We were lucky to catch up with Tiffany Martin recently and have shared our conversation below.
Tiffany, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of spirit. Although being in business for yourself can be extremely fulfilling, it can also be extremely challenging. The best and biggest risk I’ve taken was to walk away from private industry and government work after a 20+ year career.
I am an Electrical Engineer by education (I hold an MSEE), and I have served careers as a Hardware Engineer, Technical Project Manager, Special Agent in the FBI, Career Technical Teacher, and Personal Trainer and Coach. Although all of these careers may seem unrelated, my life has flowed in a way that each opportunity prepared me for the next and allowed me to pivot into a new area of professional growth and competency. After years of dedicating myself to working for organizations in pursuit of their initiatives, I found myself undeniably confronted with the limitations of a traditional work structure. As a Black woman, I consistently found myself in environments in which I was the 1% (engineering, law enforcement and athletic coaching, oh my!), where mediocracy was the standard, and inclusionary practices and policies were not the focus. Although I always knew the structure (or more correctly stated, the system) was not built with my success, growth or profile in mind, I had finally reached a point where there was no more tolerating it.
The decision to become an entrepreneur is different for everyone. In fact, some people will never consider being a business owner. For me, the decision was one of self-preservation–I could stay where I was, retire with benefits but lose myself (mentally and physically) or I could pour back into myself by taking a risk to create my career, my way. As I chose to become an entrepreneur, I am fortunate to have a good support network. I’ll never forget telling my husband that after 20+ years I wanted to walk away from a traditional job and start my own business. He looked at me, knowing how hard things had been for me leading up to that moment, and said, “When it comes to betting, I will always bet on you…1000 times out of 1000, I’m betting on you. Do it, let’s see how it goes for the next year and make a decision from there.” With that, I made one of the hardest but best decisions I’ve ever made, and so began the journey of tkmFIT Health & Performance and TKMartin Consulting LLC.
Despite the pandemic and sometimes living a client life that feels like feast or famine, I am proud and excited to say that 2023 marked the start of my fifth year in business for myself. I am constantly growing and redefining how I bring value to others, as well as how best to engage in fulfilling, joyful work (which is harder than it may seem). I look forward to continuing to expand as a business owner. The journey has its ups and downs, but they’re my ups and downs. No matter where you are in life, life is full of risks; it’s up to each individual to figure out which risks they do or don’t want to take. For me, I rather take a risk and have it not work out, rather than always wonder, “What if I had…?” I’m enjoying my journey and not sure if I could go back to a traditional work structure. Frankly, at this point, I’m not sure a traditional work structure could handle me!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
As an Executive Change Strategist and Performance Consultant, I quite simply help organizations and individuals implement change that helps them become better and do better. Throughout my private industry and government careers, I have often been a part of determining the best path forward, creating action plans and governing the execution of those plans. Whether those plans were specific to individual development (professional or physical) or organizational development (new systems and policies), strategy and change management have been underlying commonalities in all of my work. Through my work, I’ve helped individuals navigate change by serving as a physical performance trainer (I am a Certified FBI Physical Fitness Advisor and USA Track & Field Coach), personal performance coach (personal development and wellness) and public speaker. I also provide organizations with guidance on operational strategies, organizational change management, metrics and diversity, equity & inclusion practices and initiatives.
Because of the combination of my multi-faceted care, education, lived experiences and profile, I bring a robust and unique perspective to navigating change. I mean ask yourself…how many black, female, former FBI Special Agent, endurance athlete, running coaches with a Masters degree in electrical engineering do you know?! I have perspectives that would blow your mind and help to cultivate big-picture considerations that most individuals do not consider.
Have you ever had to pivot?
When the pandemic occurred, my business was primarily focused on personal performance clients (tkmFIT Health & Fitness). I was doing personal training, as well as providing health and fitness coaching for several employee wellness programs. Once everything shut down, my business came to a hard stop–I couldn’t meet with clients in person or host group trainings, and employee wellness programs at hospitals or healthcare facilities were indefinitely put on hold. I wasn’t sure how long things would last or what I’d do in the meantime, so I focused on family. In parallel with the pandemic were high-profile social justice issues…Brianna Taylor, George Floyd and voter rights. In addition, as a result of the pandemic, our country experienced a disproportionate exodus of women from the workforce and companies found themselves unable to execute business as usual. As the only African American female in a number of professional and athletic circles, my white colleagues and peers began to awaken to the lack of diversity, equity and inclusion that I had known and lived with my entire life. As someone who had a wealth of strategic experience and was working independently of a traditional work structure prior to the pandemic, I was well-positioned to provide guidance on how to implement things differently. My experience as a health equity advocate would lead to my service in vaccination administration to underserved or disproportionately impacted communities (i.e. communities of color). Ultimately, casual inquiries in all of these areas became more formal requests for assistance and so did the formal offering of my services. Before I knew it, TKMartin Consulting was born.
Any advice for managing a team?
Don’t just employ, empower! As a leader, you should invest in yourself and invest in your people. High-quality leadership and morale is not solely based on knowledge and the ability to manage–how leaders engage and support their teams will have the greatest impact on an organization’s ability to perform successfully. Good leaders understand that investing in individual growth and the success of team members will pay dividends. Individuals who feel safe, heard, acknowledged, respected, comfortable and supported in their workplaces perform better and have a higher output than those who are feel disregarded, included and unsupported. Who wants to give their all to an organization, boss or system that doesn’t give them what they need to do their work well, let alone excel?! Support goes beyond operations–professional development and mental support are critical.
Leadership x (Emotional Intelligence + Empathy) = Cultivation of High-Performance Teams
In addition to taking care of your people, leaders should take care of themselves. You cannot be an effective leader if you are not showing up mentally and physically as your best self. If you are and unhealthy, your ability to make sound decisions, make critical assessments or provide support is compromised. When your cup is full, you can top off the cup of others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tkmartinconsulting.com/
- Instagram: @tkmFIT
- Facebook: @tkmFIT
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-k-martin