's, you know, I don't listen to others tell me that I can't.
18:29.08
Tali Levin
Oh, you know, i so the advice is just white noise, you know?
18:32.70
Lorie Jones
I like that idea because sometimes you get a lot of negative messages.
18:34.67
Tali Levin
Yeah.
18:39.37
Lorie Jones
And I have heard, you know, through my other guests, just sometimes they get some negative messages.
18:45.10
Tali Levin
Yeah.
18:45.18
Lorie Jones
But if you if you can filter out the negatives and try and concentrate on the positives,
18:52.08
Tali Levin
Yeah, I totally agree. even like perspective is everything so it becomes a choice what lens are you going to view the situation through and that becomes your truth people like to tell powerlessness like I can't control that I'm powerless over you know people places things whatever and I call bullshit because you have control over your perspective to those situations and that's where your power lies so you know you can see the same situation through multiple different lenses and it all becomes your reality so that's that choice
19:23.74
Tali Levin
is where the magic happens.
19:26.69
Lorie Jones
hu The difference between being a victim and being a ah change
19:31.15
Tali Levin
yeah yeah
19:32.15
Lorie Jones
Yeah. What about a situation that you maybe look back on, and I'm not going to say regret, but I'm going to say you look back on and you're like, Ooh, if I knew then what I know now, I would have handled that differently. I would have handled that better. And, you know, obviously if you go back to that situation and you don't know anything more than you knew at that point, you do it exactly the same. But what if you did have that extra knowledge?
19:56.71
Tali Levin
no I don't know. You gave me some questions to think about and and I honestly don't. ah Regrets a waste of time. you know Again, I think that you can choose to be mortified over your mistakes or you can choose to be proud of over all you've overcome to be where you are.
20:05.83
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Mm hmm.
20:14.29
Tali Levin
Like I said, bad days make great stories and that makes us relatable. and and the The things that I did, I don't wish they turned out differently. I mean i guess there's some.
20:24.31
Lorie Jones
Mm
20:25.24
Tali Levin
but not professionally, personally, some of the choices that I made led to some um situations with my kids that you know that I wish I would have made
20:28.24
Lorie Jones
hmm.
20:39.67
Tali Levin
different choices I suppose but they're all amazing people too and the choices that I made have you know affected them and my little son came to me and said how am I supposed to build strength of character when I don't have any adversities to overcome and I'm like oh my god like really again that was all dictated by the lens you're looking at it through like let's talk about stop comparing your insides to other people's outsides and feeling like you're terminally unique like We all have our own set of challenges. It comes down to, like, one, being upfront about your what you perceive to be your shortcomings, and if you feel that they are, like, take inventory of them and do something about it. Like, are you going to work on it? Are you going to release them? Are you going to fix them? Are you going to live with them? Like, how are you going to deal with that? And so, I really think that that whole regret and thing, you know,
21:36.19
Tali Levin
Bad days make good stories. I got hella good stories. just not
21:41.45
Lorie Jones
ah Well, is there one that ah you learned a particular lesson from? Like, is there one that you're like, oh, I'm not going to do that one again, but great story.
21:51.12
Tali Levin
Not that I can think of off the top of my head. I hate that. No. No.
22:02.87
Lorie Jones
but all right but that's That's fine.
22:02.98
Tali Levin
No.
22:04.91
Lorie Jones
I actually am so interested because there are I feel a little bit the same about regrets. like I don't look back and be like, oh, I never should have gone through that. It's always a learning experience for me.
22:16.41
Lorie Jones
And how can I do it better next time? And how can I come through that with a different place? But but I do have a lot of those learning experiences.
22:24.55
Tali Levin
um You know and those give me some of my favorite parts of myself I mean those bad experiences and bad stories have given me ah insight into how I'm wired and Let me tease out the strengths in there so that you know I'm not falling into that victim role that whole oh for me it was this person's fault or that you know if if that hadn't happened then I X, you know, all of those combinations of circumstances have led me to a place that I'm pretty happy. Like I took the totally unorthodox route to be where I'm at. And I am sitting at a table with some very, very smart, educated, successful people. And if I get caught up in the whole comparing my insides to how they look, you know, how I feel to how they look,
23:12.56
Tali Levin
I'm going to get like literally stuck in the panic feeling of not enoughness or imposter syndrome or all of those things. But once I realize that you know our differentiators lie in those experiences, those bad days, those poor choices,
23:31.34
Tali Levin
that if hopefully if you learn from them and you survive them, that's also a nice caveat. you know If you survive and you're able to pull a lesson out of it, then that becomes your superpower and that's the kind of thing that, you know I mean, there's a lot of people that do what I do.
