Business Blasphemy

EP121: Women Leading with Values, Power, and Presence with Sarah Gibbons

• Sarah Khan • Season 5 • Episode 121

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This week, I sit down with executive leadership coach Sarah Gibbons, founder of Sarah Gibbons & Company, to talk about what it really means to lead with depth, connection, and courage.

We unpack the outdated definitions of leadership that still dominate corporate spaces, and how women can redefine power, purpose, and presence on their own terms.

Sarah shares her journey from Amazon and MySpace executive to founder of a global coaching practice, and we dig into hard work vs hustle, leading from values vs expectations, and so much more.

If you’ve ever been labeled “too ambitious,” “too much,” or “too direct,” this conversation will remind you that your voice, your values, and your vision belong at the center of your leadership.

Guest Bio:

Sarah Gibbons is an executive leadership coach and founder of Sarah Gibbons & Co., a global coaching practice devoted to helping individuals and organizations lead with depth, connection, and courage. With 15+ years of experience, she’s worked with visionary leaders at companies like Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Wieden + Kennedy, Weitz Foundation, The LA Clippers, TBWA\Chiat\Day, BMO Bank and more.

She’s the co-author of The Chalk Collective: Drawing the Life You Deserve and co-host of The Tidal Podcast. A mother of three boys and a proud Pacific Palisades resident, Sarah draws strength and insight from her personal experiences, especially in the wake of the devastating fires that touched her community.

At the heart of Sarah’s work is a belief: leadership is personal. She helps her clients unlock aliveness, build self-trust, and lead with a legacy that reflects who they truly are.

Connect with Sarah:

If you want to work with Sarah, this is your shot: applications are now open for The Board — her exclusive leadership coaching experience for creatives, entrepreneurs, and executives. Kicking off February 2026 with just 8 seats, this is a rare chance to be coached, challenged, and championed by one of North America’s top leadership coaches. Apply now!

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And if you’re ready to dive even deeper, grab a copy of my book Bite-Sized Blasphemy and ignite your inner fire to do life and business your way.

The Business Blasphemy Podcast is sponsored by NYSH Strategic and Sarah Khan Out Loud.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to this space where bold truths, real strategies, and unfiltered stories fuel ambitious women who want more power, leadership, and legacy on their turn. Because in common circles, a woman doing what she wants, how she wants, and winning is a blasphemist. Welcome to Business Blasphemy. Hello, hello, blasphemers. Welcome back. This is Business Blasphemy, where we dismantle the rules of business and leadership so ambitious women can lead on their own terms. I am Sarah Kahn, speaker, leadership strategist, and your ever-blasphemous host. I'm very pleased to have one of my new friends on the podcast today, Sarah Gibbons. She is an executive leadership coach and founder of Sarah Gibbons and Company, a global coaching practice devoted to helping individuals and organizations made with depth, connection, and courage. We, as always, when I have guests on the show, we started having a really great conversation offline. And I wanted to like, no, we gotta have this online. So, Sarah, welcome. This is the first time I've had another Sarah on the show, so it's actually kind of cool. Um, my first question that I I kind of ask everybody is can you give me like the Coles notes of your villain origin story? Like, how did you come to being your own boss and having your own business?

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. First of all, uh thank you so much for having me. And so cool that you also spell your name with an H. But more than anything, it is the only way to s to spell it. Uh, but I really, when I when you and I first talked a few months ago, it was post uh the fires in LA and I'm in LA, and I was so struck by how much of a connection I felt to you, both professionally and also as a as a mom to mom. So I'm really I'm delighted to be here and really honored to be in your community. So thank you for having me. Okay, what'd you call it? My villain, my villain, villain origin story. Yeah, my villain origin story. Uh well, let's see. I started a little company. I didn't start a little, I started at a little company called Amazon in 2000. And at the time, there was this other guy there named John Gibbons, who now has been my husband for 18 years. And he and I started uh really what was the early days of their online advertising. And I loved it for many reasons, because I loved the fast pace, I loved to travel. But very quickly, through working there for a few years and then going over and helping manage a team over at a little social media company called MySpace, I quickly realized that something was off in my heart that I really, even though I loved the travel, I loved the people I was working with, I loved the fast pace of it, it was lacking a purpose for me. And so, long story short, we'd moved to London. And when we came back after working in London for a few years, I went back to school and got my master's in spiritual psychology that I had been working with a coach at the time. And that really opened up my doors to this idea of working with teams, working with individuals, centered around leadership. And I just noticed that I started to feel at home with the work and more fulfilled. And I think I've always known that I was meant to be an entrepreneur because I've never liked working for anybody else. I've I've had amazing bosses that I still keep in touch with, but even in my early days at Amazon at 24, I was like, hey, I'd like to take a sabbatical. They're like, You've been here for a year and a half. We've never had anyone ask that. And I did, I took a sabbatical and went to New York. So I've always kind of beat to my own drum. And I also love to make money. And I the sky's the limit when you're an entrepreneur. I really saw that as an opportunity more than anything. So I've had my business now for over 15 years, and I love what I do. I love my people, I love the work.

