Running Your Own Race: Success on Your Own Terms

Running Your Own Race: Success on Your Own Terms

One of the biggest myths we buy into—especially in the coaching and online business world—is that there’s one “right” way to do things. There’s one way to show up. One way to grow. One way to win.

But what if the truth is completely different?

In this deeply authentic and empowering episode of The Amanda Kaufman Show, I sat down with live streaming expert and digital marketer Tanya Smith, and let me tell you—her story is one of quiet boldness, committed consistency, and unapologetic purpose.

Tanya’s path into visibility wasn’t fueled by flash or performance. In fact, she describes herself as a self-proclaimed introvert who never intended to be on camera at all. Fifteen years ago, she was the voice behind the scenes—literally doing voiceovers and presentations because video felt like too big of a leap.

But like so many of us who have grown businesses online, Tanya began to feel the squeeze of declining organic reach. She realized she either had to pivot or quit. And what came out of that decision was nothing short of transformational.

Choosing the Uncommon Path

What struck me most in our conversation was Tanya’s decision to commit to a weekly live stream for a full year—something she admits was scary, overwhelming, and completely against her comfort zone. But she didn’t just try it out for a few weeks. She gave herself a runway.

And that decision? It became a turning point.

She told me, “When you do the things that others don’t, you get the opportunities that others won’t.” That quote alone is worth printing out and taping to your wall. Because in a world full of quick fixes and short attention spans, Tanya chose the slow, consistent road—and it paid off in clarity, confidence, and connection.

Letting Go of the Formula

We talked a lot about what it means to resist the urge to copy someone else’s playbook. And Tanya’s perspective on this is powerful—she knew from the start that her success wasn’t going to come from trying to mimic the loudest voice in the room. Instead, she leaned into her own voice.

Rather than turning herself into someone else’s version of what a “successful” online business owner looks like, Tanya embraced her personality, her pace, and her truth.

And that? That’s leadership.

So many of us are waiting for permission to show up the way we actually are. And Tanya’s story gives that permission. She didn’t wait for someone to say, “You’re ready.” She said it to herself and took action anyway.

The Real Story Behind “Success”

Something I loved about this conversation is how real it got. Tanya shared how many of those first live streams had zero viewers. How she experienced tech issues, fatigue, self-doubt. But rather than framing those things as failures, she saw them as lessons.

She treated the process like a test—not of her worth, but of the strategy. That distinction is huge.

Too many entrepreneurs quit before the breakthrough because they misinterpret temporary results as permanent conclusions. Tanya gave herself time to fail, learn, and refine. And because of that, she didn’t just build a show—she built trust with her audience and confidence in herself.

A Different Lens on AI and Innovation

One of the most exciting parts of the episode was hearing Tanya talk about her love for AI—not as a replacement for human creativity, but as an amplifier.

She shared how, as a Black woman in digital marketing, stock images often didn’t reflect her identity. So she used AI to generate powerful, branded imagery that did. She’s even started integrating AI agents to support her clients’ livestreams and video workflows—saving them hours and elevating their quality.

It was such a refreshing take on what’s possible when we let innovation support our creativity instead of replace it.

The Permission to Be Purposeful

Tanya closed our chat with a powerful reminder that I want to leave with you here:

“Give yourself the grace and the permission to create what is meant for you.”

Whew. That line hit me right in the heart. Because if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve got big goals, big dreams, and a deep desire to make an impact. But you might also be feeling pressure to do it a certain way—to “keep up,” to be louder, to fit in.

This is your reminder that the most powerful thing you can do is to be authentically strategic. Let your values shape your actions. Let your gifts guide your content. Let your consistency build the trust that others only dream about.

Because success isn’t about going viral—it’s about going deep. It’s about building something real, one aligned decision at a time.

Chapters List

00:00 Introduction to Live Streaming and Personal Branding

02:12 Tanya's Journey from Introvert to Live Streamer

05:11 The Commitment to Consistency in Content Creation

09:24 Embracing Failure as a Learning Opportunity

13:39 The Impact of AI on Digital Marketing and Live Streaming

17:09 Creating Your Own Path in Entrepreneurship

Chapters List

Tanya Smith (00:00)

What I told myself, and I still tell people to this day, is when you do the things that others don't, you get the opportunities that others won't.

