If you ask Tara Palacios about her passion for small businesses and entrepreneurship, she may answer you, “Small business is my schtick.” With a background in marketing and PR in the private sector and a stint helping her father reinvent his own career, Tara followed her gut, moving to a role where she could use her honed skills to help businesses in the community grow. After joining Arlington County over twenty years ago and eventually founding the BizLaunch initiative, she’s never looked back.
Tara’s interactions with her clients often start when they bring her a dream. The work then begins: molding that dream into a reality, assessing the sustainability of the business, moving the plan forward through tangible and calculated actions, making valuable connections, and working through the challenges that inevitably arise. Tara and her team lift up their clients with the tools, resources, and, maybe most important of all, support and encouragement, while entrepreneurs turn their dreams into viable businesses that support the Arlington community.
Tara sees the entrepreneurs and small business owners she works with go through the highs and lows of starting a business, and she empowers them to be successful. Throughout the episode, Tara speaks to the importance of helping people get out of their own way, without judgment, allowing their ideas to grow. Tara talks about the ideal candidate and how crucial it is for people to be willing to receive feedback to make their dreams a reality. And the joy her clients feel when that ribbon is cut or the goal is achieved. Tara brings joy to every person she leads, every entrepreneur in the Arlington community and beyond she works with, and certainly brought joy to this episode of the podcast.
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Listen to the podcast here
Entrepreneurship As A Reinvention Of Self With Tara Palacios
With us, we have Tara Palacios, the Director of BizLounge at the Arlington Economic Development. BizLounge is an award-winning division that assists small businesses and entrepreneurs in Arlington County. Tara joined Arlington County in 2001 and founded the BizLounge program in 2002 to help diverse entrepreneurs successfully launch, grow, and expand their businesses in the county.
Since its inception, this program has reached over 75,000 entrepreneurs through sponsored workshops, seminars, and one-on-one counseling sessions. Tara has over 30 years of experience in marketing and business development at various for-profit firms, including a health maintenance organization, an IT software developer, a financial institution, and a uranium enricher.
She’s received numerous awards for her work and dedication to small businesses from organizations such as the US Small Business Administration, the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, and the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity. She received her undergrad from the University of Baltimore County and her graduate degree from Johns Hopkins University. She’s also a graduate of our Public Manager program at George Washington University. Welcome Tara.
Thank you so much for having me, Ina.
Small Business Is My Shtick
Bonnie and I are super excited to talk more with you. Let’s maybe start to give also our readers a little bit of background about you and your work. I’m curious, how did you get started with supporting business? I think this was on X now. You have a summary saying, “Small business is my shtick.” I thought, “That’s a fun way to introduce yourself.” Tell me a little bit more about that.
It was a journey. I have to say, like when I first started out my career, it was all in marketing and PR in the private sector. I kept getting laid off in the private sector. I was like, “I don’t want that anymore.“ I was very strategic after that last layoff, and I wanted to be at a place where I could help it grow and be part of a community. It so happened and I was fascinated with economic development because it is marketing a community, but to attract businesses in. I thought, “What better way to use my marketing skills?” When I was laid off, this opportunity in Arlington, Virginia, came up and I have been there ever since.
I didn’t think that I would be into small business. I was looking at attracting large businesses, but by happenstance, when you’re in local government, you go where they need you. We needed somebody to oversee the small business programs and initiatives. I think that opportunity, when it opened up was one of the best things that could ever have happened. I’ve been there for many years. Not one day is the same because the privilege I feel that I have is that people are coming to me with their dreams.
They haven’t talked to their family about it yet, or it isn’t a reality, and they’re coming and telling you what they want to do. I feel that is such an honor, and I want to do justice by it. I think most people in local government or government want to make a difference, whether on the local side, stateside, or national side, and be able to help the community in a way with policies, regulations, and initiatives that can benefit others. I think it was a very interesting journey to get where I was.
I will always remember working with my dad right after graduating from college. He decided he had worked his whole life, a 40-year career, and then decided he wanted to be an entrepreneur. I helped him write a business plan and get a lease so that he could run a retail shop in a bowling alley of all things. It’s like all these kinds of circumstances. Seeing him go through that journey and reinventing himself later in his career and to be able to reimagine himself also set me and made me so intrigued by this work.
I know, Bonnie, you’re about to say something, but I have to follow up with a quick question because I know this is in your territory, and I know you’re all lit up by what Tara said. Tara, I’m curious because you said, “People bring me dreams,” and I’m honored to hold space for that. What are some of the dreams that people have brought your way that you have seen emerge or move into the world?
