Unflappable ‘Apprentice' finalist captivates women in Davenport
July 21, 2005 (Quad City Times) ...About 500 women at a networking luncheon Wednesday at the Radisson Quad-City Plaza, Davenport, listened to Goertz as she told about her experience on the show and passed on life lessons...
One in a million is not enough for Tana Goertz. She feels like one in 1.8 million.
That's how many people applied to be on the third season of television's "The Apprentice," a popular NBC reality show where contestants vie to work with entrepreneur Donald Trump.
About 500 women at a networking luncheon Wednesday at the Radisson Quad-City Plaza, Davenport, listened to Goertz as she told about her experience on the show and passed on life lessons.
As soon as she saw the first season of "The Apprentice," Goertz, a Des Moines-based entrepreneur, was hooked and decided to apply for the show with encouragement from her family.
She had a plan to challenge herself and catch the eye of the show's producers. Making her audition tape in Los Angeles, Goertz carried a basket with $500 worth of Mary Kay products into car dealerships and was determined not to quit until she met her goal of selling all her inventory to the men she met there.
"The producers said, ‘Any woman that can sell makeup to men, we want to meet her," Goertz laughed.
She was one of 50 potential "Apprentice" cast members flown to Los Angeles and sequestered in a hotel for a week of interviews with the show's producers.
Surprising those in the audience who are faithful viewers of the show, Goertz revealed that her application tape was for season two of the show. She did not make the cut for that season.
"I was devastated for about 10 minutes," she said, but added that she moved on and opened a clothing store. She also owns a furniture store and an Internet commerce store.
Producers called her months later and asked her to re-interview for season three, something that Goertz attributes to her being "unforgettable."
With eye-catching sequins covering her turquoise skirt and jacket, pacing the stage and never teetering in her 3-inch heels, Goertz on Wednesday advised the captivated audience to be unforgettable.
"So many people are forgettable. I say go out and be unforgettable."
The show's third season pitted a team of people who had practical business experience but no formal education beyond high school against a team of college-educated professionals.
Mark Burnett, executive producer of "The Apprentice," told Goertz she was the inspiration behind forming the "Street Smarts" team.
During some memorable moments in the show's final episodes, Goertz called her former Street Smarts teammates "stooges." She says the editing made her look worse than she was in the situation.
She was also shown going to sleep while fellow contestant Kendra Todd created a car brochure for Pontiac and received accolades for designing the winning product.
Goertz said she, not Todd, designed the brochure, but her contributions were not shown on television due to "creative editing." During the show's live finale, Goertz informed Trump of her contributions to the Pontiac product.
"I thought that would be the turning point and he would hire me," she said, but Trump said the magic words, "You're hired" to Todd instead.
Goertz now thinks show producers, not Trump himself, determine which candidate will win because one hour after the finale, Goertz was offered a job working for the Trump organization.
"I said ‘No thank you. Mr. Trump had an opportunity to hire me an hour ago'," Goertz remembers.
Despite difficult personalities of other "Apprentice" candidates, Goertz said she felt at ease with the high profile businesspeople on the show.
"I never felt more in my element than I did being around those successful, entrepreneurial people," she said. "I was swimming with the sharks."
The feeling of being a shark became the theme of Goertz's motivational children's book, "I'm Bigger than This," which tells the story of a goldfish who discovers he is a shark under his innocent exterior.
Linda Moross, a teacher at Pleasant Valley High School who was in the audience, said many students she sees would benefit from Goertz's positive message.
"I see many young women that suffer from self-esteem issues," Moross said.
Karen Garrett, who attended the luncheon with co-workers from Flowers on the Avenue, Muscatine, Iowa, was motivated by Goertz's can-do message.
"I learned a lot — to go out and be yourself and go out and get what you want," she said.
Wednesday's luncheon, called "Look Smart, Invest Smart, Feel Smart," was presented by Merrill Lynch, Davenport. Other speakers at the event included Heidi Parkhurst and Kristi McGivern of Merrill Lynch, Sandy Hutson of Mary Kay and Lance Carlson of AXA Distributors.
Goertz shared one other piece of information about Donald Trump with the audience.
"His hair is real," she said, to much laughter.
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