From Shy To Franchise Leader: Resilience, Purpose, And Building An Empire

Ready to stop waiting for perfect and start moving? We sit down with Sally Facinelli, president of Summa Franchise Consulting and mom of three, to unpack how she built a career—and a life—by “following the breadcrumbs.” Instead of obsessing over a flawless plan, Sally leans into the next right step, learns fast, and reframes failure as tuition. Her journey from painfully shy to industry leader is a masterclass in resilience, presence, and purpose-driven growth.

We dig into the power of franchising as a vehicle for upward mobility, from first unit to multi‑unit portfolio. Sally shares the traits she sees in standout operators—saying yes, learning quickly, and bouncing back faster than most—and the real stories of people who transformed their lives with a proven playbook. Along the way, we explore how quality time beats quantity, why boundaries protect attention, and how managing expectations can defuse stress at work and at home.

Sally’s perspective expands beyond business. After a life‑threatening car accident, she rebuilt with gratitude, adapted her routines, and found spiritual grounding in nature. Her mantra—leave people better than you found them—shows up in mentorship, women’s empowerment, and small daily acts that create big ripple effects. If you’re navigating career pivots, contemplating franchising, or just trying to show up fully for the people you love, this conversation offers practical tools and a grounded mindset you can use today.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Sally Fassanelli
• 3:33 Follow The Breadcrumbs, Not Perfection
• 6:13 Reframing Failure And Taking Action
• 10:53 From Pastor’s Kid To Finding Her Voice
• 15:43 Fear, Determination, And Self‑Education
• 19:38 Sampling Careers And Choosing Alignment
• 24:43 Accidental Entry Into Franchising
• 29:08 Opportunity At Scale: Franchise Stories
• 32:18 What Top Franchise Performers Share
• 36:43 Presence Over Balance: Boundaries That Work
• 41:58 Quality Time With Family
• 46:18 Leave People Better Than You Found Them

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:57

Hey, what's going on, guys? I got a special guest here today. We have Sally Fassanelli, president of Sumo Franchise Consulting. She also is a parent of three wonderful children, and she's a franchise extraordinaire. Now, Sally, you built an incredible career helping brands, entrepreneurs grow through franchising, all while raising three kids and leading incredible organizations. When you look back, what were some of the defining moments that taught you how to balance ambition with purpose?

SPEAKER_01: 2:32

Defining moments, ambition and purpose. Well, I I kind of come from a place of I come from a place of love, frankly. So I believe that in every thing that you do and every action that you take and all of your commitments, all of those things, you first come from a place of love. And then the rest follows, right? So I focus on helping people, enabling people to do better themselves, helping them up level and grow and continue themselves. And then that helps me with um my ambitions, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00: 3:12

Absolutely. Absolutely. So how can people help themselves? Because there's a lot of people listening right now that are sitting there going, like, Sally's got this incredible bio, incredible career, but I'm just sitting here like, what can I do? You know what I mean? So what what do you think people it really takes people to do? Because people don't realize how many ups and downs we have in life, as we were talking in the pre-call.

SPEAKER_01: 3:36

Yeah, no, there's been there's been a there's been a number of ups and downs in life, both personal and professional. So one of the one of my favorite things, and anybody that knows me has heard me say this I say follow the breadcrumbs. That's how I live. Um, and what that means is you cannot map your life out from A to Z. You do not, you're not able to control it. People do that, and then they get upset when things change and they they're not able to like keep up and change and shift with it and all those things. But what I do is I follow the breadcrumbs. So I might know where I want to get to, right? But all the zigzags, because it's not gonna be a straight line, I don't know what that entails. So I'm like, okay, what is the next breadcrumb? I don't I'm waiting for that to happen. What is my next step? You just have to take a step. I think people's biggest issue is they don't take a step. And it's better to take a step and fail than to not do anything because you are 100% failing if you're just not doing anything. I'd rather, I'd rather have the the chance of of of learning from a mistake versus sitting and nervous and not doing any any next steps, you know. Might not always be the right next step, but no, absolutely, because you're you're so right.

SPEAKER_00: 4:48

Like there's so many people who sit there and think it's gotta be perfect before I launch, it's gotta be perfect before I start, it's gotta be perfect before I let people know. I was talking to someone and he was telling me how he needed a perfect website for his business. And I go, go get a client, brother. Like it's got nothing to do with a perfect website, you're wasting time, and the more time we waste, the less like we feel like we're accomplishing things, but we're really not accomplishing that much. So it's how do you get into action as quick as possible? And then I love how you reframed failure because failure for a lot of people is devastating because in school we sit there, oh, you failed, you you're not good at school, and but in real life, it's like you gotta fail a million times to get anywhere.

SPEAKER_01: 5:33

If you're not failing, you're not growing. I've I've said I say that a lot too. I mean, truly, if you're not making mistakes, it means you're not growing and you're not going to move to that next level, you're not going to be able to up level because that's just kind of part of things. Perfection, there's no such thing as perfection, it's the enemy of of growth, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 5:54

Absolutely. So, what was your what was your childhood like? How how did you get into business? How did all this start?

SPEAKER_01: 6:00

How did I get into business or when was my childhood like? There's two different things there.

SPEAKER_00: 6:04

We can start with the childhood and then we'll move into business.