SPEAKER_01:

So tell me a little bit about what you do. Because I mean, one of the things that has has become more and more important to me as the business has evolved and as like the podcast has evolved and the brand and everything is the idea of everybody talks about leadership. I know a lot of leadership coaches and a lot of leadership consultants and strategists, but they seem to kind of still be working from the same hymn sheet of the old, you know, seven models of leadership that men have been told to follow in order to be, you know, strong leaders, powerful leaders, whatever. What is different about the way you see leadership from the way it's been traditionally done or taught to us?

SPEAKER_00:

That's a that's a great question. And you're right, we still to this day are taught often that leadership looks like a title, or it looks like you know, you make a certain amount of money. I fundamentally believe that all of us are leaders. And leaders, as long as we are breathing schools and session and the way in which we show up and and be both in our core, but also the actions that we take, that's our leadership. And so I spend a lot of my time with my clients, number one, helping them remember how powerful they are. So we do a lot of work ontologically looking at their way of being. And I think what I've found at the end of the day is to your point, a lot of people talk about leadership, but what is the actual experience of leadership? What is the impact that you have on yourself, on people around you? Are you creating the impact that you want to have? And are you taking ownership of your impact? And the one thing I've really noticed with the people that I coach, there's definitely a value set. You know, it's people who very much care about growth. They're constant learners, they care about connection, they care about purpose and impact. They also really care about having fun. And one of the things that I think we've been taught a lot is that the higher you grow in leadership, the more responsibility you take on, and the more demanding it is, this whole idea of like hustle. Not to be confused with hard work. There is not an ounce in me that ever wants to go hustle. I'm turning 50 next year. I have three teenage boys, I have a marriage, I don't want to be hustling. I will work hard. And I've seen that with my clients. And so a lot of the work that I do, there's there's definitely people come to me with tangible goals, whether it be financial goals, whether it be executive presence, whether it be launching a business because they're moving from corporate into being an entrepreneur. But the piece that I hold sacred as much as the end result is what is the experience that you are going to have along the way? Because we all know that you can get to the end of the line, you can graduate from a school, you can get the job that you thought you wanted, or you can buy the car, you can buy a house. But if your experience along the way left you feeling disconnected to yourself, to others, unfulfilled, or just not experiencing a level of joy, then what's it all for anyway? So yeah, that's a very sort of roundabout way of saying, you know, I do help people remember how powerful they are and have the experience that they're ultimately wanting to have along the way.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that. I think I I wrote down what you said, you know, what is the actual experience of leadership? And I don't think that is something enough or any people really consider. No. Whether it's, you know, mentors or leaders themselves, particularly women. A lot of the advice that we get in the leadership space, I mean, most, I mean, most people that I've talked to, leadership means we are the boss, we are managing people. There's really no contextualization of what leadership is supposed to look like, what it can look like. You've worked with a lot of uh high-level leaders in executive positions. What is some of the most harmful leadership advice that you see kind of recycled in those executive spaces? I I was in corporate for a number of years, almost.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01:

What is what's some of the more harmful leadership advice you've you've seen, and why do you think it still gets treated as truth?