It’s so interesting because it’s a variety of different things. I will have one day someone that is a coffee aficionado or has been in that coffee space and they have seen an improvement or wants to bring the joy of coffee to others, but they have no clue about how to navigate the system to make it a reality. They have this passion around something. It could also be science or in the creative space. We will have artists who will meet with us. I remember working very closely with a gentleman who was designing personalized jigsaw puzzles and using maker spaces in libraries and other places to see this dream come true.
The passion that people have around this innovation or this idea is that they share it with you, and you walk them through saying, “You can do this and this is how you do it.” I think also because I’ve been doing it for so long, I was talking to a business owner and I said, “I know when someone’s going to succeed.” How do you know? It’s because they put effort into making sure that the idea that they have is wanted and needed out in the space. They do a bit of homework, they do their strategic plan, they make sure that they have a market, they make sure they have enough financing, but it’s that combined with this ever-loving passion about seeing this project that they have in their heart become a reality.
Many times, they lack confidence or security. What we’re seeing now in this space is that there are more women, more women of color. We have a lot of women in the BIPOC community who are starting businesses. They don’t get the financing. There are barriers that are there, but they have this drive and this need to want to be able to achieve. That’s where I feel like we’re having people come to pour out their hearts. There’s always the humanity of it, where we’ve worked with people that are going through a divorce or have been abused or things happen in their lives and they’re challenged by this.
To feel like they’re coming and talking with us is a little therapy as well because we’re back there and say, “You can do it. These are the tools that will help you to do it.” This is the reality. Walking them through and being here for as long as I’ve had, it takes people, on average, about 2 to 3 years to start a business right. When they come to us, they think, “This is going to happen tomorrow, or I need this to happen yesterday.” Bridging the reality with what they want to do and do it the correct way so that they don’t lose money, but that they’re making money as soon as that gate opens is key.
A Spiritual Path
You have such a great job and influence on people. I believe that entrepreneurship is a spiritual path. It’s where people are challenged to dream the great dream of self.
It’s almost like a reinvention of self too, especially if you worked in the workforce and then you’re going to go off and take this leap of faith. I don’t know if I started out thinking that way. I think in the process of doing this job, I’ve come to that. I’m in a space now where I realize the impact. I think also the interesting thing that I wanted to say is that I think people, when they meet with us, don’t expect to get kindness. When they do, they anticipate us to be bureaucratic like, “Now, what do you want?” They get my team. You all couldn’t meet a nicer group of people, let me tell you.
Entrepreneurship is almost like a reinvention of self too.
I did that on purpose. I wanted people like me to deal with the public and be deliberate about that. They are so shocked by it. That tells me that we need more of this out there. That was the one thing I did want to say. There’s this anticipation, and we have built trust. We do all of our programs in Spanish, as well as in English. We’ve got a lot of communities that we work with that don’t necessarily trust government. Having this group of folks is an honor. I feel honored by it.
We were chatting as a team and I think a lot of what we offer is psychological. It’s very much about the thing itself. I think when people go in, they don’t realize it, but it quickly shows up because it is a bumpy path. I have to be honest, it’s not an easy endeavor, but if you can see it through the end. I had a guy who came to me with his dream. He was a scientist, an amazing man.
He sold his business for $40 million four years later because of this concept that had been rolling around in his head. He sold it to one of these like Deloitte or somebody. He sold it and reaped the benefits. He has been a strong supporter of the work that we do because he never thought that he could do this on his own. He goes around telling and encouraging other people to do it.
Ina’s right. I totally lit it up because I teach dreaming, actual dreaming, and how to use those dreams to change your life. How to work with them. We do a lot with people in the creative sphere, and I have a connection with Ina in the leadership and coaching sphere. One of the things that is so critical that you’re speaking to that we teach is nothing happens without the imagination. The more we can allow our imagination to be unfettered and released and not squeeze it down with our belief systems or anything we might say to diminish ourselves, the greater our ability to manifest that.
We talk about there are two steps to dreaming. There’s an opening to the brand new idea and the inspiration of it and then there’s a second step of manifesting it. You’re right. That second step there is where so many of the challenges come into play. Suddenly, that big idea was so visceral, and that passion and heart lit up, and everything felt like, “I’m ready. I know.”
Expanded Space Of Possibility
Now, I have to write a grant proposal. Now I have to end the rubber hits the road. That’s when there’s the tendency to contract it. What are some of the tips you said you use to work with people to move them through that, to keep them in that expanded space of possibility, and not start contracting back down as they move?