23:46.23
Tali Levin
There's a lot of people that do what you do. i mean I know so many financial advisors and I have to refer to so many financial advisors and it comes down to bedside manner, personality fit, culture fit, You know everything else is that's the financial side.
23:48.36
Lorie Jones
yeah.
24:03.73
Tali Levin
You know, math doesn't change. You know, the market is what it is. It's how do you relate to your client, how you interpret their needs and wants and are able to present suggestions that are geared towards their goals and putting them first.
24:07.66
Lorie Jones
yeah.
24:18.30
Tali Levin
That's the kind of thing that you get from your life experiences. And I think that women have such a huge advantage over the guys in that empathy piece and that understanding the bigger picture piece and that, you know, not I mean the buzzword lately is relationship-based.
24:35.50
Tali Levin
Everybody likes to say I'm relationship-based and I mean i mean we all kind of are but that is really one of the the things that I think separate us as women is that we really do put ourselves in the situation of our the of our client and try to talk to them as a friend and an advisor instead of as a salesperson because ultimately we're all selling something, right?
24:55.90
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm.
25:00.92
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
25:01.08
Tali Levin
i mean Even if we're doing sitting behind a computer or IT, you want to sell yourself as a promotion, while your product, while your work is better than the next guy's, you know, just being able to to lean in on those, draw experience from those bad decisions or whatever as learning experiences has has led us to be able to really be stronger in our fields as women.
25:27.76
Lorie Jones
Yeah. I, and I think that some of that too comes with experience. It's harder to do. I know that I still have days where I am like, I can do nothing right today. Like I'm the, I'm the biggest imposter in the room. Like you still have those times when you just feel like maybe I'm not enough. Maybe I'm not good enough. So how do you combat the, those sorts of feelings? Because they come for everybody.
25:55.99
Tali Levin
yeah well counting my blessings getting out of my head being of service to others stopping with the expectations you know stop requiring myself to have achieved X in order to feel like I've accomplished something that whole start with little things make your bed feel that sense of accomplishment with you know like I did something take the dog for a walk early on just little things that ah help make you feel like you're on a roll and then you can start attacking bigger things and bigger things and You know, and scratching them off a list is fun.
26:28.78
Tali Levin
Some of us, you know, I love it.
26:30.35
Lorie Jones
Oh, I love my tireless.
26:32.27
Tali Levin
I will write things down that I've already done so that I can scratch it off the list and feel productive.
26:34.55
Lorie Jones
Yes.
26:37.29
Tali Levin
So celebrate the little wins and give your yourself a little grace. You know, I mean, I look back on where I came from and what I've accomplished. and i And I let myself be enough. Like I'm good enough, you know, for today. I mean, I may not be the best. I may not, I'm not the worst. I'm not the best, but you know, I'm good enough today. And as long as I do my best and feel like I've really tried.
27:01.11
Tali Levin
and That's the whole thing. I hold myself accountability to effort. I hold myself accountable to have made an effort. If I've made my best effort, then the results don't matter, really, because I'm not responsible for it.
27:13.23
Tali Levin
I can't control that piece of it. All I can control is the footwork that I've done for it. So I've done my best, and it falls the way it falls.
27:17.30
Lorie Jones
One.
27:20.51
Tali Levin
Then look at it cleanly, straighten the eye, and move on. You know, move on. Don't don't waste time stressing on things that I have no control over.
27:29.40
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I like that. I like that idea idea holding yourself accountable for the effort because it is true. We are all salespeople and in sales, you, you can't control what other people do.
27:40.31
Lorie Jones
Right. And so holding yourself accountable for the things you can control and celebrating those small wins. I love that idea. idea That's great.