Amanda Kaufman (00:28)

Well, hello and welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And I was just telling my guests that I couldn't wait until we recorded this episode. So Tanya Smith is a genius when it comes to live streaming, to using video in a really effective way to promote your business, build your personal brand. And I have been friends with Tanya for...

Goodness, I guess it's just over six months. We're in a business incubator together. And I have to tell you something about her. She is consistent. She is somebody who knows how to build that brand, show it off, and be like very reliable, which in today's nutty world is uncommon. So Tanya, welcome to the show. I'm really glad to have you here.

Tanya Smith (01:16)

I am super excited and thrilled to be here because it's you, Amanda. So thank you for having me.

Amanda Kaufman (01:22)

my pleasure, my pleasure. So I'll give you 30 seconds here to just correct anything I just said about your specialty and what you really focus on. Go ahead and share that with us.

Tanya Smith (01:32)

Yeah, I mean, you pretty much nailed it. The one thing that I would give a little bit of correction on is the pronunciation of my name is actually Tanya.

Amanda Kaufman (01:42)

I'm sorry,

Tanya. I've been going Tanya for how long? My gosh.

Tanya Smith (01:45)

No, it's

the default. It's everyone's default, which is absolutely normal. So I'm glad that we got a chance to say this because it's always hard.

Amanda Kaufman (01:54)

Can you imagine if people

said, mom doll, right? Like, and like sometimes they do, but Tanya got it.

Tanya Smith (02:02)

dog.

Amanda Kaufman (02:02)

So good. Well, catch me up, though, on how the heck did you get into all of this with the live streaming and really discovering your genius zone in this area that you build whole business around it?

Tanya Smith (02:18)

Yeah, it was a miracle because I'm an introvert and the last thing I wanted to do was to be on camera. Like the absolute last thing. And so what I would do, Amanda, is years ago, if we went back in a time machine like 15 plus years ago, I would have said, yeah, I'll just do voiceovers. Like I can do the voiceover a slide deck.

They want me to do video? No, we're not doing that. What was happening is I had built my business primarily using platforms like Twitter, like social media platforms, right? Twitter at the time was really gold for me. And I had an abundance of followers and I had a lot of activity with Facebook and all of those things with a page, you know? And then over time, my organic reach took a nosedive.

Amanda Kaufman (02:46)

Yes.

Yep.

Tanya Smith (03:11)

because

everybody's facing that. And so I made a decision probably a little over five years ago that I was gonna have to make a dramatic change or else just stop altogether because I was tired of fighting. I was tired of fighting to get visibility. And not only that, besides the fact that I'm in a space of digital marketing and social media and live streaming and all of those things,

Amanda Kaufman (03:25)

Hmm.

Tanya Smith (03:37)

Besides the fact that I was competing in those spaces, which are very, you know, a lot of people are in those spaces, I also was competing for my namesake, because how many thousands upon thousands of people have the name Tanya Smith, right?

Amanda Kaufman (03:52)

I only know one and it's you, but I hear what you're saying. Like that's a pretty, common combo.

Tanya Smith (03:57)

There's a lot. There's a lot.

So I really needed to figure out like, what can I do to stand out? And I kept hearing the social platforms were talking about live stream, live stream, live stream. And finally I said, okay, I'm just gonna take a plunge and I'm going to try this thing. But I knew I know myself when it comes to exercise and everything else.

I will fall off the wagon if I don't make a real commitment. And so I committed to doing a live stream once a week for an entire year, which was crazy at the time, Amanda. And so I ended up just trying to figure my way through. And as I did, there was just this crazy growth professionally, personally. Yeah, I went through a lot of angst and some issues and things falling apart.

But it was so good for me and for my business that I decided I was going to teach other people how to leverage it to really build community and connection.

Amanda Kaufman (05:00)

love that. Goodness, there's so much wisdom in what you're saying, even beyond, you know, let's be proficient at video. That decision not to do it once or twice, not to do it for 90 days, but to do it over 50 times. And that commitment is uncommon. know, like people, people, I mean, if it was more common, I probably wouldn't have a business with the Coach's Plaza if I'm just being completely honest with you.

Tanya Smith (05:24)

Right. Let's be real.

You're right.

