Season 5: Episode 104

In this episode of 'No Silver Spoons,' host Sarah Beth Herman continues the story from last week about the night her home was invaded and robbed. She shares the emotional aftermath, the search for her missing dog, and the perspective shifts that followed. Sarah discusses the importance of reducing risk, learning from mistakes, and the parallels between home security and business leadership. She emphasizes resilience, preparedness, and the significance of outside perspective in leadership. This episode also highlights the services offered by Dentistry Support and provides information on how to connect with Sarah for mentorship and coaching.

Chapters

• 1:46 The Aftermath of the Home Invasion
• 3:11 Finding My Dog and Security Footage
• 4:21 Healing and Security Measures
• 4:53 Leadership Lessons from Trauma
• 6:33 Sponsorship and Business Support
• 7:24 Closing Remarks and Contact Information

Transcript

  📍  Welcome back to No Silver Spoons. I'm Sarah Beth Herman, and if you are listening to this episode, this is a continuation. This is part two. Last week, I shared about the night my home was invaded and robbed.

I shared what I could. What I felt responsible to share, and I promise that I would come back and talk about what happened next. Today is that episode, and before I go any further, I want to say this gently. If you haven't listened to the previous episode, I recommend going back and starting there. This conversation will make more sense if you do.

This episode is not about shock value. It is about perspective and resilience. It is also about leadership when things are not perfect. So let's pick up where we left off. Four and a half hours, that's how long the police officers, crime scene investigators and security teams were in and out of my home before I was finally allowed to step inside.

Four and a half hours of standing outside, waiting, wondering. And carrying a fear that is hard to describe unless you've lived it too. And all I wanted was to find my little frenchie that wasn't in a kennel  and know if my other three dogs were there and safe.

When I walked in, I knew at least one of my friend shoes was missing. I couldn't locate him anywhere. I kept asking and I kept waiting. And finally. I convinced one of the crime scene investigators to let me go inside and to look for him. She said if I promised not to touch anything, she would let me in.

We searched everywhere, room by room, closets, corners, under beds, spaces. That didn't even make sense to check because I know he wouldn't be there and we couldn't find him. I remember my heart dropping lower and lower with every step. The glass was still everywhere in the house, and I was wearing cowboy boots, and it was literally just crinkling under my feet.

The glass when it was shattered, it literally went everywhere into my couches, into an ottoman, into other rooms, and it was tracked everywhere by this intruder. We did a full sweep of the house and could not locate him anywhere.

After one more sweep, we found him. He was huddled in the corner of my guest bedroom, shaking so badly that when I picked him up, his body felt like a solid vibration, not fear that comes and goes, fear that lives in the body. Later after reviewing security footage, we learned what happened. The glass shattered inward of course.

And it landed on top of him. There is footage that is deeply disturbing, and I am not going to give too many details, but there is a moment where something that looks like a weapon is pointed at my dog as he chased the intruder through my home. And I wanna be very clear. I am not sharing this to traumatize you.

I am sharing this to tell you why this matters, because when I finally held him alive, breathing, shaking something, shift. From that moment forward, and here's what I want you to hear. Some sacred things remained not just physical things, but life connection. The reminder that not everything was taken that moment reframed so many things for me and for the last several days, he has slept in my bed with me, which I don't normally do.

But right now that closeness matters to me and I know it matters to him. Healing looks different after trauma, trauma from any aspect. Since that night. We have doubled our security. We have reinforced our home in many ways, and I'm grateful for that. But I wanna be honest. Our goal is not to pretend we can prevent something like this from ever happening again.

That is unrealistic at best. We are not invisible. We are not immune. The goal is to reduce probability, to protect life, to protect safety, to put as many wise measures in place as possible. And here's where the leadership parallel matters. You will never have a perfect business that isn't to put you down or make you feel bad, but to be your friend enough to remind you that he will never have perfect systems, perfect employees.

Or perfect clients. At any given time, you might experience what you think is the perfect version of one of those things, but you will experience betrayal, false reviews, people speaking about your business who don't have the right to do so. But here's the truth that most leaders avoid.

We were not immune to mistakes that night. There were things we could have done better. There were things we should have done better, but I'm not going to live in that past because 12 hours later we were already taking action. We had security professionals at our home.

One of them was a retired sheriff with 32 years experience. He walked our property with us. He showed us where the blind spots were. He gave us wisdom without judgment. And I remember thinking that is exactly what I do in business. That is why I help business owners get out of their own head.

You cannot see what you cannot see. You need outside perspective, experienced eyes, wisdom that is not emotionally attached. This is how businesses grow. Not by pretending mistakes don't happen or didn't happen, but by learning from them and moving forward, stronger, strong leaders do not aim for perfection.

They aim for preparedness. They build systems knowing they will be tested. They adjust without shame. They move forward without staying stuck, and that's what we're doing. This episode is sponsored by dentistry support. Okay. Dentistry support provides virtual administrative support for dental practices across the country.

From insurance verification, billing, phones, and operational support. Our goal is to help dental offices create systems that protect their teams, their revenue, and their peace. I mentor dental practices every day. I help leaders see what they cannot see. I help them build businesses that are supported, not chaotic.

This is not about perfection. It is about preparation and sustainability,

and now you're, that's good moment. You are not failing because something went wrong. You are leading, if you respond with wisdom, you will never eliminate risk, but you can reduce it. Outside perspective matters and what remains is often more powerful than what was lost.

Before I close this shorter episode, I want to remind you of a few things. If you are listening and I'm talking too fast or too slow, you can adjust the speed on your podcast player, make it work for you. If this episode resonated, please leave a review. You can find no silver spoons wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.

If you want to work with me, there are several ways to do that. I offer personal and professional mentorship and coaching. I do public speaking and I offer virtual and onsite intensive trainings. I also mentor dental practices and provide virtual support through dentistry support. You can find me at www.sarahbethherman.com.

You can also email me at hey@sarahbethherman.com. All links are always in the show notes. Please note that if you do send me a direct message, we do have AI and different bots that are connected to those social media sites, it's important that anything that you really want me to see you send directly to my email address.

And please don't take offense if my team can't quite respond to you right away. We typically see about a 24-to-48-hour turnaround time for email requests. If you'd like to be a guest on No Silver Spoons, I'd love to have you. There's also a link in the show notes on how you can fill out an inquiry to be a guest on the show.

This year is a new opportunity to invest in yourself, your leadership, and your growth, and I would love the opportunity to walk alongside you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening with care and thank you for allowing me to lead. Honestly, it's not always easy to share stories of things that have happened and choose what you can share, what you should share, and what people really wanna know. 📍 

So thank you. I will catch you on the next episode.