I want to add to what you said. We did a pitch event for people who traditionally don’t get invited to those opportunities. One of the pitchers is an artist who writes poetry. In her poetry, she thanked us. She said that we were the steward of dreams. She wrote this haiku, and it solidified the work that we’re doing and allowed people to be in this space and be successful. It brought it all home for me. I did want to add that piece to complement what you’re saying, Bonnie, because it’s so true.
I think one of the other things is I don’t judge others. I think a lot of times in our society, we’re constantly judging whether or not someone can do it. I don’t feel that I can do that because who am I to know that this isn’t the next Microsoft, Apple, or whatever in their industry or what it is that they’re doing? I don’t have that right, but I do know how to be able to move someone from that idea phase to then take that leap of faith but it’s a calculated leap of faith. Typically, what I’ll encourage people to do is have an introductory meeting, and then we’ll continue throughout their lifetime of being able to launch their business.
In the first meeting, we do a lay of the land, what’s out there, what some of the pitfalls are for entrepreneurs, and what you need to be so that you can get it so that it’s legally operating. From there, as you start to take these steps and do your research, making sure that there’s a market that’s there, but knowing. I always tell people that we don’t go away. When you’re up at 1:00 in the morning and you’re suffering and you don’t know how to move that dial, email us. I might not answer the phone because I’m asleep, but email us and let us know what’s keeping you up. If we don’t know the answer, we’ll work with someone who could help us find the answer.
I think saying that we’re there and holding your hand, we’re partners with you in this journey, eases the mind because entrepreneurship can be quite lonely. You have competition that you’re worried about. You want people to think that you’re always doing well. The reality is that’s not the case. There’s going to be highs and there are going to be lows. You want to make sure that you’re sustaining yourself throughout that time so that you’re harboring, making sure that you still have that passion so that you have that momentum that you can get through these kinds of highs and lows. The goal is to get it so that you’re at a place where we empower you to ensure that you’re being successful.
A lot of it is helping people to change from thinking that they don’t have control and empowering them to say that you do. This is your journey. If you walk, I can’t solve everything for you. You have to make these decisions, but I’ve given you tools and resources as a local government for you to be able to say, “I’m going to go in this direction because this is where the resources are or maybe I’ll tweak my plan a little bit, but I know that I can go back to this organization if I have questions.” It’s easing that mind that set you’re in this alone and that you can achieve this goal. The feedback I receive from people is like, “This is the first time that I felt heard or seen.” I think when you have the ability to do that, it empowers others to move the mountains that they need to move.
Inner Work
I’m curious as you talk about this journey they go through. What are some of the things from their own developmental perspective that you see these entrepreneurs go through? What are those shifts that they make in the process developmentally? You talked about confidence and lack of confidence, and of course, you’re guiding them on the journey, but what inner work are they doing?
The biggest thing is before they’ve reached out to us, they have an assumption of what they want to do. when they meet with us, they realize, “The playing field is a bit different than what I assumed.” I think a key to your point, Ina, is I’m also assessing how coachable a person is and how receptive they are. As I said, I don’t judge them, but when they come and they meet with us and they’ve got the blinders and they’re rigid, I know that’s one meeting. Sometimes, I will outright say, “I’m providing you information based on my experience of so many years of doing this. Take that information, but at the end of the day, the decision is yours.”
“I’m also assessing how coachable a person is, how receptive they are … when they come and meet with us and they have blinders on and are rigid, I know that’s one meeting.” – Tara Palacios
What I’ll see is people first come to us with these thoughts. We do a reality set and work them through tweaks and changes. I can see the growth over time of these individuals as they start interacting with the network that we provided for them. We have a network of mentors, and there are financial institutions. When people say they don’t need funding, I’m like, “That’s a red flag. Everybody needs money.” If you say you don’t need money, that’s a problem in your plan.
As a Bill Gates, they’ll have enough money. We all want money, but we have partners that we’ve cultivated over time that will work and help and have similar interests in helping the community. They may work for an organization, but at the end of the day, they want the best for the client. I can gauge where that client is, what their goals are, and what they want to do. I ask, “What are your long-term goals first?” Let’s work backward. Let’s figure out so that it is attainable and that you’re setting up milestones but not punishing yourself when you don’t reach those milestones. You reassess and re-put dates on the calendar.