SPEAKER_00:

Gosh, it's so funny. I'm so trained to be in possibility. That's the way my brain thinks. It doesn't mean that I don't lose hope. But I'm I have to say, I'm having to like dig deep a little bit for this. But I would I if I reverse this in my in my mind, one of the things I particularly see with women is a challenge of speaking up and speaking their truth because they will be known as a bitch. Yep. Hand out. And right? I mean, I think we all can relate to that. I don't know why, you know, I, you know, a lot of my girlfriends uh are incredibly hardworking. You know, like I said, I'm almost 50, so we've been in the work world for quite some time and they hold senior positions or they've been entrepreneurs for a long time. And I'm sure if I asked them, every single one of them would say, Oh, yeah, there's been plenty of times when I have uh gotten feedback in a formal review or just subtly that I'm because I'm voicing my opinion, because I'm being passionate about something, that I am coming across as a bitch. And that is such a detriment. And I do think there's a double standard here. And so where I see this show up with my clients is you know, women, just like men, bring something totally extraordinary to the table that that men don't. And so for women to silence themselves or dumb or dim their ideas and not share their full breadth and light of who they are, yeah. One, it does a disservice to everybody else. It's also actually really selfish on their part because every single person has something unique to offer. And so, you know, I think this is something that is still very much, I see it in certain industries, obviously more than others. You know, I coach executives and finance and a lot of creative, obviously, and based in LA. But I see, I really do see a tech, I see it all over the place. But I do think it is, I think it's a real challenge. And it's something that we as women, it's not a weakness, but I do find it's a muscle that, you know, being coached around and ensuring that we are using our voices and that we are, and that we're not afraid to articulate thoughts when they're not fully baked and to say the thing. And then the cool thing about leadership is that, you know, I really try to operate from this that, you know, progress over perfection. And the cool thing about leadership is you can always come out of leadership and come back in. It's not like we're always on in the sense of trying to get it right. You know, if I make a mistake on something or I say something to my team, I can say, hold on, I can tell by your faces this didn't come out the way I wanted it to. Let me read, let me try this again. And that's a so I really working with a lot of my female clients to practice what it's like to one, be connected to your to your authentic voice, to express your authentic voice and to take yourselves a little bit less serious in the sense of it's okay to make mistakes and not to confuse owning your power with this idea that you're then a bitch. I mean, I'm 5'10, I've gotten this my whole life. You know, you you you can be intimidating, sir, when you walk into a room. Okay. And for a long time, I would kind of dress a certain way, not to like, I didn't want to take up too much. And then I got to a point where I was like, you're not be worrying about this. This is nuts. That sounds like a you problem, not a me problem. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. What am I doing? Why am I doing this? So yeah, I think, you know, I think that's a very I mean there's so many, but that one comes to mind right away.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and and I I'm sure lots of people have had that experience. I certainly have. I've been called aggressive, I've been called a bitch, I've been called like so many things. And I've actually had that that same feedback of like, you know, you need you're you're being too ambitious. Like me going into um a meeting. I I remember um my boss had sent around an email because we were, you know, shuffling the department. And he said, you know, there's some positions coming up. Email me, let me know which ones that you're you're interested in being considered for. And so I emailed him. I said, I would really love to be considered for this one position. It was an advisory position. And he called me into his office the next morning and I said, you know, I was like, oh, okay, maybe I'm gonna I'm gonna get it or we're gonna talk about it. And he said, the advisory role? I said, yeah. He says, it's a little ambitious for you, isn't it? And I'm like, I have been here for nine years. Like, what what's what's the problem with that? Like, I'm the highest rated person in the department, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it was outside of the scope that he saw me within. Right. And at the time, there was a lot of, oh, okay, you know, you're you're the boss, you must know better. I mean, I it didn't feel right, but there was the deferring because I I wasn't confident enough in myself to say, actually, you're incorrect. Like I I wasn't nearly strong enough or courageous enough to do it at that time. Looking back on it now, I know exactly what it was. I know the job went to a dude, he was less senior than me. Like it it was as you would expect it to play out.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And now I look back and I think to myself, all you can see like all of the times where I deferred because I didn't fit the role somebody else perceived me in. And I see so many women doing that, not just as women in leadership spaces in formal employment, but I see it a lot in the entrepreneurial space as well. Like you're coming in as an expert in your area, in your subject matter, but somebody who comes in with their subject matter expertise. Like you, you, for example, you know, if you're an operations expert or a strategy expert, but you don't have a lot of expertise in marketing, there's this almost um like this this impulse to not push back when when you know something doesn't feel right because they're the expert. So that that self-leadership piece is still lacking in a lot of people, I find. And it's it's not you know, through any fault of their own. It's just, I think it's how we are conditioned, particularly as women.