Finding Your Possible with Tarra Gundrum

Fuzz Martin 0:00

Hello, Washington County, you've stumbled upon 15 minutes with Fuzz, one of two podcasts that I know about talking about positive things and interesting people here in Washington County, Wisconsin. I am your host of this here show, Fuzz Martin. I do appreciate you joining me. A little bit about me, I'm a husband, father, business owner, and I serve on the board of a number of local nonprofits. I started this here podcast to highlight the good in our community. While there are so many that are seemingly trying to amplify the negative on social media, and as an aside, you guys, you're gonna feel so much better if you move Facebook to like the last page of your phone, and then turn off notifications. Trust me. It works wonders. Mental Health Day! So let's shine some light on people doing positive things in our area. Today I am speaking with such a fun and dynamic guest. Her name is Tarra Gundrum. I'm sure many of you know her. She's a Marine Corps veteran. She's a published author. She's a wife and mother. She works for the county, and she has a fantastic podcast called The Possible Project. Tarra joins me today to talk about her background what inspired her to write a book and her inspiration for her show. She's so much fun, and I know you're going to enjoy this episode. So here are 15 minutes on the Possible Project Podcast with Tarra gundrum on 15 Minutes with Fuzz.

Fuzz Martin 1:47

Tarra, thank you so much for coming in. I have been looking forward to speaking with you ever since you teased the launch of the Possible Project Podcast. And now here we are.

Tarra Gundrum 1:57

Yes, Fuzz. Thank you for having me. It is such an honor to be on your show. I love what you're doing. super positive. Thanks for having me.

Fuzz Martin 2:04

Absolutely. Thanks for coming in. And so before we talk about your show, you've got a super robust background. And I want to find out more about you and how you got here. First of all, you're a United States Marine Corps veteran. Give us a little bit about your background. And when did you join and what was your role in the Marines?

Tarra Gundrum 2:21

Sure. So I am born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. And I joined the Marine Corps straight out of high school, I went to a naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps school for high school. And I had my choice between going into the Navy going into the Marine Corps. And I literally chose the Marine Corps because their uniforms were amazing. So joined right out of high school, went to Okinawa, Japan was there for five years. And actually, that's where I met my husband, which is how I got back to Wisconsin, my husband's from Allenton. And he brought us back here. And this is where we decided to call home and raise our family.

Fuzz Martin 2:55

Well, we're glad that you're here. First of all, how did becoming a Marine shape you as a person?

Tarra Gundrum 2:59

I really think that the structure for one was really good for me. But it's something that I fit into well, and it just gave me it showed me that there were so many more opportunities to just you know, where I was raised back home and St. Louis and I got a chance to meet so many different people and just learn and grow all the way through. It was really, really a life changing experience for me, and one that I would do all over again, I love the Marine Corps. I love serving my country, right?

Fuzz Martin 3:25

How long did you serve?

Tarra Gundrum 3:26

Eight years.

Fuzz Martin 3:26

Eight years? Great. And so on top of that, and on top of being a Marine, you're also a published author, tell us about Finding My P ossible what is the book about?

Tarra Gundrum 3:35

The book is really about my life. Every single chapter in the book is a book about a chapter in my life. And I guess really, to sum it up, is about how I found my possible through other people like it was really all about community and every single step of the way, you'll find in the book that, you know, I didn't get where I am today by myself. It took really every single chapter and all those people associated with it, to allow me to grow to teach me to mold me and to really give me confidence and the ability and also a lot of trust, they trusted me and that allowed me to grow. So that's really what the book is about how I how I found my possible

Fuzz Martin 4:14

Where can people find Finding My Possible?

Tarra Gundrum 4:18

So it is available on Amazon, you can always just go type in, you know, Finding My Possible by Tarra Fundrum. And it'll come right up. There's also a link to it on my website, tarragundrum.com.

Fuzz Martin 4:28

I've always been amazed by people who can have the both structure and focus to write a book how What was the writing process like for you?

Tarra Gundrum 4:37

So it's so funny when I when I first started it I literally Googled how to write a book, okay, and I joined a self publishing school and that's how I got pretty much the idea of what I needed to do. And from there, I would just kind of mindmap every single chapter and then I would literally get in my car and press I bought this little app called Otter. I would just kind of speak into my phone exactly what I was thinking around the topics on that piece of paper, and before you know it, by the time I got to work, I had, you know, a good portion of the chapter complete. And I would just kind of go through and and edit it from there. But it was really like just getting the words on paper for me. Yeah, that's, that's what worked. And it allowed the the kind of thought process that just flow.

