The One Problem: Patti Pokorchak, Small Biz Sales Coach

The Accidental FarmerHello, my name is Avil Beckford, and I created the series The One Problem. There are many problems in the world. But we're just going to choose one problem and spend about five to ten minutes talking about the solution. I've been inviting people to come and be my guest, so today my special guest is Patti Pokorchak. She is a small business and sales coach, and a serial entrepreneur. Patti, I'm going to turn it over to you now, so you're going to talk about your problem and your solution.

Patti Pokorchak

Thank you Avil and thanks for having me on your show. When I was restricted to just one problem to solve, I guess my burning desire for most people is how to live a life without regrets. And it's something that's driven, driven or motivated me since well over 40 years now.

Lucky I was able to learn at the age of twenty-five. So supposedly I had it all. You know, I had the career I had at IBM. I had a lot of money. I had the boyfriend, I had the sports car. But I wasn't happy, and I was lucky. I got it. I was forced to learn how to sell at IBM and sales is where the money was.

And all I knew was I wanted to make a lot of money and then go travel and see the world. And I was lucky to be able to do that. So when I was leaving IBM at the age of twenty-five and I'd been an up-and-comer and everybody looked at me and, you know, as I said goodbye to some older professionals and they went, Oh, you must be going to the competition. No, I'm taking a year off to go travel.

Interview With Patti Pokorchak Talking About How to Live Life Without Regrets

Patti Pokorchak

And they said, I wish I could do that. I kept hearing that repeatedly. So said, “Well, you could what's stopping you?” You know, I was five foot two, hundred pounds, hundred and ten, OK. But I was just scared little kid, basically, because I didn't have really great parental support and I'd grown up with a lot of anxiety. But in spite of my fears, my biggest fear was if I didn't go now, when would I go?

And what I did is, I sort of fast-forward in my life to when I'm ninety-five and this is the way I always envisioned. Just imagine you're ninety-five. Wherever r you are now, you're ninety-five for some reason you're in a rocking chair on a porch with your best friend and you're talking about your woulda, coulda,  and what your regrets. Then I would say those are your dreams for today. And when I fast-forward to my life and I had a choice of staying at IBM, marrying the boyfriend, the two-point-two kids in the white picket fence. And I went, because my dream has been to travel Europe, to see Europe and spend more time there.

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Patti Pokorchak

What if I gave up that great dream? You know what would my regrets be when I was fifty or sixty or seventy? And I went, OK, that's too big of a risk. And then it was confirmed when I went around and people say, I wish I could do that, I wish I could do that. It's like you could, you just have to really want to do it. It was going in spite of your fears.

And once I realized that, I went on a one way ticket by myself because, you know, at that age, it's still hard to find people to travel with for a year. So it's one way it's now or never. So I went and bought a car and traveled through communist countries, which with my Ukrainian last name. Traveling by myself as a little blond. I looked about twenty years old and meeting somebody my own age.

But because in Hungary, because of where he was born and his passport was Hungarian, versus my Canadian one, he didn't have the same freedoms as I did. That was a huge lesson to learn. By then I was twenty-six and it was like, you know, so many people, first of all, so many North Americans and Europeans take their freedom for granted, their citizenship and the freedom that we get.

Patti Pokorchak

Feel the Fear . . . and Do It AnywaySo I guess when I made that huge decision to leave everything behind for a year, it was a huge, scary move. But once I did it and I survived and I thrived. Being half German, having connections in Munich, I made a hub for myself there. After my year was over, I had to go back to work. It was like, OK, I spent twenty-five years in Toronto. I know there but I don't know Europe. And I just had a little taste of Europe.

And having made that huge decision, the next decision, well I'll just go get myself a job and an apartment. And I'll learn German on the job because I've got this great IBM background and PCs were coming out. It was just that the next big decision was so less scary. And what I've learned is that once you face your biggest fears is the next one is so much less scary and has less power. It really, truly is, you have to face your fears and do it anyway.

There's a great book by the late Susan Jeffers, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. Just Google that title. I was like, once you face your fears, then they don't have any power. You know, the only way through fear is massive action. And I've always been action oriented. When I coach people, it's like, just imagine you're ninety-five.

What would you do if that's what you are? That's really your dream for today. When I think about people, I sold to the federal government for years and they used to mark down 10 years, two months and five days until they retire. And they literally were the TGIF. Thank God it's Friday. They were wishing five, seven years of their life away. And I think that is a huge problem that people are putting in their time and effort into something that doesn't fulfill them.

Patti Pokorchak

I think that is a problem, that they're not living their full lives, and they can do stuff about it. I was so in debt. I had three properties in three countries with six mortgages. I was in debt beyond belief, but I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur and I had to get rid of that debt. So I actually made a plan, and worked for a year-and-a-half, two years to get out of debt, so I could become an entrepreneur.

As an entrepreneur, you don't make a lot of money in your first couple of years. You can't afford to have that kind of debt. So I know it's possible that you can live a life without regrets. But you have to be focused on it and really, really, really want it.

Avil Beckford

Thank you so much, Patti. I like the idea of looking into the future. Just getting a sense of what your life is like and based on that, you do something in the present.

Patti Pokorchak

Exactly.

Avil Beckford

A lot of people will be able to learn from this interview.

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