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh a hundred percent. And this idea, I mean, I hear this even with uh, you know, coaches that I've worked with who have been coaches, you know, for as long as I have, if not longer, that sense of imposture syndrome, as if somehow we have to know everything. You know, I do see it in in men, but more so in women, this this working towards rather than excellence perfection. And that's a real, yeah, it's a total trap.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And it makes us doubt ourselves. I have a question. So earlier you talked about hustle. I mean, I'm super anti-hustle, so I'm glad that you're as well. Yeah. We're both moms, we both have kids in school, we have teens. I I have a teen and a and a little. And I understand that there is a marked difference between hustle and hard work, but how do you balance hard work with success when you are a mom too? Because I feel like we're still in that space of like choose one or the other, you can't have both. Or yeah, you've got to say a sacrifice element. Like how, so how do you balance that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Such a good question, Sarah. And I want to honor, I want to answer this as truthfully and transparently as I know how. I think for me, first of all, I have three boys. So when I had that third boy, I quickly realized, okay, this is I'm outnumbered and I'm gonna have to, this is not if I wanted to hustle, it's just it's not gonna happen. And we had our boys all very close together. So what I have learned is that intentionality it goes much further than hustle. And so, in a very practical world, what this looks like is I got clear for me. And I'm speaking as someone who has an established business. So I think it's a little bit different when you when you're starting your business and it's not quite as easily defined. So I figured out for me, in order to really be intentional and have the experience I want to have, both as a mom and as a coach and entrepreneur, that for me, no more than four coaching calls a day, ideally, preferably three, because sometimes those are team calls, sometimes they're individuals. So I got really clear on that. That gets on the calendar. I got really clear that if I don't work out in the morning, it doesn't happen. I'm not an evening person. I also got really clear that it is important to me to make my kids breakfast and to be with them, to be present for breakfast. And so that's on the calendar. What I have learned over time is that the harder things to fit in are new business development, because that requires a different kind of thinking. So if I only have an hour scheduled in between calls to jump into outreach or research, that can be a little challenging. So I've had to flex those muscles and learn how to be because I used to be like well, I need to have at least two hours. If I don't have two hours, I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Nope, that's not always the choice. So I've had to learn new skills, how to flex and um train myself essentially. All that to be said, I have also gotten very crystal clear on what is most important to me. My husband and my children's well-being and my own well-being is number one. And then my clients come second. So I was sharing with you this morning one of my boys. We switched schools this year, and it's a second day, and he woke up with just paralyzed fear, didn't want to go to school today. Yeah, we've been down this road before, so we're not, you know, it's not our first rodeo, but it still I realized in that moment, okay, this might be a day where I might have to make some shifts professionally. And I waited to see, like I was like, I really want to have this call with Sarah. I have a two-hour call uh with my board right after this. Uh, I have another call after that. Uh, but I'm gonna just hold on that for a minute and I'm gonna put my energy here. So there's also some letting go of expectations. I think we, as particularly as well, I would say working dads as well, but I'm just I want to speak to our community, your community here, working moms. I am very clear on my values. And I think the more intentional I am, and when I start to lose sight of my North Star throughout the day, I can go back to and go, well, what matters most to me? Family, being of service. So that's showing up for my clients in a way that I can put my head on my pillow at night and know that I am integrity with them. And then, and then the rest of my values. And so I think where people really struggle, and I don't think balance is a real thing. I think it's more like this idea of work-life wholeness and and architect you know, being the architect of a day that really works for you and different days look differently. But I do think the more that people can be intentional and really get, and and I have a coach who said this to me for years, Sarah, you got to slow down to speed up.