27:46.70
Tali Levin
I was holding and and i'm remembering to align myself to my own moral compass too. you know if i If I could have closed it if I would have pushed harder but I didn't feel comfortable that that was the best thing for the client in that moment, like holding myself accountable to my own moral compass. like I didn't push harder. I didn't close it right now. you know If it's meant to be, it'll come. I held myself in line with my belief system on how to serve my clients best. and that you know and The financial
28:18.47
Tali Levin
reward will come in the karma scheme of things. Like it may not come from that direct transaction, but perhaps that person will share how I made them feel that they didn't feel pressured and that they felt understood and heard and you know, and I will get a reward from a different transaction by the holding true to those same things.
28:24.01
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
28:37.77
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
28:40.32
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I like that idea. I say that all the time. The, the good karma will come back to you when you do the right thing, when you, you know, behave in the right way so that, that your clients are getting what they need out of it.
28:51.84
Tali Levin
Yeah.
28:52.34
Lorie Jones
I love that. That's like a guiding light for me. So I love that. If you could go back, Tali and talk to yourself when yourself, when you were 20 years old, just starting out, do you have any advice for her?
29:05.54
Lorie Jones
What would you tell her?
29:06.58
Tali Levin
that you have no idea what you're capable of don't hold yourself back with the belief system like don't pigeonhole yourself don't think that because you like I closed some doors on myself early that I didn't even know existed I mean I shot myself on the foot with I mean I was a ah single welfare mom with no education and addiction issues hanging out with the wrong boys, the wrong crowd, you know making some really bad choices early on. I you know didn't go to call my parents, didn't have a college fund. I wasn't you know on that path. And I had no idea that I would be able to accomplish you know almost a decade of successful self-employment with high six-figure income with the choices that I had made early on.
29:56.38
Tali Levin
And so don't pigeonhole yourself and don't beat yourself up for your past mistakes. Turn them into your superpowers. Use them as life lessons and be able to relate with other people with your third party stories that may be first person stories that they don't know, you know, but be able to be relatable and make that keep you humble and remind you that but but not, you know, don't put a self-imposed glass ceiling on yourself on what you're able to accomplish based on your past. Like don't let the past define you. I guess that's the biggest one. And I have a 14-year-old girl who's watching every move I make and for her to see that she can do whatever she decides to, it just depends on how bad she wants it, what she's willing to work for. you know And if she screws up along the way, it's okay. We all do. Those are wonderful parts of being human and and
30:50.48
Tali Levin
you know, and, and growing and evolving as a human um that bring us and stop trying to force myself to hit a specific goal. Like my goals, I have lots. I have, I do have a specific goal. I have a goal for the today. I have a goal for this week, month, year, five years, 10 years, but If that starts to change as my efforts lead me in a different direction, like I don't try to tie myself back to what I was originally focusing on, like trust the process. You're going to get caught up in the flow of of work and life and it's going to lead you in opportunities in directions that you didn't know were on your
31:33.25
Tali Levin
in your path, on your chart. But you just keep doing the footwork and the next right thing for the right reason and build on yesterday's right thing for the right reason and and the path becomes clear as you find where you get the rewarding piece and the whatever it is, financial, you know ah feeling like you have a purpose or feeling like you're a good example or whatever it is that your goals are. um you know back out and make them a little broader.
32:00.41
Tali Levin
Like I don't need to be the best business broker specifically, but I do want to help my clients to the best of my ability with whatever decisions or are weighing heavily in their minds and whatever the education gap that they need help in.
32:13.52
Tali Levin
If it's plugging them into resources like you like, okay, I just gave you a big fat check. What are you going to do with it? You know, what are you going to do next?
32:19.28
Lorie Jones
Mhm.
32:20.31
Tali Levin
How are you going to invest that? How are you going to avoid taxes? Like, you know, plugging them into the right professionals so that they can build their team.
32:28.21
Lorie Jones
Mhm.
32:28.44
Tali Levin
or whether it's helping them actually like, I sell their company, you know, or giving them some insight, shining some, you know, light into the blind spots of their business. Like this is where you can improve the value on, you know, this is what the market is seeing. This is what, you know, historical data is looking like. This is what your balance sheet is telling a buyer. Like being able to educate too is also very rewarding. So I don't know that whole,
32:56.63
Tali Levin
Don't limit yourself. Listen to the universe. Just keep doing the footwork. Do the right thing for the right reason and suddenly your path will be revealed kind of a thing. Yeah, I think too many kids are get are pressured into figuring out what they want to be when they grow up.