Fuzz Martin 5:19

Sure, certainly, I always find that when I have ideas, my brain goes a lot faster than my fingers. So I think using a transcription service, like otter is a great way to get get that down. I remember my dad when I was a kid had a little mini recorder.

Tarra Gundrum 5:35

Yeah, yeah.

Fuzz Martin 5:36

So that's great. And then. So when did the book when did you publish the book

Tarra Gundrum 5:40

About two years ago. So the self publishing school course that I took had a tagline "blank page to publish author in 90 days." So I was like, if I want to spend my money on this, I really want to give it my all. And literally, I did an ad at seven days.

Fuzz Martin 5:55

Oh, wow.

Tarra Gundrum 5:55

d just before Thanksgiving of: 2020

Fuzz Martin 5:59

So are they using you as a testimonial?

Tarra Gundrum 6:02

They're they're, they're just a really good source. So there's a lot of testimonies like that out there.

Fuzz Martin 6:07

Good. Good. Wow. That's, that's amazing. And I applaud you for having the focus again, to get it done, and to actually sitting down and doing it, because that's a lot of people have ideas, including me that don't come to fruition.

Tarra Gundrum 6:19

Thank you. Appreciate that.

Fuzz Martin 6:21

Yeah, you're very welcome. On top of all that, you're also of being a Marine and an author. You're also a wife and mother. So tell us a bit about your family.

Tarra Gundrum 6:29

Yeah. So like I said, my, my husband, Jason, he's from allenton. We've been married for 22 years. And I have two daughters. One is 21. And she is just about to come back home here. And I have a 15 year old, okay. Yes, yes.

Fuzz Martin 6:42

As a father of a 17 year old and off to college. So like a little bit of a interesting time and knowing what's coming up next. And then like, Okay, why a little bird? Yes. hope everything goes? Well. Let's tie this all back to the show. So showcasing all the positive around Washington County. You live in Washington County, obviously, but you also work in Washington County, right?

Tarra Gundrum 7:04

Yes. So I am the executive assistant to our Washington County Executive. So that's kind of like how I got a chance to really get to know you through all of your community involvement. So yeah, that's where I work. And I'm also part of several community clubs, you know, the, the noon Rotary Club, I also do just a lot of volunteer work all throughout the community. So wherever I can be of assistance, I just really enjoy it.

Fuzz Martin 7:27

That's great. That's great. Well, we're glad to have people like you here in our community that are are out and helping others and, and being a part of making the community better for everybody. Let's talk about the Possible Project Podcast, what inspired you to start the show?

Tarra Gundrum 7:43

So I kind of alluded to this earlier, I meet so many cool people every day, there are people who influence my life. They're our friends, through the various volunteer work that I do, whether it's through church, or through Rotary, or through my job, I just meet so many cool people. And I get to know a little bit about their story. But the thing is, you only know who they are on the surface, you only know that person that you meet in that moment. And it's kind of nice to unpack that story. Because in that story, I think there are a lot of resources, there are probably great motivational pieces that will allow a person to keep going. And I really want to unpack their stories and share it because I believe that it will inspire others who maybe are on the same track. Or maybe there's someone out there who's just kind of nervous about taking the next step. But through the stories, we can tell that it's not all perfect. Sometimes it's messy, but sometimes it's great. And if you just have the understanding of how to reach out or who to reach out to, that you too could possibly find your possible. So hence the name spinning off of the book, Finding My Possible is that Possible Project Podcast?

Fuzz Martin 8:48

Absolutely. That's great. And I think it's important for people to know, like successful people didn't get there. It's not a linear trajectory to get to being somebody that people look at as being successful. A lot of times, there's ups and downs or lots of downs and finally and up and absolutely. So tell us about who are some of the guests that you've had on the show so far.

Tarra Gundrum 9:08

Oh, well, I'm gonna kind of talk about some of the guests here very local to Washington County. So I have a youth pastor from my church from Life Church in Germantown. I also have Keith Novotny. He's like one of the favorites around here. Right. One of the shows that's actually about to air soon is Joe Erato. He is the one of the owners of Spaulding Clinical, but also a great hockey buddy of mine. He's also a podcast host of Locations Unknown, which is super cool, very excited about that. And then let's just see Stuart Sacks as some of you may have heard of the Koa Dauterman from Washington County Foster Closet. And then lastly, really amazing couple out of Slinger, Matt and Melissa Theisen. So that's just like to whet the appetite but there's so much more coming. That's very good.