Sometimes, people will beat themselves up because they’re not able to meet things that they think are like an arbitrary timeline, but we tweak, we go back and forth. They learn, and they have mentors that they mesh with. There may be a mentor that they don’t work well with. We find someone else, and I usually see supreme growth from the first day I meet them to when we do a ribbon cutting and they open their doors. It is a journey for them. I think they are so proud after a ribbon cutting or after they’ve cut on the lights and to be able to be part of that journey to get them from A to B to C to D.
My goal with this is for them, as part of this process, to build a solid foundation so that in case there’s an economic storm, that foundation still stands. You can weather it. You planned and prepared for it. Versus, “Let me throw noodles at the wall to see what sticks.” I see a lot of fires a lot of time. When it’s a fire, I can tamp it out, but smoke and some of the flames are still there.
What I try to do is get you as early on so that you’ve anticipated or you have a plan so that way you can move forward and not in a sense that, “I have to respond right away.” When I get a business owner that reaches out to me and says, “I need to meet with you yesterday,” I put the brakes on because no one is going to die if you don’t meet with me today.
Let’s sit down and rationally figure things out because when an opportunity presents itself to you, it doesn’t mean that it is the best opportunity for you. You still want to do your due diligence. You still want to make sure that it makes sense because it may not make sense. You’re jumping hoops. At the end of the day, that opportunity doesn’t come. You want to be in a space where you can think it through logically to make sure that it makes sense so that you’re not losing money off of something because it seems like it’s the best thing at that moment.
Just because an opportunity presents itself to you, doesn’t mean that that is the best opportunity for you. You still want to do your due diligence.
Dreams
I’m struck by something you said earlier about receiving these dreams and people saying you’re the first person to have listened and heard. One of the things that strikes me about that is where we are now in modern life because it wasn’t that long ago that people got around together and talked about their dreams together. Now, these people have to come to you to a business, a helping, supportive institution to do that. I’m curious. I do think it would be great if people told their dreams more, but as someone who’s receiving all these dreams, what are you hearing people dreaming about right now? What are they coming through with?
One is, I think, and I should say that we’re seeing more people now. We’ve seen an increase from the pandemic on of a 30% to 40% a year of people coming to us. Typically, we do 6,000 touches a year, whether through an event we’ve put on, an educational event, networking, or one-on-one consulting. I thought that after the pandemic, it would slow down and it has not. I think what the pandemic did for a lot of people was that we had the time, so they’re reassessing what I am doing at this moment. They’re feeling, “I’m a subject matter in X and Y. I want to do this on my own. I know the best way to do this. I can do it better than my employer that I’m at now.”
The people that we’re seeing that are in the startup phase are people that are SMEs. I would say the average age is 40s, 50s. They have the gravitas. Whereas before the pandemic, we were seeing people who had these grandiose dreams that couldn’t apply it. All these fantasy things. The dreams are grounded in reality, which is a big difference from what we saw before to now.
They’re very thoughtful and they want to make sure that they’re doing everything the right way. It’s so interesting. We’re in the DC Metro area, so there are a number of people who want to be consultants or contractors. The government contracting space and the GovTech space, we see a lot of that. Restaurants have cooled down a little bit because of the costs associated and the costs of leasing a space, but we still get that as well. What people are doing now is they’re building eCommerce sites. There are a lot of eCommerce sites.
People are making things and they’re being innovative and they want to go to farmers markets. They want to be in makers or pop-up spaces to test their ideas. We are seeing so much of that and it’s industry-agnostic. That’s why I say I love my job because I get to hear all these different places. I worked with a military mom who is working on building art. She had received a big grant. She wanted to be able to educate people in the arts, from kids to adults, and she’s in that space doing it. Now, the rubber meets the road, and she wants to make it a full-time business.
I so enjoyed talking with her. She brought that passion and wanting to do it the right way, going through the plans, and knowing that she needs numbers. Many times before, when I worked with artists, it was like they wanted to do art, but they needed to make a living. They don’t want to make money when they’re dead. They need to make money now and build sustainable wealth like everybody else. That doesn’t mean that they like their passion any less. It’s you’re being strategic so that you can grow and accomplish the goals that you set out for yourself.
Intuition
Tara, you’ve been speaking a lot to goals and plans. We have to think things through, we have to be rational about it, and have this strong foundation. In fact, this is one of the things we bring into our coaching and leader development programs, and it helps people develop this sense of embodied intuition in decision-making and how we make decisions. I’m curious. How does that play into these journeys with entrepreneurs? How do you see them use intuition? What’s the role of intuition, and perhaps maybe even how you use it in your own work?