SPEAKER_01: 6:07

Um, so my dad is a pastor. Actually, he's retired now in the last two years, but my dad's a pastor. So I grew up a pastor's kid, and I was at church uh seven days a week, you know. He ran a church and a school because we had a school at the church, or you know, like a Christian school there. And so that was interesting. I also moved around a lot. We lived in the Midwest, so Oklahoma, and moved around a bunch there. He had like 10 churches there, and then we moved to Maryland. He had one of the biggest churches in the nation there. And I actually lived overseas as well. So I lived in England and Spain and then California as well. So my childhood, I have a very varied background. Like I grew up in the Midwest, and then I went to DC, and then I went to Spain, not necessarily in all that order, but you know, it really kind of made me step outside of my comfort zone because I was extremely shy and nobody knows about me. But until I was a couple years into my franchise career, I you would not recognize who I am. I was such a shy person. I'd sit in my office sweating, like literal bullets. I'd try to be picking up the phone to call like Steve Greenbaum, who at the time was the CEO of and founder of Postnet, and I was like dripping sweat because I was so nervous to call him and he knows the story. And we're great friends now, but I was like so nervous.

SPEAKER_00: 7:25

Yeah. No, I mean, because it can be a lot really challenging when you don't feel like you're up for the role. It's like, how do I handle this? So, how do you overcome a lot of that? Because I know there's people listening right now that are saying, I'm I'm so scared.

SPEAKER_01: 7:40

Well, I think pure determination, I think one of my greatest at skill sets is I'm extremely determined and resilient. So, you know, I will just if I see that there is something that I'm afraid of or something I want to change, I do whatever it takes to do it, no matter how much I'm afraid of it. Because fear is the hardest part. The fear of something and being afraid is worse than the actual doing. And I learned that really, really young. My dad had all these like self-help books. And so at like 12 years old, I'd go into his library and start reading his books, and I'd be like, Well, I don't, I want to change this about myself. Like, this is, I want to be like this, I want to be stronger, I want to be more confident, whatever it was. I don't remember. That was when I was 12. But um, and so I just kind of continued to do that throughout my life.

SPEAKER_00: 8:30

Absolutely. And the more we up-level and like becoming lifelong learners is one of the biggest things to actually having success because there's so many of us that give up so quickly.

SPEAKER_01: 8:40

That's true. I think that you should always be growing in your life, always be learning and always be questioning. It's one of the things I've taught my kids is like question everything because what you believe is 100% accurate today, you might find out you were 100% wrong or what you were taught, or whatever. It could be a completely different story in 10 years, you know. So question everything, investigate everything, and learn, always be learning the more skill sets. That's the other thing I did. So before I got into franchising, I was going to be a surgeon. I was gonna be an oral macrofacial surgeon. Yeah. And I ended up working as a tech and assisting surgeons and, you know, going to school and all that. And I decided that was not the lifestyle I wanted. Although I loved it, it wasn't at the time, that just wasn't what I wanted. And so I was like, what the heck do I want to do? So I got into doing a variety of different things, but people would, I would take every single opportunity that somebody gave me to learn, whether it was typing memos, you know, it didn't mean however basic it was at that time. I just took those steps. I'm like, okay, I want to learn more. Teach me something, teach me how to, you know, what is a PL, you know, anything that I could absolutely learn from people, I just kind of like soaked up the knowledge. Well, I think I got franchising.

SPEAKER_00: 9:57

Well, I think that's amazing because you sit there and people start don't realize that when they uh it's funny, I was literally talking to my the dentist today, and they're like, I don't really like being a dentist. I'm like, what? Are you positive you want to keep brushing my teeth? Like, what are you talking about? And they're like, I don't really enjoy it. And they're like, I'd love to try out a different career. So I said to her, I was like, Hey, if you want to try a different career, I would literally find a job that will offer you a job and then take a day off and go shadow someone and see what that day looks like. Because there's so many of us that want to jump from activity to activity and we think it's gonna be better, like the grass is always greener. And then we're like, I actually really like that about my last thing. And it's hard for us to conceptualize, like, there are good things about this, and there are things that I don't enjoy about this. So I like how you tried things out prior to being like, I want to go be a doctor. Like, yeah, let me let me be in the hospital a little bit first. Let's see what it's like.

SPEAKER_01: 10:49

It was a big commitment to be an oral maxalfacial surgeon, you know. I mean, I actually did enjoy it. We did so many cool things, like we cut people's faces from here to here and decompress their nerves and pull down their face and all that. I mean, it's been a long time, so I can't give you all the technical jargon, but it was really interesting. But 18-hour surgeries, which is something that we did back then a long time ago, um, was not the lifestyle I wanted. And I wanted to have a family at some point. And I I saw, I actually really saw the doctors I worked with who were amazing, but their lives were a mess. They were amazing doctors, but their actual lives were a mess. And I was like, mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00: 11:27

Well, that's a great leading indicator of looking up at the people that have your role or your position and be like, do they seem like they're happy? Do they seem like what they like? No, everyone you talk to is gonna be like, oh, it's just it's just the grind, it's just part of the process. And that's when you know, hey, there might be other options out here.

SPEAKER_01: 11:45

Well, maybe they're super passionate about it too. So if that is their lifelong calling and their passion, that works for them. It was clear to me that that was not my lifelong calling and passion. So, and by the way, Dennis, um, I believe that they have the highest suicide rates because they're if you look at it, it's very interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 12:04

It's crazy, right? No do I. So for you, so for you, how how'd you get into franchising then?