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So if I, you know, I'm a big fan of the five-minute journal, and you know, each day it's like, what's the one thing that would feel good to me today to complete? And it's one thing. I'm I'm and so when someone says, Well, Sarah, I have this list of 10 things, I mean, I have lists around here, but that's not how that's not where it runs my day. It's really the values that run my day, and I'm extremely intentional and I'm crystal clear on my priorities each day. And that that has served me. And I can say, like, I run my schedule how I want to run my schedule. And I am so grateful for that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I love, I mean, there's so many nuggets there, you know, particularly knowing what your values are. I I think with women, particularly when one of our core pieces of our identity, I guess, is service. We tend to prioritize that over and above everything else. So, I mean, I love the fact that you prioritize your own wellness. Um, I mean, I have a very dear friend who's actually uh an entrepreneur therapist because she understands the the challenges that are specific to entrepreneurs. That's so good. You know, yeah. I mean, and she's she's amazing, and and she's actually done an episode. So if you're listening, you can go back and listen to the episode with Shula, um, who's the entrepreneur's therapist. Um, but this idea of like we don't really take care of our mental health, we don't really take care of our physical health, you know, so much is is riding on this perception that we have to be perfect, that we have to show up a hundred percent in every single area, or we like swing to the other end of the pendulum where it's just super vulnerable and messy and a complete, you know, chaos bucket. And it's finding that balance, like you said, like finding sorry, not even balance, it's finding that wholeness, it's finding that integration of all of the pieces of your life. Yeah. I would love to know, like, I know because I can I can sort of uh sense that we are kindred spirits here. You you've been a leader for a very long time. How did motherhood change or or impact your leadership and your perception of leadership?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my gosh. Well, I'll be curious to hear if we get some comments on this. My motherhood journey. So I became a mom in London. I had our oldest over there. And we had Levi in November. So November in London is like cold and rainy and snowy. And this baby popped out. And I remember looking at this baby and being like, oh my gosh, this is like, who is this thing? Like, I have to take care of it 24 hours a day. It can't do anything. I remember my my mom came to town and we went to this pub that we had, you know, would go to down the, you know, down the street for lunch. And mom and I took baby Levi in there, and Levi was colicky. So we're scarfing down our food because the whole time I'm like, if he wakes up, he's gonna light up. There's no like zero to ten. It's like boom, he's awake. And I remember my mom looked at me and she goes, Does it feel like everyone around here is living a normal life? And I said, Yes. And I just started to sob. I was like, what have I done? Like there was nothing that could prepare me for the sense of responsibility that I felt. And I remember later that week calling my aunt, who's like a second mom to me, who has four boys, uh, my cousins. And I called her and I said, in tears, I don't know how you did this four times. And she's like, I promise you it'll get easier if you decide to have another one. And yes, it is hard work, but it will like you just can't, you can't see what you can't see right now. It's like, okay, I have I like I trust her with all my heart, I believe her. But so then you layer that, I think, particularly on top of being a woman who is extremely ambitious. I often say I've been burdened by my ambition. I am jealous of women who are fulfilled by sitting and enjoying life and staring up at the trees all day who can relax and know how to do that. Women who can relax. I have had to learn how to do that. Um, so you know, I think being a driven, ambitious woman and then stepping into motherhood was really hard. And I didn't have this instant connection with Levi right away. And I and it wasn't that I didn't love him, I just I was like, I have to get to know this baby. And I was so overwhelmed by how just the sheer responsibility of it. And so I think, you know, fast forward each time, you know, we went through a pregnancy and and had a baby, and you know, I I got, you know, like anything, you get it's like a muscle, you know, you start to get stronger at it. And I started to figure out uh, I I think that's when I started to figure out quite quickly that I really wanted to be able to have an impact in the world. And also financially, we are two income household. So that that was it was not an option really for me to not work, but it was important to me to work. And I also got really clear that I wanted to be present for my for my kids. My mother was a teacher as you know when I was growing up. And I loved, I really respect her for one being a teacher. It's the most thankless job, and I think the hardest job. But also, she had her summers off and she was available in the morning and she was at all of my sports events after school. And so I think again, it just map kept mapping back to my values and what what you know what mattered to me was experience, connection. And so it, but it was, I'm not gonna lie, it was a little rough in the get in the early, you know. Well, it's still rough. Parenting is just a different kind of parenting is a shit show now. Yeah. I mean, it's like if it's at someone said another day, if it's if it's easy, you're not doing it right. And I was like, you know, there's some truth to that. There is because especially when you have teens.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, we're in all teens now, so well, I think it's also a different dynamic if you have boys. Like I have two girls, and it's yes very different. Like it's a it's a much more emotional journey. Yeah, it's not, it's yeah, it's not easy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there's a lot, it's not easy.