Amanda Kaufman (05:28)

Let's just be real about that.

But recently I posted a little I call them fortune cookies, you know, the little tweetables on Facebook. And it was saying like the next time you're admiring someone's discipline, take a look at the systems they have. And you're reading between the lines. It sounds like you really took the time because you knew you were going to be going on such a long, repetitive journey. You.

took extra care with the preparation to be able to do that and keep up with it. Am I reading that right?

Tanya Smith (05:58)

Absolutely.

You're reading it completely 110 % correctly because you can't, going into something like this, I know maybe for some it's easy to just say, hey, I'm gonna try it and we're gonna see how it goes. I wanted it to work. I wanted it to be something that was going to, because in every other aspect of my business, my goal has always been.

how can I make a positive impact and show others what it means to be successful in doing this thing that I'm doing? And so in order to do that, I had to commit to something that I knew, a runway, right, if you will, that I knew would give me the ability to be able to say yes or no, it's a fail or it's not. Because if it was a fail, then that's the story I would tell. Is here are all the things I tried and it didn't work and here's why.

Amanda Kaufman (06:28)

Hmm.

Tanya Smith (06:51)

And fortunately that I got to tell the opposite story of how it helped me to, I'm not gonna say come out of my shell because I'm not, even though I'm an introvert, I'm not shy. ⁓ It was about me showing up more powerfully in a more powerful way as myself authentically with me being chill, right? And who I am.

Amanda Kaufman (07:02)

Mmm.

Tanya Smith (07:14)

versus trying to model after somebody else who might be like bouncing off the walls doing live streams. So being able to show people a different path, being able to be a model for my two daughters to also see that, mom is speaking up and she's doing something that she really doesn't want to do and she's afraid to do, but she's doing it anyway.

Amanda Kaufman (07:34)

Thank you, Spum.

So many times we think we have to transform into somebody that we're not, or that we need to be very performative in our expression and perform things in ways that aren't really our truth. Like you're all in bright paint for our audio ⁓ listeners only. She's got the bright pink microphone, she's got the bright pink shirt, like she's...

Tanya Smith (07:53)

haha

Amanda Kaufman (07:59)

She's got a look, you know, and it is very expressive and bold. But I think sometimes people take themselves way out of the conversation. I know that was my truth, is that I was hesitant to even speak because I didn't see a lot of examples of someone who spoke the way I did or had the perspective necessarily that I did, because the people that would like rush and grab that megaphone, if you will, the archetype just, didn't seem like it was me.

Tanya Smith (08:01)

Thank

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Kaufman (08:27)

And, you know, like you, I had a very similar realization, aha, one day of, I know I want the success. What if someone like me who speaks like me, who values like me, who thinks like me, what if I could be successful without, you you're talking about screaming, I'm like, I'm about Mr. Beast, I'm thinking about Gary Vee, I'm thinking about, you know, all of these characters that

have done so extremely well of monetizing these platforms. But I think it's easy to shortcut into thinking, well, that's not me, so I can't do it.

Tanya Smith (09:02)

Yes, it was super easy to do that. Especially because not only are you telling yourself that, there may be other people telling you that too. And there were a few people in the history of my career that I can recall very clearly saying, maybe it's just not for you. And what I realized is that their definition of what success looked like didn't define me or what success looked like for me.

Amanda Kaufman (09:12)

That's a fact.

Mm.

Tanya Smith (09:31)

That was up to me. It's my

race to run. And so I figured that out, especially once I turned 50 plus. Amanda was like, yeah, I don't really care what they think. I'm going to run this race the way that I choose to, and I'm going to go down a path that may not look a little. It's not going to be straight path, like from A to Z. It's going to be A, and then I'm going to move over here off the path for a little bit, and then I'm going to.

wind around a rock and then I'm gonna hit this, you know, so I'm stop at a coffee shop. This is my story to tell. And I think that's what people have to remember is that sometimes we get caught up in what other people's stories look like and we forget that we're writing our own as we go day to day. We're writing our own chapters, right? So.

Amanda Kaufman (10:14)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you're the only one that really lives with the decisions you make. And I absolutely loved your frame around, well, I'm going to make the commitment. I'm going to do the thing. And I'm choosing this thing because based on what I know, standing here at the starting line, this feels like the best strategy. This feels like based on what I know, this is going to work. But I loved your frame about the possibility for failure.