SPEAKER_01: 12:13

So, franchising, I accidentally fell into it twice. I know everybody's tends to just fall into franchising in some way. For me, um, the first time I was in franchising, I was like 20. I had no clue what I was doing as far as the franchising part, but I got sent overseas. And for the company I was working for, which was a technology company during the dot-com era, and I got sent overseas to open up their master offices in the UK, England, UK, France, and Germany, right? Had no idea that I was in franchising, but I went over to replicate what we were doing in the United States. Along the way, I finally realized that I was in a master franchise and it was it was really, really fun. And then I spent a year over there, came back. They didn't have a role I wanted, I wanted to come back to the United States. I I wasn't planning on staying in the UK forever. So I came back, they didn't have something I wanted. I just kind of went back into the job market and said, hmm, let's see what's out there. And I fell into it again. I worked with an emerging brand in Orange County, California. We had 13 locations when I started. And over the course of the next four years, we grew to 500 across five countries. And so that was an emerging brand to a non-emerging brand. I learned so many things in franchising. I realized that that was my passion, was really helping people because the the coolest part about franchising is people can obtain their dreams through business and whatever that level of dream is. One franchise, that's your dream. Amazing, you can do it. You want to own 500, you can totally do it, and you can start from one location and build to 500.

SPEAKER_00: 13:53

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01: 13:54

I know I know people that have done it, you know. So it's the single most rewarding thing is to be able to, you know, just provide opportunity. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 14:03

Because I mean, you probably because you've been in it for I mean, you've just seen so many people, you just see their trajectory of their lives change.

SPEAKER_01: 14:11

You can see there's so many stories that I've I've been lucky enough to witness, or even be a part of, you know, in a positive way, assisting brands, individual people or or franchise, doesn't matter. But there's so all these stories where I know people that didn't even have a high school degree, okay, built, and I won't name names because this is their story to tell, and I've been encouraging them, but built, you know, brands up to over a thousand locations. We'll leave it at that. Wow. If I give their exact number, you might find them, but um, built those up. They had no high school degree. And this particular person I'm thinking of actually was left with two infants to raise and did this. And they built an entire career out of it. I've known and I've known franchisees that have started out, you know, at the bottom where they are quite literally, you know, the person sweeping the floors, and then then they're in a in a franchise location, and then there's somebody that's like, you know, they build themselves up to running that location, then they buy one, and then they build on from there, and there's there's just no limit. You can go as far as you want, and that I love I love that.

SPEAKER_00: 15:17

And so, what do you think the top people have in franchising that allow them to be successful?

SPEAKER_01: 15:24

I think that resilience is big. I think if you're not resilient, um, or you can't learn to be, because it's something I think that you learn to be, uh, you know, you're not don't just come naturally that way. I think resilience is huge, and then the ability to say yes to things, okay, and learn that it's okay to fail. All of those things actually drive somebody that is a high performer that can build an empire.

SPEAKER_02: 15:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 15:51

If they're not afraid to fail, because they're gonna fail. All of those stories, there's a lot of failure along that, you know. They there's a lot of things that they did that didn't work out along the way, a lot of mistakes. People make mistakes. I think most people are really afraid of making mistakes. You know, they think that they gotta be perfect, and you know, that that them that right there will hold them back.

SPEAKER_00: 16:12

Yeah, and they end up failing more often than they think, but they're they just bounce back much quicker. So that's one of the biggest challenges that most of us have is that we just don't even get into action because we're like, oh, we got rejected, we got rejected. No, they're not interested. When meanwhile, you talk to someone and they're like, Oh, wait, this is totally perfect for me. This is actually just what I want to do. So I completely agree with that. It makes it makes a huge difference. So, one of the challenges that I know you and like a lot of people struggle with, not saying you struggle with this, but I know a lot of people struggle with this, is compartmentalizing the family work and presence. So, how how do you think about this and how do you go about it? Just because it with remote work, with everything going on, it's even more ingrained and it's more, it's just it's very challenging.

SPEAKER_01: 17:04

Yeah, I mean, that's that good old balance, work-life balance that doesn't really exist. You know, I think it's funny people are gonna stressed about balancing. I compartmentalize my life. Now, that could be a pro and a con, depending on how you use it. Some people are like, well, isn't that a bad thing? No, what I'm doing is the way I compartmentalize is it allows me to focus my energy and be completely present in whatever it is I'm doing. So when I start multitasking and do too many things at once, everything starts to break down, whether it's my family or my work or whatever, right? So I try to be really, really present. And if I'm at work, if I'm at a conference, if I'm speaking and with people, I am focused on those people. And I'm making an impact because they I think they can feel it.

SPEAKER_00: 17:50

Most people I I mean, I can definitely feel it. I mean, you're running nine brands, all these different things, and you're every time we're on the call, you're like, I'm with you. Where are we going?

SPEAKER_01: 18:00

Try. Now I'm not perfect because there are times because I'm I have too many things going on. There are times that I'm like, okay, I need to recheck in with myself. So what I do is I make I do have boundaries. Um, I do they do get tested all the time, but I make time for like, let's say my family, I have three kids. So I make time when I have my son, especially because he's a younger one, you know, I really focus on him. And unless it's a fire, I'm not getting distracted. I'm present with him, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 18:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 18:31

But then I'm also, and this is another thing I think people don't do, they get really focused on like I gotta be balanced, you know, working out or whatever. I gotta focus on myself as far as checking in. So if you check in with yourself, going, okay, I'm in this mental place. What does that mean? Am I starting to burn out? You don't want to get to a burnout phase because once you burn out, you got to dig out of that hole, right? So, what does it mean? Do I go for a walk? Do I go for a run? Do I, you know, meditate? You know, there's a lot of different options, but what do I need right now? It's not always the same thing.