SPEAKER_01:

I well, first of all, this is like a complete aside, but um, I also have I have two November babies, weirdly. Um, and my first one was also born in the UK because I was living in the UK at the time. So isn't that fun? Um isn't that interesting?

SPEAKER_00:

Because the other thing about that, I I didn't even say this. That played a big part in me recognizing the kind of working mom I wanted to be. Because in the UK, it is family first. You take leave, you can take your kids into a pub when they're a baby. Yeah, it's it's much it's celebrated that you are a working mom with a kid. Whereas, like when I came back to the States and had two more kids, I mean, it was like, oh, you had a baby three weeks ago, great. Here's your next deadline. Yeah. I mean, it was very different. So that's an important piece. I didn't know if we had that in common. That is yeah, that's like a sidebar about that.

unknown:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But it it it's true. And I think that it's it's so interesting that like I had a little bit of a different experience because when I had my first, like my mom had just passed away, uh, like a week or two before I had found out that I was pregnant with my first. And when she came, she was literally like the most important thing ever. I was almost obsessed to the point of like it was a fear, I think, more than anything. But I I realized now looking back, there a lot of the fear was in navigating it, A, alone. Um didn't have my mom. Um, but B, like you said, being an ambitious woman who is driven, who has always excelled at everything she has done. Like, I'm gonna hold my hand up and very, you know, very unabassedly say, I'm a gifted human being. I've always been excellent at whatever I do. And then you're you're given this human being.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

And you're like, I this is the one thing I for sure can't screw up, and I'm going to, and I don't know how to stop it. Yeah, it I think it makes you realize how mortal you are, but also, you know, it it does force you to slow down and reconsider and re-evaluate, like you said. And I think that what I really want listeners to take away from this is whether you are a parent or not, whether you choose to be child free or have children at some point, or if you try like whatever the circumstance or scenario is, you are allowed to evolve your priorities throughout your life. Like who and and how you operate in one stage or season of your life does not have to continue. And that that doesn't mean anything about you or your ambition or your your drive. It's just an evolution. And I think we don't give ourselves enough credit for that because, like, you're, you know, how many times have you seen in the media a woman has a baby, she's her body's gotta bounce back, or she goes on Matley from work, and like, when are you coming back to work? And you've got to be operating at the exact same level as when you left. And there's just so much, there's so much pressure and expectation for you to find your spot of excellence and never deviate.

SPEAKER_00:

Find your spot of excellence and not have any wiggle room to deviate. Boy, that's uh I can so relate to that and the pressure, the expectation that we put on ourselves.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It's wild. It's wild.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I would 100% continue this conversation all afternoon if I could. One more question. We're gonna have to do coffee at some point. There's one last question I want to ask. In all of your time as a leadership expert, executive coach, doing what you do. What's one piece of like blasphemous advice that you've given a client or someone that you've mentored that, you know, didn't really fit the norm or the status quo, but you're like, you know what, you need to do this because this is the the net the right next step for you. Can you can you think of an example of that?