33:11.64
Tali Levin
And I would rather my kids learn to be lifelong learners and be pivotal thinkers and be able to take in new information and make a a decision and a judgment and change their mind with grace and with humility and you know and not just
33:11.75
Lorie Jones
yeah.
33:27.13
Tali Levin
admit that their first thought maybe wasn't correct and rethink it and be able to give yourself the grace to do that.
33:32.83
Lorie Jones
yeah.
33:35.71
Tali Levin
That's what I think the real lesson in education should be.
33:41.71
Lorie Jones
I like that. i I especially like your idea that sometimes um I'm a, I'm a very goal oriented person, but I do sometimes I Sometimes I don't finish those goals um because a new goal that feels better and more right at that time comes along. and I think it's so important to look at that, to say, are you are you being too rigid? you know Did you set your course at age 18 and you're like on the milestone course? Goals are important. They so are.
34:15.84
Lorie Jones
but But for that flexibility to change course and take advantage, sometimes it's holding you back from getting, and you know taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves.
34:28.83
Tali Levin
I think so too. I think that you a lot of people cement this identity in their head. I mean ego gets really wrapped up in there you know and that can be our biggest enemy, our own self, getting out of our own way and giving us permission to to change our mind and to you know and to take a different path and to achieve our goal in a different way.
34:52.76
Tali Levin
um The goals don't necessarily have to change, but the means in which we achieve them can fluctuate greatly on the journey and giving ourself room so to and pivot.
35:04.88
Lorie Jones
a Adjust.
35:05.86
Tali Levin
it Yeah, yeah.
35:05.90
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. I like that. That's a really, that's a really interesting idea. I'm going to think on that a little while. So tell me what, if anything, you seem a little fearless to me.
35:17.62
Lorie Jones
Did anything scare you when you started your career or your journey? And does it still scare you? Did you learn how to deal with it?
35:24.28
Tali Levin
I was scared of you know the the choices that I had made early on, closed doors that I never knew existed. I felt like my options were very limited. um you know I went into fixed services. I felt like I wasn't on an academic path. I felt like I you know had i mean limited my options early on. um but I have taken those experiences and and made them my superpowers. I mean they make me relatable and empathetic and resilient and things that are important. um So I guess the fear that I had was that I had already limited my options. I was scared that I couldn't do anything more and I watch people around me live in that fear still. They're still in the same job.
36:13.51
Tali Levin
because they don't think that they're qualified for anything else. They don't think that they can, you know, but those self-imposed ceilings, you know, they think that this is the most that they're capable of. and And just taking that belief system out of the equation and realizing that do anything you feel like if you're willing to work hard enough for it, like anything. um I didn't even know how putting gas in a car made the wheels spin.
36:40.97
Tali Levin
Like I had never lifted the hood. I could have seen hamsters in a cage in there. I had no idea. Yet I graduated as an AOC certified tech. You can do whatever you want if you decide to do the footwork and put the effort into it.
36:54.27
Tali Levin
So that.
36:55.52
Lorie Jones
I read, I read an article once about an 80 year old who took up tightrope walking at 80. And I was like, yeah it's it's it was my barometer, I'm like, well, if she can do it, I could probably do this.
37:10.05
Tali Levin
Right? Yes. It's crazy the things that people decide to do later in life and sometimes I'm like, that's good for them. But you know, I mean, the, I've decided I love traveling the world.
37:17.38
Lorie Jones
yeah
37:23.02
Tali Levin
I love bringing my kids to other cultures and showing them how they can be a good American from outside our borders because I don't always, you know, feel that 21 lessons for the 21st century you read that book you're gonna get scared and it you know when you start thinking about ways in which we can um protect our loved ones from the things that the future holds and so traveling and getting some perspective and and some um humility you know and ah and compassion and all those things anyway so that's my big goal like I met
38:00.93
Tali Levin
39 states and 18 countries so far and like never knew these things are possible. Taking my kids to Costa Rica this summer. I'm very excited about that.
38:08.38
Lorie Jones
Oh yeah, that's right, I loved it.
38:09.61
Tali Levin
So those kind of opportunities are yeah the the joys that self-employment and not putting a limit on myself and giving myself a good income allowing myself the possibility to earn ah a bigger income than you know a $60,000 a year salary at a desk job kind of a thing. um That's changed not just my life but my kids' lives and what they see as possible or impossible and yeah, it's it's really fun to see the generational effect with my oldest is almost 33, that kid I had in high school.