SPEAKER_00: 19:03

Yeah. No, absolutely. And that's why our schedules, we use them and sometimes they serve us. And then sometimes we're like, hey, we just gotta throw this out. This isn't gonna work. Like we gotta go, we gotta go a little rogue.

SPEAKER_01: 19:15

And then a little rogue is good.

SPEAKER_00: 19:17

No, I mean, it's this idea of like, I mean, a lot of people call it like these side quests and these different things because it's like we have so much going on in our life, but it's how do we how do we focus on like the the truly things that matter to us? And I call it like one of the things I found that a lot of people have is that they have they'll be looking around just in their bubble. And the it's basically like you're in um in a forest, and you're just in the forest, and then you lift your head up and you're above the forest, and you're like, oh my god, I can actually see what the important things are here. And like one of the things that helps me a lot is using this idea of the the grandfather frame. So it's this idea of like you're 80 years old and you're stressing out about something, and you look back, like you're getting advice from your 80-year-old self, like, hey, is this gonna be a big deal? And it's like, no, you're not even gonna remember that. So if you can just go through your mind and realize you're doing these amazing things and just not even, it doesn't even matter. Like, like do the things that are important, do the things that are actually gonna be that impact maker for people. I think that's the best way to do it.

SPEAKER_01: 20:25

Yeah, and stop putting things off. Like, I think if you put things off till tomorrow, you know, things like I don't know, a vacation, or I'm going to do this when when will never come. You it there's always something that can get in the way.

SPEAKER_00: 20:42

Absolutely. And that's why one of my favorite things is like this idea of like really planning out your life and figuring out what you're gonna do and how you're gonna spend your time. Because the truth is, like we like we were worrying about it yesterday, like there's this thing, this thing, this thing. Like, we have so many activities, and it's like, when do you plan intentionally for yourself? Because any other activity that comes up than the one you decided on is not one that you picked, meaning that we don't really get to pick what we want to do, which is a kind of a stressful thing, and it's a little it's a little challenging because everyone wants to be there for everybody. It's like, but it's how do we make the most out of our time and what we're doing? Because I do think it is really healthy. So, I mean, for you, how how do you think about managing travel vacation, like all of this with what with everything you do? Because I know that can be so challenging.

SPEAKER_01: 21:34

Uh managing travel as far as like how as far as what?

SPEAKER_00: 21:38

Like with with your business, with your kids, with your family, like you were telling me how you had like five different trips. I'd like how do you do all this?

SPEAKER_01: 21:47

Sometimes it gets a little hairy and out of control. I'm like, okay, this has gotta like we need to slow this down. So how do I balance that? I wow, if you saw my calendar, excuse me. Sorry, you can edit this, right?

SPEAKER_00: 22:02

Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, it's fine. We're all human here.

SPEAKER_01: 22:05

Oh, sorry. Um, okay, so if you saw my calendar, it's a little crazy, but I will I actually give in to the travel. And I that's I know that's gonna sound weird, but what happens is when I'm actually doing the travel, when I'm going to the airport, when I'm flying to God knows where England or whatever, I just kind of give in to the process of it all and not and I do not get stressed because there are delays, galore, things like how very rarely do I let it annoy me or stress me out. And then I take that time, I can use that time in a way for myself, whether I'm reading a book or watching a movie, things I wouldn't normally get to do very often because I because I have to other things to do, right? And then if I'm trying to balance with my family, I make sure that I'll go somewhere and then I come home and everybody knows, depending on how long I've been gone, like I need to come home, I need to shut down for a minute for myself, and then the next thing I do is focus on my family. So, what do I get to do? I get to go, whatever that means. It could be the weekend, and then we go somewhere, or I'm just hanging out. Sometimes my son wants to just hang out in the same room with him. That's quite literally all he wants. He just wants me in the same room. I could be doing anything. So I just make sure that I have the quality of the time, not the quantity of the time.

SPEAKER_00: 23:17

Yes, I completely agree. And and emphasize a little bit more about the quality versus quantity, because I've thought about this so much where it's like it really is, it makes a big, big difference. So, what do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_01: 23:33

Well, like, so let's say I'm I'm on a trip for 10 days and I come home and I only have my son for a couple of days. My daughters are older, so it's I I talk less about them because they, you know, manage themselves. But my son, I only have him maybe for two or three days, and then I gotta go again, and it's gonna be like kind of broken up. So for those two or three days, I will focus on giving him whatever it is he needs. So do I need to sit in the same room with him while he does his homework? Am I it could be on my laptop for, you know, or whatever, but that is what I do. So it's it's it's a short period of time, but it's meeting what his exact need is.

SPEAKER_00: 24:08

Exactly. Because we don't realize that that we think quality is like you have to be going doing some sort of activity. Meanwhile, kids don't know the difference. I watched a video of this baby, he was like maybe two years old, and the TV was a roller coaster, and they had the the the parents were doing like the roller coaster because the kid doesn't know the difference. Yeah, the kids when they're when they're younger and they just literally want to hang out with you, and that's not hey, we're just gonna sit on the couch and watch TV. Maybe it is sometimes, maybe sometimes it's going outside, maybe sometimes it's whatever works best for them. But I think looking at it through their lens is very, very helpful because it it does make a big difference. And then one of the other big things that you talk about is leaving people off better than when you found them. Where did that start implementing into your life?