Tanya Smith (10:43)

Yep.

Amanda Kaufman (10:49)

And I'm just so curious, like when you stood at that starting line and you said, I'm to do this for a year. Did you check in on failure throughout the year? Did you wait till the end of the year to see if you're failing or succeeding? Like, walk me through that, because that sounds like some some massive self-control that you got to explain that one to me.

Tanya Smith (11:09)

Okay, look, I knew there would be fails and there absolutely were, especially at the early stages where I would get on camera and I'd be totally exhausted and not want to do it or I'd get on camera and no one would show up. It was crickets, right? So many times. Yeah, very rude. But what are you going to do, right? ⁓ I knew that there would be times that...

Amanda Kaufman (11:26)

Rude. Yes.

Right.

Tanya Smith (11:35)

Equipment with glitch even today when I was preparing to come in here one of my cameras just kind of went out So I ended up having to use a backup So because of these things happening what I was doing is I was observing like I was outside of myself and saying, okay So what can I do? What did I learn from this and? What can I do to continue to move forward? Instead of saying you know what that doesn't work. I'm giving up

This is the reason why I gave myself the runway, right? Because if I had just looked at what things looked like the first several months, I probably would have said, this isn't working and I'm gonna give up. I'm just gonna stop. I think that the fails came, but I don't necessarily even own them as a failure. I owned them as lessons that would help me to continue to improve and get better.

Amanda Kaufman (12:19)

Yeah.

Tanya Smith (12:31)

over time. And I think that Amanda is an experience thing though, right? Like I wasn't, I didn't come out knowing that it's just life experience teaches us these things. And if we look back at our life, a lot of the things, the decisions that we make in business are simply a reflection of what we've already done and what we're wanting to do. And so that was a big thing for me.

Amanda Kaufman (12:34)

I absolutely...

huge and I just am thinking now about all the all the times that I would have taken myself out of gaining experience and therefore valuable lessons and it's easy to do you know the it's easy to get into catastrophic thinking it's easy to allow your environment to influence your choices it's eat like it really literally is the easiest thing in the world to choose the path that is the least aligned

Tanya Smith (13:07)

Yeah.

Amanda Kaufman (13:25)

to your vision of success and your vision of your future. It's kind of wild how much pull there is towards this average baseline. And something I like to remind people is I'm like, hey, look, if you want average outcomes, take average steps. The average American is divorced, the average American is obese, and the average American can't pay for $600 emergency. So.

You know, it's like if average is really what you're looking for, comfort and ease is really what you're looking for. Have that, but don't be surprised by the outcome. You know, if you want uncommon outcomes, then you're probably going to have to make some uncommon inputs, right?

Tanya Smith (13:58)

Yes. ⁓

That's exactly the whole basis for the whole live streaming decision. What I told myself, and I still tell people to this day, is when you do the things that others don't, you get the opportunities that others won't.

So what you just said is really just another level of that same exact mantra that I've adopted and that I teach other people.

you've got to do something different. And that was the big thing for me is I knew I couldn't just settle and try to follow some type of formulaic thing that other people were doing. I knew I needed to do something dramatically different and difficult for me in order to see if there were potential results. So.

Amanda Kaufman (14:50)

I feel that

I cannot leave this conversation without just asking, what about AI? Because speaking as a digital marketer myself, I hear so many people bemoaning, the platforms aren't supporting what I want to do. it's so hard to get attention. A lot of the things actually led you into live streaming in the first place. And so now,

Tanya Smith (15:11)

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Kaufman (15:13)

with live streams don't get the kind of reach that they did organically at first, which is basically the curve for everything in digital marketing is wildly popular at first, and then it kind of drops off to a baseline, right? ⁓ So I'm just so curious, like with all of the change and evolution of AI and things like that, what's your attitude? How are you looking at that? And what's that mean for you and your business?

Tanya Smith (15:20)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Ooh, this is a great question. So I am an early adopter and I always have been. So even way back before I was truly putting my face on camera, I used to do something called Click of the Week where I would review different digital apps and tools. So this is my happy time. Like AI in the introduction and evolution of things as a result of it being made more common and commonly accessible is...