38:44.70
Tali Levin
And so and now I have 17 and 14 at home and just seeing the differences in the way that I see the world and how that affects my kids and how they see the world. um And that's also really an interesting part of this whole journey that you know we've been on.
39:03.48
Lorie Jones
it is it is It brings a lot of um a lot of joy and and growth when you realize that you're doing it for and another generation too.
39:15.16
Lorie Jones
you know that whether, and it you don't even have to be a parent in order to realize that, you know, I know that there's a lot of people that as they reach where they feel, start feeling successful, they want to start giving back and helping out with that next generation coming up, which is why the podcast even exists in the first place.
39:16.02
Tali Levin
Yeah.
39:35.37
Tali Levin
That's fantastic. Yes, it's a great way to meet people.
39:37.92
Lorie Jones
So tell me, did you face any unique challenges because you were a woman? I know. I mean, we're going to laugh.
39:46.52
Tali Levin
yeah Yeah, you know, yeah, kind of. um Like I said, I mean, I was a ah high school um mom, you know, a single mom, uneducated, got into the automotive industry, you know, seen as as there for decoration. Yeah, having to establish a reputation early on as a competent woman.
40:12.41
Tali Levin
in the industry and and really try to make some changes in that space, um yes, unique challenges, a lot. um But again, the power lies in how you overcome those, how you choose to view them, whether they're obstacles that are going to, you know, I shot myself in the foot early on, I'm just going to lay here and bleed out or whether you're you know whether you you see that scars are cool and I am stronger on my other leg now because I shot myself on this one.
40:40.28
Tali Levin
So I've compensated in other areas to be able to overcome the challenges that I've imposed, you know, early on. And so it's that whole perspective thing.
40:50.29
Lorie Jones
yeah
40:51.35
Tali Levin
Yes.
40:52.23
Lorie Jones
Did you see it change? I mean, you were like, we talked about you were like one of the only two people in the room when you were getting your education. Did you see the the challenges for women maybe get a little, get a little better as you went through?
41:07.24
Tali Levin
I am now. Now I'm seeing the the reward of being one of the pioneering women in that industry, at least what I've seen, what ah my experience was. And I love it. I love going into a service drive and talking to a woman advisor. I love, you know, I was at Costco the other day getting tires on my car and it was a woman putting tires on my car. And I was like, that is so cool. I love it. So just being able to see more not just equality but diversity back there like I want to talk to a woman.
41:39.05
Tali Levin
i i'm I had to make a phone call today on behalf of my best friend whose car is in a Toyota dealership in another state and I identified myself as a member of the Automotive Maintenance and Repair Association. I own a business called Automotive Advocates and I'm here to be a mediator between you and my and my friend and client who is getting a diagnosis and ah and a recommendation that doesn't even begin to address her primary concern.
42:05.62
Tali Levin
like exact same thing that I got in this automotive and it's still happening. It's still happening to where she brought it in her car was dying. She smells fuel and they're offered the first thing they give her a $3,000 estimate on suspension work. I'm like are we addressing her primary concern? Are we just upselling like what is this here people? And so I think that had I been I think women treat those kind of concerns in a totally different way than the men do and it's still such a smoke and mirrors and a praying on the education gap like even my boyfriend you know he said if I would have brought it in my car and I wouldn't have known any better than to do what was advised and so I think women have a way of explaining things and and focusing on the problem
42:59.81
Tali Levin
instead of trying to you know do all the upselling piece. So yes, I'm very happy to see more women in the industry. I'm very happy to see them in other positions, in a finance manager position, in a GSM position, you know in a GM position. It's it's wonderful.
43:17.84
Lorie Jones
Yeah, we're making change.
43:19.31
Tali Levin
We're making change. It's slow. I mean, the fact that it's 30 years later and it's just starting to become more common, is a little disenchanting, but sometimes change is slow. And this isn't exactly a sexy industry. So I can understand that if you like embracing your feminine side and you know and skirts and heels are fun, it's not always the right place in the shop. But for those of us that made pud pies and you know
43:50.23
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm.
43:50.31
Tali Levin
and played rough, that it's a great space. And it's a wonderful living to be made. That automotive industry really does need more females. And there is a good living to be made there for those that choose to to be in that space.