SPEAKER_01: 25:01

Well, it's it's something I've just kind of been doing for a long time, and then I've just did it like naturally, and I finally put words to it. And so I actually have a tattoo on my wrist here. It's a heart with um two infinity um symbols and interlinking, and it's to remind me to do this, to not be a bitch, not that I'm bitchy, but you know, we all have our moments, and so my goal is to if I can affect one person at a time, okay, and I can leave them better off than I found them. In other words, I'm not going in and tearing them down, I'm not making their day worse. Maybe I'm having a crappy day and I go to the grocery store and I'm crappy to somebody. They now they're having a crappy day. Well, yeah, say I'm having a crappy day and I go to the grocery store and I smile and I be really nice. And now that person is winning and I'm feeling better too. So it's just even the littlest thing, if I can make a little change in every person that I interact with, and I'm sure there are one or two people out there that I probably haven't been perfect with, but nobody's perfect. If I can do that, then those little ripples I can change, I can change a trajectory for somebody. You can change their entire life by doing one little nice thing.

SPEAKER_00: 26:16

I completely agree. I mean, that's where I started. Uh I have this loop that I do on Saturday mornings, usually where when I'm in Tampa, and I'll run, it's like a five, six mile loop. And it's funny because you run in the morning, there's a lot of people out, so people are out, and I just wave. At first, I was like, Oh, it's kind of weird to wave, and then I was like, No, no, no, it's cool. So then I do a wave and then I throw a morning in there, or I'll throw like a happy Saturday or happy for whatever day it is. And the thing I realize is that you might catch someone, and sometimes people are like, That's awesome. Majority of the time, no one responds. I I'll get a bunch of no response, but that's kind of on me. Maybe I have to be louder, maybe it's got to be different things. But you also sometimes you'll hit someone and they'll just hit you back with like the greatest, hey, how you doing? Happy Saturday. Hope you have an incredible day ever, and you never met each other, and it's just this fun like, how do you stay connected to people? Because there's so many times where it's like, Do I know that person? No, I don't know that person, they're not in my circle. When you look at it through a different lens, of everybody's in my circle.

SPEAKER_02: 27:19

Everybody's in our circle.

SPEAKER_00: 27:20

Yeah, so how do I be nice to them? I don't know. It's something I've been thinking about a little bit because you're absolutely right. The more people are nice to you, if I say hi to them and good morning, they might say good morning to the next person, and it's one human at a time. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01: 27:34

It could be as small as that, which is not small, it's all it's to me big, but it could also be as large as maybe that person was, and I you've read stories, and at least I have, you know, maybe that person was gonna go home and commit suicide that day or whatever, like something significant, or their mom just died, or whatever. And you can just add that one little sprinkle of hope or positivity, and that changes their whole life. And then that person changes their life, they often change other people's lives because they have that we were talking about this earlier, but they have that attitude of gratitude, right?

SPEAKER_00: 28:09

Yes, absolutely. But I mean, the big thing is that they don't have you you'll probably never get recognition for that. So that's the that's the interesting thing where we start to realize like we're doing this out of like our good faith and our good, like, hey, we're gonna make the world a better place, because I've seen people give speeches about that where they're like, this person saved me, and they're like, I don't even know who the person is, but they made me feel accepted, and it's this whole idea that we we we can really make an impact in a lot of strangers' lives, way more than we think possible.

SPEAKER_01: 28:41

Well, imagine if everybody just did this a little bit, yeah. Everybody just did it once in a while, how much of a better place the world would be?

SPEAKER_00: 28:50

I mean, absolutely, absolutely. I completely agree. I think the audience has to sit there and have everyone like everyone's gotta reach out to different people, whether it's a friend, text message, phone number, or it's just you're going on a walk and you want to say hi to someone.

SPEAKER_01: 29:04

Yeah, I like that. I'm gonna do that now. I gotta go on a walk later today.

SPEAKER_00: 29:06

So I'm yeah, we gotta treat them nice, we gotta treat them where we can.

SPEAKER_01: 29:10

California they're gonna be like, oh, this person's talking to me. That's weird. Why is she saying hi?

SPEAKER_00: 29:14

I mean that's but that's the society we're in where it's like, who is that? What do you what are they doing? And it's just like, what's up? Like the thing I like about the running that's kind of funny though, is you never get stuck in a conversation because you're constantly running past people. Yeah, when you do the walking one, it it can go in a million different directions, so it's just you got to keep your pace, but it nobody regardless, it's still better to communicate with people than to do it on your own. Like, we're not meant to be alone. So I think that's really, really important. So, so at Edwards Consulting, we have five pillars there's mental health, physical health, community service, philanthropy, spirituality, and relationships. So I want to ask you today, Sally, what's your mental health like on a one to 10?

SPEAKER_01: 29:58

Today, not not on every day.

SPEAKER_00: 30:00

Not every day. It can be it can be as low as low, it can be as high as high, but just in this moment on 1110 on uh 2025.