I would say I am a firm believer in intuition. I had a boss years ago say, “Why do you believe that your gut should tell you what to do? Why aren’t you basing it on facts?” He challenged me on that. He’s literally told me that he would let me use my gut instinct on things until I failed and then he would take that privilege away. When he said that to me, he threw down that gauntlet. I said, “Okay.” There is something for me when you listen and hear what people are saying. You can intuitively interpret the ending of how something will play out.
What I try to do is I use my gut based on what I hear people saying and based on the actions that I see that they do, because it’s one thing with people say, but then what people do after they say it, that counts for me. I believe that the extremely successful entrepreneurs we work with are based on instinct and intuition. They’ve come up with an idea of something that’s needed in the marketplace, whether it’s professional services, retail, or whatever. They have this intuition. It’s intuitive to them that others want or need.
What I tell them is, “When you’re making these key decisions, trust yourself, but get the full picture and get some facts so that it minimizes your risk.” We all have gut instincts about how we feel about something, but we’re minimizing the risk when we throw facts at it. It helps us build and bring in other stakeholders because sometimes when you need a bank or somebody to sign off on a lease, they need to know that there are some facts there. If you anticipate that and you have that as part of your story, people also love stories.
If you can help people visualize and see your dream, and so we work with people to do that, I think that is key in moving the dial. In running this program that I do for Arlington, it was me for, I would say, about fifteen years. There are 16,000 small businesses in the county, and it was me. I didn’t have resources in place at that time. I used a lot of intuition to figure out how to build a program to engage the key stakeholders so that I could build the foundation to be able to help others.
At some point, Tara’s going to get burnt out. She’s not going to be able to do this by herself anymore. I was young and wet behind the ears when I started. Now it’s like we’ve grown it. We have six people, including myself, and they are people similar to my personality with different walks, different backgrounds. I think we are extremely diverse because I think diversity brings creativity and innovation. I don’t want to look at the glass the same way every day.
I like the same hairstyle every day. I want things different. We like change. We’re diverse in age all the way from Gen Z to Boomer on my team. We’re all different shades of color and also have different gender backgrounds. I want that diversity because it helps us to remain fresh as I’ve journeyed on and been very deliberate and how I was able to engage others. I learned a lot through the Cog program, but how to engage key stakeholders to get what you need to make an impact.
I was curious. Do you have a question, Bonnie?
I could, but keep going.
No, I was curious. I wanted to bring it back to intuition and I was curious whether there was a time when you or an entrepreneur you’re working with did not follow their gut or intuition and then said, “I wish I could have followed my intuition and this is not exactly what I thought I was going to do,” if there is any.
Yes. I would say I’m trying to think of an example of one, but I can tell you that it seems as if, in our society, to be a dreamer is sometimes frowned upon. When I’ve worked with people and they brought their dreams, they may be more pragmatic because of the societal pushes and pulls. I do believe an entrepreneur’s journey isn’t always smooth, and being an entrepreneur is hard. I can’t pretend that you watch some of these shows like Shark Tank and they glamorize it and make it look cool.
An entrepreneur’s journey isn’t always smooth. To be an entrepreneur is hard.
Then a lot of people get the funding, but if you follow, because what I do is I look to see if they actually get funding. Many times, they don’t agree to those terms because they’re not willing to give up 60% of their dream to somebody else for help because they want to use their intuition. They want to retain as much as they can. There’s the reality of it. When we embrace that reality and admit this is going to be hard, you have to trust your gut on what it is that you’re going to do and believe in yourself wholeheartedly and that these are the tools.
I’ll have some people who’ll go out and are scared. I’ve been doing it long enough that they come back and they reinvent themselves. They may have had an assumption about the market that they thought was there, but it wasn’t there, so they pivoted. However, all of the challenges that they experienced helped them build a stronger business. When they come out that second time, they trust their intuition more, they trust in themselves, and they go further than maybe what they did.
It was a lesson learned. My goal, though, is to make sure that when they do a lesson learned, they’re not losing their life savings because I don’t want that. We try to help them before there’s cash in it, but it does happen when somebody runs, jumps, and then has to reinvent themselves. There’s nothing wrong in making a mistake because as long as you learn from that mistake, especially when it comes to building your business.
Creativity
It’s so interesting because I have heard, as an underlying theme, this whole conversation, reinventing the self from what your father did to you after the layoffs. That ability to remain flexible, which is such a key to creativity, is seeing something one way. This glass of water, the glass holds water, but what are ten other things that this glass can do, and being able to look at something in so many different ways? It’s so interesting because to me, that’s what resilience is all about, as well as you used the word innovation. I noticed you used that separate from creativity, which I also find interesting. I don’t know if you have thought about that if you use that intentionally.