Fuzz Martin 9:55

That's awesome. And Keith's a fun interview. Yeah, and well, well, actually, Washington County Foster Closet was one of my first episodes I was it's a great cause. And it's it's super good to see that people like you are helping me keep that promotion of them going. They deserve every every word that somebody speaks to them.

Tarra Gundrum: 10:14

Oh yeah, really doing great things over there.

Fuzz Martin: 10:16

The show's tagline is stories about everyday people doing extraordinary things. What kind of guests are you looking for into the future of the show?

Tarra Gundrum: 10:23

Oh, well, I'll give a little teaser into some lineups here. So coming soon. We have Tiffany Koehler out of Slinger. She's actually a fellow veteran. And she was very instrumental in bringing a project called the I Am Not Invisible Project, which highlights veterans that are from Wisconsin. So that's super cool. Literally working right now with Jordan Stoltz. super inspirational young man out of Kewaskum, who just came back from the Olympics. And, gosh, we have, like, police week coming up. So I have like an officer that I'm going to save the name for, because I think it's just going to be super cool. Sounds great. I really just gotta say, Man, folks should tune in if they want to hear some of this goodness. Yes. Yeah, definitely. I absolutely agree.

Fuzz Martin: 11:06

How can people listen to the show?

Tarra Gundrum: 11:08

So the show is on literally every podcast platform, so it can be found there. If you'd like to go to my website, which is the possibleprojectpodcast.com. You can subscribe from there. And also Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, wherever you're on social. Yeah.

Fuzz Martin: 11:22

All the places that we need to be the place. Speaking of that, what do you find to be your biggest challenge in podcasting?

Tarra Gundrum: 11:30

I think the biggest challenge is really to stay focus and true to the mission of why I started it. I think some podcasters podcasters can easily get caught up in the hype of wanting the numbers, the likes the stats, right? You know, I'm not going after the big stats, there are people already doing that I want this show to be about the everyday people. You know, the people that you see in the grocery store, the people you see at that doctor's office, you know, these people are living amazing lives as well. We're just not famous, right, but we're still amazing people amazing human beings. I love it.

Fuzz Martin: 12:02

Absolutely. That's great. How often do you publish new episodes of the show?

Tarra Gundrum: 12:06

Every single Wednesday. Once a week? Yeah. Okay.

Fuzz Martin: 12:09

It's always hard like picking Okay, which day of the week? Am I gonna do it? And I've kind of learned over the time, it's just, you pick the day and then you do the day and then everybody just expects it on the day. And then

Tarra Gundrum: 12:19

I literally picked Wednesday for sure. Cuz you have Monday. I'm like, podcast local to Washington County and Fuzz's already, so yeah.

Fuzz Martin: 12:27

Yeah. Well, Wednesday is good day. And you know, really? Yeah, exactly. Maybe it's good day. So like, Wednesday is good, because, you know, you can like, like, Oh, I gotta listen to Tarra's show while mowing the lawn this weekend there. You know, like, yeah, that kind of stuff. So where can people learn more about you your book and your show getting? You said the possibleprojectpodcast.com for the podcast, but if they want to find your book and such, where can they?

Tarra Gundrum: 12:50

Well, everything is kind of like brought together on my website, which is tarragundrum.com.

Fuzz Martin: 12:56

And you have two R's and Tarra right. Yes. So, Tara ta R ra gundrum.com. That's great. And I'm really impressed with what you're doing on your show. Congratulations to you for one starting into keeping it going. Because those are the two hardest parts of doing all of this. And I'm looking forward to seeing big things that are outstanding.

Tarra Gundrum: 13:18

I really appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me on the show. We're gonna keep grinding and doing it together and you never know what comes up here in the future.

Fuzz Martin: 13:25

Thanks again to Tarra Gundrum of the Possible Project Podcast and author of Finding My Possible for joining me on this week's episode. I've got tons of great guests lined up. But I am always looking for more if you have an idea for the show. Please reach out to me. Go online, go to fuzz.cc/guest fuzz.cc/guest. I launch a new episode every Monday at midnight. But you don't have to listen to it then you can listen to it. Whenever you want to listen to it. Let's do it a week from now if you want, I just appreciate you coming by. If you want to learn more about the show, check it out on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I know he told me to turn off Facebook earlier anyway. It's there spreading positivity handles that all three of those shows are @fifteenwithfuzz. You can also visit my website fifteenwithfuzz.com. Thanks again for tuning in. And we'll talk to you next Monday right here on 15 Minutes with Fuzz.