SPEAKER_01: 30:11

I don't know. I don't really I don't do low lows. That's it, it's just not my thing. Um, thank god for that because I do know a lot of people that do. I I don't have that. I would say I'm probably around a somewhere between seven and eight. Okay, that's where I would want to be, but still not bad.

SPEAKER_00: 30:29

What do you think's allowing you to be at the seven and eight? And what do you think would be needed for it to be a little bit higher?

SPEAKER_01: 30:36

Just more self-care to get more to get higher. It's just you know, the the the weight of the world pressing down gets me frustrated sometimes. I don't like to be aggravated or frustrated, but but still, I mean a seven or eight isn't terrible.

SPEAKER_00: 30:50

So no, absolutely. But what do you mean like the weight of the world and all that? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01: 30:54

Well, running seven companies, um, having three kids, going to college, um, just being on a few of the things in my life. There is there is a lot going on.

SPEAKER_00: 31:05

So it's the challenges that come up and it's the things that come on board.

SPEAKER_01: 31:09

Yeah, sometimes when there's a lot of challenges all at once, just like anybody, it gets you stressed.

SPEAKER_00: 31:14

Yeah, and we we talked about this a little bit in the prior. Um the idea that helps with that um for anyone listening is we have to set expectations in the space of when our expectations are not met, we become stressed out, basically. So, like if we have this expectation of I'm only gonna have three problems today, and then 10 problems come and you're like, I hated my day. That was so scary. Yeah, but if you have the expectation of I'm gonna have I'm looking for 30 problems and only 10 of them show up, you're like, Man, that was an easy day. What happened? And I know that's a crazy concept for people to understand, but It's just the truth. Like, if we can match our day with our expectations so that we're not disappointed, then we'll have much better experiences. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01: 32:08

Think about this. I think one of people, especially in relationships of any kind, like business or whatever, one of the things that cause the most pain, drama, you know, breakups, whatever, is expectations. Not having said expectations met, right? And the more that you can do something in alignment with what you're saying, where you're not where your your expect when your expectations aren't met, it it's not affecting you the same.

SPEAKER_00: 32:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 32:42

You know, you're not you're now now your day isn't completely blown because it was gonna be a perfect day and everything was gonna go just in order like it should be, which never happens. Maybe some people it happens for. Um, but you know, if you weren't expecting that, then now you're not going to have that, like you said, you're not gonna have that trauma.

SPEAKER_00: 33:02

Absolutely. And then even when you brought up relationships and expectations there, it's a lot of those are undiscussed expectations that I've seen people where they're like, I will not take the garbage out. And it's like, just ask the other person to take the garbage out.

SPEAKER_01: 33:18

Like expect people to read read your mind. I can't wait to I am not in your mind. I cannot read it.

SPEAKER_00: 33:23

It does not have to be something like that, it's got to be more of a a conversation, a working thing, because there's too many times in our life where we sit there and like you said, you have a hundred things going on. How can I remember if I don't even know what it is? I can't interpret the one thing that you think is the most important.

SPEAKER_01: 33:41

So I've talked to girls and they're like, Well, he like in a in a male, uh, female relationship, like romantic, and they're like, Well, he should know what I want. How? How have you ever told him what you want? Because he can't read your mind. And by the way, he's a guy, you're a girl, you know. These are walked on him for a long time. Well, that's great, but we're all human.

SPEAKER_00: 34:05

Yeah, no, we all make mistakes, true. Um, what about physical health on a one to ten? How are you feeling there? I know you just how are you feeling physical?

SPEAKER_01: 34:16

Well, that is a mixed bag. So I'm going to go with the positive of things are greatly improved. I had a crazy car accident four and a half years ago that nearly killed myself and my daughter. And I've got neck, back, shoulder, brain issues. Um, most people don't know about it. But all in all, I am freaking happy to be alive. I just had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago. Went really great. So that's improving. Um, so physically, probably realistically, around a five or six, but I'm feeling like an eight or nine. So does that make sense? It's like it's my mental, where my mental's at versus where my body is.

SPEAKER_00: 34:54

Well, I mean, it's mental controls it. Well, I mean, it's also this idea of the expectations. Like, we literally just took, I almost died to I can't believe I'm able to do as much as I can today, and that's amazing. Because a lot of us sit there and they go, Oh, my body's just not what it once was. Because we we gauge it against our 21-year-old self, and we're like, Oh, I look different then. No, right, obviously. I mean, that's okay, it's not a good or bad thing, but if you do it that way, you're gonna be disappointed. If you do the expectation of I could, I could have died, like I could have been amputated, I could have like there could have been a million different things that could have happened. I just think that's such a healthy frame that you just viewed it through. So I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01: 35:38

At first, I was, I did think about it like I was in so much pain. I did get depressed, and you know, I was like looking at my life and all the things I could not do. Uh that's the frame I I started with. And what I couldn't do, that you know, uh how the project the trajectory of my life, how that how things were then shifted because of this crazy car accident. And I was like, wait a minute, no, wait a minute. Why am I focused on all this? I'm gonna focus on the gratitude part and that I'm here alive, my daughter is alive, and you know, I'm gonna work through all this other stuff and I'm going to enjoy different things, you know, find new passions, you know. Yeah, snowboarding for me. That's okay.

SPEAKER_00: 36:17

No, absolutely, because it it's it's really important for us to do that because otherwise, I mean, you hear from a lot of people where they just their lives are end, not not actually physically end, but just mentally end because they just can't handle the the challenges.

