Getting to Know Our Founders: Trisha
We are so excited to highlight our two incredible founders on the blog this season. Today, we’ll get a little inside peek at one of the brilliant minds behind Golden Coil, beginning with Trisha. To know Trisha is to love her. She is absolutely radiant and spreads joy wherever she goes. Trisha is selfless, energetic, creative and kind. Here, we share some fun and inspiring thoughts from a recent interview with Trisha.
Tell us a little bit about yourself!
I am Trisha. I go by Zemp online, but truly my last name is Smith. It’s just a whole lot easier to find social media handles and email addresses with the rarity of Zemp being my maiden name. I am a mama of two little boys! In addition to doing Golden Coil, my family and I run a stop-motion production company where we create videos for different companies and brands.
What values drive Golden Coil as a company?
One of Golden Coil’s driving values that I really value is UNIQUENESS. There are no two people who are the same, and everyone’s planning needs are different! Even coming from the same family, Michelle and I both plan so differently. We both have a handful of kids and we run a company together. You’d think we would have similar things to do, but we both have such different responsibilities. The layouts we choose and the way we use our planners is SO different! There is something for everyone here. That’s why uniqueness is one of my favorite values that Golden Coil embodies.
When developing new pages, products, site features and content, what impacts your decision-making?
When it comes to developing new pages, products and features that actually go into the user experience of having or ordering a planner, the first thing we take into consideration is customer feedback and customer desires. When we are creating new pages, one of the first things we do is ask our social media community: What kind of pages are you looking for? What else would you like to see on our website? Customer feedback is a big driving factor for us! Of course, we are sometimes limited in what we can do based on how custom websites are made, and how our products are made. But really try to create the very BEST product, and what our customers are asking for.
When it comes to decision-making around content for social media - we are trying to deliver value to our customers. We are trying to create content that will educate customers on how to use their planner, how to use the website, and how to make the most out of their planner. I try to lean toward what is functional, educational, as well as beautiful.
What is it like being in business with your sister?
Being in business with Michelle is my VERY favorite thing! I love that I have an excuse to talk to her, call her, and be involved in her life on a daily basis. Even though sometimes it’s about silly things like sales taxes, I still really enjoy it because I feel connected to her. Running a business with her has been one of my very favorite things - I love it! We both have our own responsibilities, so we kind of live within our own wheelhouses and we don’t clash at all. I think we are a pretty good team working together.
Who is the most organized between you and Michelle? Who is the most creative?
Michelle and I are both incredibly organized, but if I were to pin one quality on one person and one on the other - I would say Michelle being most organized, and myself being most creative. Although, Michelle is incredibly creative, and I very much pride myself on organization. I think we both embody both of those things!
What responsibilities do you currently juggle and how has planning helped you?
I currently have two little boys and two businesses and a LOT of moving parts within both of those businesses. What I love about planning is that it helps keep my brain organized, because there are always so many things that I need to be doing. It’s great to be able to see on paper:
-What is the most important thing?
-What thing has the closest due date?
-What is going to be the most time-consuming?
-How can I break down my tasks so that everything gets done before or when it needs to get done?
Planning helps keep all my projects in order, and luckily a lot of the pages that Golden Coil offers help me. I love Project Planning 3 and Freelance Finances for all of my client work.
What is one accomplishment that you feel proud of?
Right now, we just finished creating all of our mystery planners and I’m feeling pretty proud of our new lineup. It takes SO much work, so much effort - curating props, making props, coming up with the layouts. It takes so much brain power! I’m really proud of how they turned out and I’m really excited for people to make their guesses and discover what we’ve created!
What does your current planning routine look like?
Right now my routine looks like this: At the beginning of the month, I sit down and think through every single thing that I need to accomplish for my production company, for Golden Coil and in my family life. Everything from home tasks like changing out my air filter and vacuuming my car to creating new layouts for Golden Coil. I list all of those things on my monthly Brain Dump page. Then, I pick the ones that I want to focus on for the week and move them over to my weekly layout. In my weekly layout I have three columns, one for my production company, one for Golden Coil, and one for family. I organize each column by priority, and work down the list as the week progresses. Whatever I wasn’t able to accomplish gets moved on to next week’s layout, along with new items from my monthly Brain Dump.
After sitting down monthly and weekly to make my plans, I’ll have a daily check-in with myself (usually at the end of the day, or at the end of my work day). I go through my planner and do a quick check-off for those things I was able to do, and mentally assess my priorities for the next day. Sometimes I’ll make notes and adjustments on a sticky note in my “sticky note spot”.
If I want to get a LOT of stuff done, I make a secondary list for my husband. Because that guy, he can accomplish SO much in so little time. If I have a lot of things that I’m worried about, like counting the bookmarks in our inventory, or sending out fulfillment for the kid planners, it will get done within like an hour. So that’s my hack - having a very helpful spouse!
What is your best life advice?
We believe this strongly in our family: If you’re curious about something, you need to follow that curiosity! And it doesn’t have to be a big deal! I don’t want to get to the end of my life and say to myself, Ah! I wish I would have learned to make pottery, because it’s super easy to sign up for a 1-day class! And if you like it, you can sign up again. And if you still enjoy it, you can sign up for a membership. And if you find you really love it, you can buy a kiln and a wheel!
Those initial creative urges that we have can be very easily satisfied by taking an online class or by visiting someone in person who does this skill that you’re wanting to learn. My husband, for example, has been really interested in learning lost-wax casting, which is making fine jewelry by pouring molten metal into a mold. So he took a week-long class on lost-wax casting, and now he knows:
A. Does he want to continue to pursue that curiosity?
B. Was that just kind of a fun thing to learn and be done with?
If you don’t try it, you might not know that there is something that would really bring a lot of fulfillment to your life. Giving this same freedom of exploration to our kids is also huge!
What is your favorite quote?
“She shaped her own world exactly to her liking while nobody was looking”
Big Magic By Elizabeth Gilbert
We have so much power within our own homes and within ourselves to create the life that we want. For me, it comes down to things like creating order and organization in my home, making my home feel like a simple but relaxing and comfortable place. Making my environment a place that is filled with beautiful things like art, illustration, fun, and books. It can be a slow process of creating this world that we want.
We are so grateful to Trisha for taking the time to share with us her inspiring mindset, perspective, and approach to running successful businesses and a beautiful life! We hope you are walking away feeling as inspired as we are!