44:00.94
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
44:04.93
Lorie Jones
It's funny you mentioned that. i have ah My 18-year-old knows more about vehicles than I do because my husband's in that automotive industry space. And so she will go out and fix her own car. And she knows how to like change oil and spark plugs and carburetors and all sorts of things through the years. But is looking at that automotive industry, teeny tiny little, like she's we call her the midget because she's like so short.
44:32.57
Lorie Jones
but she's interested in it and and I think that's neat that she has the opportunity. put I don't know if it's where she's going to end up but it's neat that she has the opportunity to end up there because of what you guys have done.
44:46.78
Tali Levin
Well, think I think that just this the whole STEM piece of of the world is being more open to females now. And it's interesting that my daughter has been the only one to show any mechanical aptitude or interest in the way things work and take things apart and you know she's we we built a model engine together so she understands the four-stroke internal combustion engine better than the boys do and she's the younger and she's the girl and she's the one who had the curiosity to be able to like want to know the mechanics piece and so I love seeing women in STEM I love seeing women in mechanics and math and science and all of it I'm glad that we're finally
45:29.53
Tali Levin
Carving a space out for ourselves and the people that pioneered the right to do so So grateful for the predecessors that yeah really broke that door down early on Overcoming probably, you know overcoming the things that I saw as obstacles and and turning those into differentiators
45:37.06
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Me too.
45:41.44
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Tali, what is the thing you are the most proud of?
45:58.51
Tali Levin
um I think that's probably it. Like I said, I was a wayward youth and I went way off in the weeds and I lacked education and I had made some bad choices and you know bad relationship choices and the things like you know being a single mom and trying to balance work and family and figure out a way to self-educate and all of those things. Being brave enough to take risks and trusting myself that that it'll be okay and i I am in control of the destiny by how hard I'm willing to work on it, you know, how much effort I'm willing to put into it and it worked. So I'm pretty, you know, if I look back at that 20 year old self and and look at myself now that, yeah, I'm pretty proud over turning her into me.
46:51.73
Lorie Jones
ah is that is That is something to be really proud of.
46:55.22
Tali Levin
Thanks.
46:57.56
Lorie Jones
Any advice for a young lady just starting out on the path that you're already so successful at? If you could talk to her and share your wisdom, what would it be?
47:07.62
Tali Levin
Um, don't, don't put limits on your abilities and just keep doing the footwork, you know, and I hate to say it, but protect your professional reputation. Um, that's really important in any field, you know, as a woman, we have to work twice as hard to be respected and to be taken seriously. And when we shit in our own backyard.
47:29.69
Tali Levin
you know and and cause drama. A lot of times that's one of the the reasons that the men don't want us in their space is that women as as a whole are more emotional and that can sometimes come with drama and you know and and we need to make sure that we establish ourselves as professionals in whatever space that we choose to be in and we need to hold ourselves accountable by our behavior in that space and realize that it's still not fair. Life isn't fair. This whole playing field isn't fair. And so the fact that we have to know upfront that people are watching us and it's not who you know, it's who that who knows you and what do they know of you?
48:14.02
Tali Levin
And that all comes from the reputation that you cultivate by your actions over the years. So try to make good decisions for the long term um and protect your reputation.
48:20.64
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm.
48:26.28
Tali Levin
um And don't hold yourself back. Yeah, go kick their ass.
48:31.60
Lorie Jones
I love it. Well, thank you so much for your time today and for joining us and sharing your experience. I found it really interesting. And there's a couple of things I'm going to think about a little bit because I really found it. um It triggered something in my brain to kind of just just think about that and maybe make some changes in the way that I do things. So thank you so much. If I have a listener who wants to get in touch with you and ask more questions or um something like that, how would they do that?
49:00.35
Tali Levin
Well, LinkedIn is always a good way, though I have to admit that that piece gets a little spammy in the messages. So, but you can always find me on LinkedIn at Tally Leven, but give me a little bit of grace with answering, because sometimes I have to sift through a lot of advertisements that come through LinkedIn, or email tleven at tworld dot.com. I'm pretty easy to find.
49:24.62
Lorie Jones
perfect Well, thank you. I really have appreciated your your time and your sharing your experience with us.
49:30.92
Tali Levin
Well, thank you for the invitation. It's been wonderful, and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to speak. So thanks, Lori, for all that you do.