SPEAKER_01: 36:34

That's the resilience aspect of life. Yes, so Adam's very determined.

SPEAKER_00: 36:39

No, but the resilience is important because the more resilience we have, the stronger we can go, and the longer we can face these challenges. You know what I mean? It's something that a lot of us face, and it can be very challenging. So the third pillar is community service philanthropy. So some people are super active, some people are like, I don't really know. Some people where are you at? How do you feel on that?

SPEAKER_01: 37:01

Well, I start with that one human at a time thing, right? I try to do it on a day because what I found is if I if I just were did it something philanthropic where I'm going out and feeding the homeless or something like that, that's those are like pieces in time that's not consistent, right? At least in my life. So I start with that. And then in general, I'm I'm really about driving female empowered empowerment. I have grown up in a totally dominated man's world, and don't get me wrong, I love men, they're great. Um, but I also see the need to help women get like up level and get to where they, you know, want to be, whether it's the CEO of a company or whatever it is that they want to get to. So I'm really about helping those people and I try to give back as much as I can. So if so if it's something like a podcast or somebody asks me to speak, or I go to an event and I, you know, in any way that I can, I'm saying yes to those things and doing them. I've also done things like, you know, charity work of a variety of kinds. I was involved with a bunch of different dog organizations, dog charities, because my last business was dog business. Loved animals so much, you know, feeding the homeless. I've been doing that since I was, I don't know, maybe 10. And when I lived in DC, I would go do the soup kitchens and things like that. And just kind of like, what can I do? So Thanksgiving. You know, I know that this is these are the small things, but the small things add up. I asked my daughters, I'm like, who do you know that doesn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving? And they're believe me, there are plenty of their friends, kids, the parents don't live here or they don't have families for whatever reason. Um, I'm like, okay, you come to my home, you know. So those I just do a lot of little things.

SPEAKER_00: 38:45

Yeah, but I think that's makes it more lifestyle-wise, like it makes it more achievable than we're gonna do this big grandiose gesture and it's gonna be one time and one time a year. Yeah, no, but I'm saying it it really is that how do we help? And how do we view what we're actually doing as help? Because there's so many of us. Like, I like how you brought up your business capacity because there's a lot of us in business who go, That's part of my job, that's not community service, and you're like, Well, I don't have to go speak at these places, I don't have to do a podcast, I don't have to inspire women. I want them to know that it's possible, and you can be that boss babe and be at home and be a mom and do like that's inspiring to a lot of people, you know what I mean? Because it is a challenge, especially with gender roles, as you said. Like, it's not it's not easy, like it's really not as as it once was.

SPEAKER_01: 39:41

No, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 39:43

So it's definitely this idea of how do we create the life we want, and sometimes it's by helping people. So, what do you think women could do to kind of up level if they want to find a better job or be be in a better company or create their own company?

SPEAKER_01: 40:00

I think one of the important steps, if they can find somebody, whether it's finding somebody to watch and emulate, okay, whether that's a podcast, you know, you know, or some sort of figure that they tune into frequently and learn from, it goes back to that learning a lot, you know, just taking those little things and then emulating those people. Okay, this is where I want to get to. I can start emulating, I can start, you know, being inspired by maybe inspiration is one of them, or um, this person did it, so I can do it too. I think they start there. I know it's it sounds basic, but sometimes you gotta start at the most bottom piece, and that will get you to that next breadcrumb and then the next level where then you can say, okay, maybe I find a mentor, you know, or a coach or something like that that can help me. So a mentor, like I've mentored a number of people. I'll mentor anybody as long as they're willing to actually learn and take the advice and learn. If they're not, I'm like, okay, well, you know, then I'm talking to the air. We don't want to do that. I don't have a lot of time to waste. But then find a mentor, and those mentors, you know, can help you at different stages.

SPEAKER_00: 41:12

I completely agree. I mean, they say that the five people around you affect you the most, and the more virtual we get, the more people don't realize that honestly, like maybe your TV show person or maybe your YouTube person or the book person, they might be in your top five because we're not talking to humans as much. Like it's crazy. But that might be true. But but that's a very good thing. Because if you can get high up people to be in your top five just through the free content they put out, that's a game changer because not everyone's got unlimited time, so no one has unlimited time, so it's just such a benefit.

SPEAKER_01: 41:51

That's our single most valuable commodity. We would we all the time that we spend, we never get back. You can't you can make more money, you can love more people, but you can never create more time.

SPEAKER_00: 42:02

Exactly. So it's just that important thing of like this really helps you. So I appreciate you sharing that. Let's get on to the last two pillars. So the la the second to last one is spirituality. So on a one to ten, what do you think your spirituality? And this can be religious, this could be non-religious, this could just be how you view the world. It's really up to interpretation of how you feel.

SPEAKER_01: 42:23

I feel like I I waffle around a nine, sometimes higher, sometimes lower. Um in general, my spirituality, I am not religious. While I grew up religious, I am not religious. And I I say that because I'm very spiritual. I have a lot of the background, you know, the Christian beliefs and all the things that I was raised with. None of that's left, but I'm inclusive. So to me, there's more things um, you know, in spirituality. It's it's it's a more broad, loving perspective. Not that religion is bad. I'm not saying I don't want anybody to get me wrong on that because I think it's great. Um, I just I have learned a lot, huh?