I did. I know some people in the economic development space, innovation, like some of these words, are like the antithesis, like you can’t, but I do think that you have creatives that are in the space making things, but they don’t foresee themselves as being an innovator. I would like to say that creatives are innovators, whether it’s an artist doing their thing, someone in the tech space, or a government contractor. If you’re taking an industry that you are in and you’re making it better than how you found it, that’s innovation. That’s constantly improving.
If you’re taking an industry that you are in, and you’re making it better than how you found it, that’s innovation.
When we’re working with these small businesses and entrepreneurs, which can be a host, a rainbow of different things, you are that. I think that’s what part of the people, and they don’t see themselves as leaders. The first thing I do is tell people that even though you may not think of yourself as a leader, the community sees you that because you’re living your dream. You started a business and not everyone has the ability to do that and you’ve taken that leap of faith to reinvent yourself. I think it’s also how we perceive ourselves outwardly and how we believe people perceive ourselves as to whether or not we can succeed and be resilient.
I tell people that you have to embrace things that you perceive as weaknesses. Be self-actualized because when things get bad, you’ve got to know who you need to bring on your team to help you navigate and that there’s nothing wrong in seeking help. In some of these things, the resiliency strikes me because a business is not always going to be on top.
It’ll be on top for a while and you’ll be doing great and everybody wants to be you and you’re in The Post or in The New York Times, but then there’s inevitably something happens. It’s when something happens that tests the strength of your character. Those are the people that I want to know. How you respond when things aren’t rosy tells me who you are and how we can move forward because everybody’s great in the good times. We’re all amazing. That will happen to every one of us.
I feel like true leadership is for folks not to get stuck in a place or in your head but to be visionary, innovative, and creative no matter the negative things that happen because they’re going to happen. Be actualized about your strengths and weaknesses, bring the people that can help compliment you into your circle, talk, and then work your way through.
Leadership Practices
Lots of lessons there for leadership, and I wanted us to close with a couple of those leadership lessons and perhaps extending the question to, what are maybe 1 or 2 practices that help you hold your dream forward?
One of the major things that I do is to write everything down. If it’s not on my calendar, if I don’t have milestones or goals I’m working towards, I get discombobulated and don’t accomplish the things I need. I think that when starting this program, when it was just me, I created habits that helped me accomplish goals because I was the boss who told me, “You are not going to do your gut instinct. What do you think?” That challenged me to make sure that I wrote everything down. Now, do I do it every day? I think no. I would lie to you if I said I did it every day.
It’s not the reality of how we do. I try to make it a common practice. What do I want to achieve today? What do I want to achieve in a week? What is my month-long, six-month, year-long plan? That helps me so that I don’t feel guilty. I highly recommend that people balance the fun in their lives. Your family, your work. What the pandemic taught me is that we need fun. We need to enjoy every day if possible. If there are toxic people in your life, get rid of them or mute their voices because we don’t know what’s promised the next day. You don’t want to walk in regret.
I know not everyone is this way, but I am a joyful person. That’s me. I used to want to be like that hard-edged person, that mean boss. That’s not me. I don’t want to be in an organization where I can’t bring joy and be happy and allow my team to be their leaders within themselves because when I allow them to do and be themselves, they achieve whatever they can for me. It lifts up everybody. I believe strongly in doing things in balance and moderation, but also in making sure that I do projects that bring joy not only to myself but to others.
There’s a lot of people that are angry right now. I don’t have time for that. I am kind. I bring myself. I bring no excuses. I don’t try to reinvent who I am, but I’m my authentic self every day. I think that helps you deal with the toxicity out there in the environment. It also helps you when who you are, embrace who you are. Don’t give excuses. Don’t have anxiety. Don’t second-guess yourself all the time. I spent the first half of my career second-guessing and the one thing I said, as soon as I turned 50, I’m like, “I embrace who I am. I love myself. I love the people that are around me and I’m going to bring joy.” That’s how I try to live every day.
I love it. When I see you, you’ve always got lots of colors and fun flowers, and it’s part of how you show up. Thank you. Thank you for bringing joy to this conversation. It’s a pleasure.
It’s such a pleasure. I enjoyed it. Thank you all so much for allowing me to have this platform.
Pleasure.
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About Tara Palacios
Tara Palacios is the Director of BizLaunch, an award-winning division within AED that assists small businesses and entrepreneurs in Arlington County.