To me, this is like gold. This is a great time for us to look at what we've been doing and to amplify it and enhance it. I'm not saying that it needs to take over and become us. What I'm saying is I love to use the power of artificial intelligence and the different tools that are implemented with it. I am loving the idea of being able to create branded characters. I used to spend...

When I tell you thousands of dollars a year on photo shoots, because I couldn't find characters that looked like me, my black skin, with my short haircut, with my unique features, I couldn't find stock photos that looked like me. And so what I would do early on and over the years is I invested in photographers and I invested in studios to take images that I could use in my business clips. And now...

Amanda Kaufman (16:47)

you

Tanya Smith (16:59)

Within minutes, I can just imagine something and be like, I need to create that. And it's going to look like me. It's my clone. It's in the environment that I choose. can create really the possibilities are endless right now. And I've even started creating custom agents to help my clients with their live streams and video podcast, Amanda. So the workflows and the systems and the automation and things that we can put in place now.

saving so many hours and so much money and it's leveling the playing field for smaller creators and entrepreneurs, which I think is a beautiful thing. So yeah, I love AI. I love it when it's used for a positive impact. I love it. I recognize also the other.

Amanda Kaufman (17:45)

It is a little like the

force in Star Wars. know, it's a great, powerful force, but there's a light side, there's a dark side, but like that's life. You know, that's what it is. And I love hearing your perspective on that. I've seen your experiments. mean, it's really quite amazing what you've been able to do with just, you know, one of those beautiful photographs and turning it into a movie animation. I'm like blown away by some of the things that you've already figured out.

Tanya Smith (17:49)

Yeah.

this.

Amanda Kaufman (18:14)

how to do. I feel like I'm way behind the learning curve. So I'm definitely going to be going to be picking your brain about that pretty soon here. But before we wrap up, if there was one thing that you really wished every entrepreneur knew, what would it be?

Tanya Smith (18:29)

Cool.

The one thing would be that I hope that you will give yourself the grace and the permission to create what is meant for you. I think we follow all these trends and we're trying to be so competitive and we see ourselves running up against other people, other industries, other niches. Instead,

Amanda Kaufman (18:31)

The one thing.

Tanya Smith (18:55)

if we all simply operated in our own purpose, in our own gifts, and leveraged the tools to enhance those individual gifts, how much of a difference it would make in the world, not just in our own little corner, right? But the positive impact and the ripple that could be made if people simply dug deep within to find out, like, what do I love? What do I want to do? What am I great at?

What's my passion and how can I make a positive ripple effect? If we do that, I feel like there is so much room for everybody to win.

Amanda Kaufman (19:34)

I could not agree more with you Tanya, that is such a beautiful thing. you you reminded me of a saying I learned a long time ago, I think it was Paula Abdul actually said it, which was there's no traffic after the extra mile. And you know, when you get that permission to create that permission to run your own race, don't worry about where other people are, how fast or slow you're going or how big or

Tanya Smith (19:52)

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Kaufman (20:03)

or small relatively it is, if you just let go of that and you can really be present with running your own race. I've had that very experience of there really is no competition after the extra mile because when you move past being a copy paste clone of everybody else, you start really playing with artists and creators and real independent thinkers and it's much more rewarding, I think as well on the other side of choosing to do that.

Tanya Smith (20:32)

Yes.

Amanda Kaufman (20:33)

Yeah, that's so good. What is the best way for people to follow you and keep up with what you're doing?

Tanya Smith (20:39)

I use a link, so streamlikeaboss.tv slash links. And that way, however you choose to connect and define me, whatever place you like to play, that's the best way to find that space and get into.

Amanda Kaufman (20:57)

I love it, so good. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode. I learned a lot. It was a lot of fun having you.

Tanya Smith (20:58)

you

It was a lot of fun to be here, Amanda, and thank you for giving me this space to talk about, you know, what was on my mind and to just have conversation with you. I loved it.

Amanda Kaufman (21:16)

That's my favorite, my favorite kind of

episode. I love it. And hey, dear listener, if you love this, don't forget to smash that subscribe button so that you never miss another episode. And if you're chatting with a friend who's maybe looking at getting into more video, more digital marketing, just grab the link to this episode and text it over to them so that they can find it directly. And if you got just like 30 seconds.

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