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know if this fits within it, but it's the first thing that came to mind because I think often when people are stepping into being an entrepreneur, they've done something else prior.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And so they get in their own way. And I think one of the things that I have found that can be tangible, but it starts with an intangible thought is this idea that all success is transferable. I think we tell ourselves when we become an entrepreneur that we have to start over.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's how That's even possible. You can't start over. You're not the same person that you were three years ago. You've had all these experiences, you've built all these skills. So whether I someone comes to me and they are starting a new role within an organization, or they are leaving an organization to become an entrepreneur, one of the beliefs that we work on is all success is transferable. And then we take it a step further and let's create a brag sheet. And I want that brag sheet up in front of you. What are the qualities that make you uniquely you? What are the skills that make you uniquely you? What are the experiences that you've had over the last however many years that have informed your ability in the way in which you show up and work and communicate with others? And so it's a very, that can be tactical, but also, like I said, intangible. But I think that's a very, you know, if there was, I just hear it all the time from people like I'm starting, oh, I don't know if I can start over again, but I want this different life or I want to make more money or I want to have flexibility in my schedule. And the more that you can buy into this belief that your success is transferable, it is not possible to be starting completely over because you've had all this experience. So I've seen that really give people leverage and get them enough momentum to take whatever that next leap is. And then I would say the other just tried into your practice, whether it's someone who's making a leap or it's one of my existing clients, I do everything in three foot tosses. What is the three-foot toss you're gonna do today that's gonna have you on your edge just a little bit? So, like my son today didn't make it to school. Now I know if he doesn't get on campus today, tomorrow's gonna be even worse. So after two hours of having a conversation and listening and just listening to this energy, you know, upset energy move through him. Finally, we said, right, what is the one thing that you can do today? You can put your pants on, you could put your shirt on, let's go for an hour and a half. That's a baby step. That's a huge win, and we're gonna celebrate that win.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And one baby step informs the next step. And I think that's one of the best ways to move yourself out of any situation, particularly where you feel stuck because of finances or relationship or whatever the thing may be. Um, yeah, those are those are two kind of my two go-tos that I practice, but also I've just seen they work.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And I mean, and that's the that's the proof, right? They work.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they work.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no.

SPEAKER_00:

This idea that it's all in our own that's in, you know, I this came from a coach that I worked with for a long time. And I use this all this framework at least twice a week with clients. You know, we have our cash project and we have our sexy project. Often our cash project is how we make money, and then our sexy project is the thing that we want to be doing. And eventually they will merge and come together.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But if you can hold them as your sexy project and your cash project, it takes a bit of the pressure off that you have to hit a home run and get it all figured out in the first day. And so, you know, when I launched my coaching, I was managing a sales team. And I went to them and said, I'll manage your sales team because one, it's gonna take me a little bit to build up revenue, but I I will need Fridays off. That's gonna be my coaching day. So I'll do this job in four days. And they're like, huh, no one's ever asked me that before. I'm like, well, that's what I can do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We made an agreement, we got clear on what that looked like, and that's how I started my coaching business. And then eventually, obviously, it led to, you know, I've been doing it full-time for for many, many years now. But yeah, we got to take the pressure off ourselves. Um, because we have to also work in reality. You know, all of us have bills to pay. I mean, you know, most of us don't have a money tree in the backyard. So we got to work in reality. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

No, you're absolutely right. And and that is, you know, one of the fundamental pieces that I bring to clients as well is that if you if you're expecting to operate outside of reality, we cannot work together.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. That's so good, Sarah, because I refuse to fuel your madness. Yeah, right. But I mean, if someone comes to me and they want to pay for coaching and we're having a conversation about investment and whatnot, and they're like, there is no way I can afford this. I can't I and I'm like, okay, then you investing in coaching right now is at least with me, is not the right, it's not an it's not a a never, it's just not right for now. Right now, yeah. So yes, we have to work in reality.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. There are so many directions we can take this conversation in. Um, but I want to thank you so much for being here. Is there any sort of last final thoughts you want to share with the audience where we can connect with you, find you, anything like that?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh gosh, yes. Well, you can go to my website, saragibons.com, it'll all be in the show notes. Um, you can follow me on social media, that'll be in the show notes. I think one thing I would encourage you to do, if you do not know your values, if you go to my website, you can sign up to receive my Sunday emails that come out uh twice a month, and you'll get a free guide to help uh distilling your values. It's if there's nothing you take from this call that I've shared other than get to know your values, it will change your life. And to the point where when I say know your values, like you really know them. You know, we if you when you dwindle them down to five to six values and you understand the definition of how you've defined it, yeah, then you start making decisions from your values rather than leading from expectations. And anytime we're leading from expectations, it results in disappointment. We all know that. We've been there. So do yourself a favor, go to my website, get that free values guide. And if there's something that resonated with you from this conversation, then just shoot me a note and I will happily talk with you about it.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that. So all of that information will be in the show notes. Sarah, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate the time that you've taken. Uh, and to all of you, my friends, you know the drill. You can absolutely have success without the BS. But sometimes you gotta know why. I will talk to you next week. Thanks for listening. Hey, do us a favor subscribe to the show, rate your favorite episode, or share it with your friends. And remember, your blasphemy is necessary.