SPEAKER_00: 43:02

What I've seen is that every religion is like their own community, and then usually when people are very like empowering or to have different have their own communities kind of thing, they they view spirituality as a different lens, you know what I mean? I I that's just something I've seen a little bit more where it's like that people are so busy, have so much going on that it's like they view spirituality as a little bit different, and it's not there's a lot of people who have the frame of it just being religion, like you said, but that's not what it has to be. So, so what do you view? Because honestly, nine is pretty high. So, what do you think of when you think of spirituality and like how do you feel in touch with it kind of thing?

SPEAKER_01: 43:41

Well, so spirituality is a very broad brushstroke stroke. Yeah, for me, it involves my relationship with myself, my relationship with the higher power, whatever everybody calls it, you know, it could be God, Jesus, you know, it could be a guru. A lot of people, it's different for other people. Um, so for me, it's it's very much about connecting with my own self and where I'm at, and then again, helping others, right? I think I think that's part of spirituality. It should be like absolutely sport. So, you know, then constantly learning. I'm I'm I'll go out and hang out in a forest for a while because I need to just kind of like be that to me is a spiritual experience, being alone in the forest.

SPEAKER_00: 44:31

Where do you go in the forest? Well, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01: 44:34

There's a place that I love, I haven't been in a while, but um, up in Northern California, the giant sequoias. Oh my god, that is such a powerful place. I love it so much. It's just these enormous trees that you can just go and it's like quiet, other than the rustling of the leaves and maybe something coming by. But you can go, and that in itself is a spiritual experience. Being like alone with yourself, you know, if you're religious and you believe in God or any other higher power, you can communicate there with them with that with God.

SPEAKER_00: 45:04

You know, I love that. Yeah, no, I mean it honestly, it happens every time you're in nature, people don't realize how good nature is for you. Like we were in the uh the Dalmanites in Italy, and they had um it was Ortice, and they had all these lists where they would take you to these different areas, and each one was so unique because it was just the mound ranges, like you're kind of up there and you're seeing all the mountains and you're seeing all the stuff, and it's just this incredible experience of wow, there's so much around me. I could see so much, I could feel so it's just it's cool, absolutely. Yeah, I completely agree. It is, and then the last one's relationship or relationships, it could be family, friends, it's however you interpret it. But what do you think about your relationships work-wise?

SPEAKER_01: 45:53

Yeah, work-wise.

SPEAKER_00: 45:55

Well, I'll whatever you want to. I don't know, it's all encompassing, it's kind of up to you.

SPEAKER_01: 45:58

I was gonna say, if we blend them all together, I mean, I feel like I'm in the highs. I don't know, I kind of like my life. I kind of do. I gotta, I mean, there are things I want to change and always be up-leveling, but I'm like, in general, hmm, I'm gonna go on a pessimistic view here, probably around a seven or eight. I think I'm there at a lot of things. You know, there's always things that can be better in my life um with relationships, but the people in my life, I have great relationships with. I'm very, I'm very, very, very blessed to have, you know, amazing children and amazing friends and colleagues.

SPEAKER_00: 46:35

I'm very lucky. I'm sorry. How do you maintain the relationships? Just the reason I ask that is because some people have this, from what I've seen, is like a falling off. Not so much, but just as they grow in age, they're like they're obviously have their family, and then it's like friends, and then it's work, and you've seen those charts where it's these people end up spending more time alone. But how do you think you manage relationships better?

SPEAKER_01: 47:01

Two ways. It goes back to both compartmentalization and expectations. I'm not even kidding. So the fun part about that is as we all, you know, get more responsibilities, work, kids, families, whatever those things are, then your relationships start to peter off, right? Just because you don't have as much time. Well, expectations is huge in that. So I have girlfriends that I've known for 25, 30 years now. And I could not talk to them for two months. We could not pick up the phone. And suddenly the next time we call, it'll be like just like we picked up where we left off. Now, am I mad at her because I haven't talked to her in two months that life got in the way? No, I'm not. And is she? No. So that's like the expectation part. And then again, with the commartalization, really focusing when I do talk to them and spend the time, we really focus. Like we just went to Ireland. There's three of my four four of our girls together. We went to Ireland, and we were we shared a room most of the time. Four women, but we did it purposely because we could all have our own rooms, it's not a big deal. But we wanted to be together to spend that focused present time with each other because we don't get to see each other all that much. So I think advantage. I completely agree.

SPEAKER_00: 48:19

I am a big proponent of like with the more intentional you are of like, hey, we're gonna share the rooms, like, yes, it helps, but at the same time, it's also like you run into each other and then you start having story time, and there's none of that, like that person disappeared for three hours. Like, maybe that's a good thing, but they're still like you wanna you only have so much time, so you got to make the most of it. So I think that's super important.

SPEAKER_01: 48:43

Absolutely until we passed out. It was great.

SPEAKER_00: 48:46

Absolutely, absolutely. So, Sally, you've been incredible. We've touched on so much. Where can people learn more about you and learn more about what you're what you got going on?

SPEAKER_01: 48:57

Well, if you can spell my name, which I know is not super simple. Um, but if you can spell my name, just Google me. I you can find me on any, pretty much anything. Of course, LinkedIn for professional purposes, Facebook, Instagram, um I don't know, YouTube.

SPEAKER_00: 49:13

Awesome. I'll put it in. Don't worry, it will get all it'll all get out there. Don't worry. Thank you so much for coming on. This was awesome.

SPEAKER_01: 49:20

All right, thank you. It was a pleasure.