Purpose Doesn’t Arrive All at Once ~ Sam Bush

Summary
Purpose doesn’t usually arrive as a clear plan. It reveals itself over time through mentors, misalignment, and the moments that quietly energize us.

In this episode of Coffey Talk, Kate sits down with Sam Bush to talk about how purpose actually shows up in a career. From early mentorship to seasons that didn’t feel right, Sam shares how teaching, speaking, and guiding others became the throughline of her work.

This conversation explores what it looks like to recognize purpose, trust it, and begin living it even before you have it fully figured out.

Key Takeaways

• Purpose often reveals itself through patterns, not plans
• Misalignment can be one of the clearest signals that something needs to change
• Mentorship plays a critical role in helping us see what we can’t yet see in ourselves
• The work that energizes you is often pointing toward your purpose
• You don’t have to have it all figured out to start moving toward it

👉🏻Contact information for Sam Bush

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthabushoh/

Ambush on Air: https://www.ambushonair.com/

Ambush on Air on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/40sb0D8YRlj6q7nHyHm02w

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to Coffee Talk, where we explore real stories of how people build careers, our building community and finding meaning along the way. Today we're talking about something that is deeply human: our purpose. The search for purpose drives countless books, leadership journeys, career pivots, and sometimes entire reinventions of who we are. It's that little voice that asks, is this what I'm meant to be doing? The truth is, purpose rarely arrives all at once. More often, it reveals itself over time through our mentors, through our detours, and through moments when something just feels right. My guest for this episode is Sam Bush. Many of you know Sam as a marketing leader in the Microsoft ecosystem, the host of Ambush on Air, a global speaker, and someone who has built a reputation for helping others grow through education and through mentorship. But what's so fascinating about Sam's story that will resonate with so many of you is that purpose didn't show up in a single moment. It unfolded over time. From her early mentors who challenged her to stepping on the stages and realizing that teaching lit a fire in her, to seasons of career misalignment that forced her to ask bigger questions about the work she was meant to do. In this episode, we talk about discovering purpose, recognizing when something isn't aligned anymore and what it looks like to live your purpose in the work that you do every day. If you've ever wondered whether you're living in your purpose or you're still searching for it, this conversation is for you. Sam. Sam Bush, hello. How are you? My friend. I can't believe we're finally doing this. You're finally on my show. I know. Um, I've done, I'll I'll call it an ambush and a half. Yeah. I would say and a half. Yeah. Because we did a full episode with Khaled. And then we did a little episode a little short. Yeah. So I've done an episode and a half with you, but welcome to Coffee Talk.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

We are talking about something today that, you know, how many books have been written about this topic? I actually asked my AI how many books have been written on the topic of purpose, and it just spun and spun and spun and came back with too many to name. So right? Like it is the topic that we as humans are always looking to find our purpose. And who there, I don't know anybody better to come on and talk about purpose than you because you are living it, you're doing it, you are an example of it. Thank you. So we're gonna go back. We're gonna talk about um childhood, Sam. Yep. All the way up to where you are now. So tell us right now, where are you? What are you doing in the chat?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Yep. So I am um the chief marketing officer at DooOp. We're an AP automation company focused on the finance space. Um, and then I am the podcast host of Ambushon Air, where I bring on sales, marketing, and partnerships, um, leaders in the space or people who have kind of an alternative opinion or or alternative facts to to building strategies. And then I have the pleasure of mentoring a couple people in the channel who are looking to really grow and elevate and and find ways to get plugged in. And then I also do um a lot of speaking sessions. I do a lot of education sessions. Um, I did 27 last year, um, which is a record I'm trying to do way less this year. Instead of beat my record, I want to be more intentional um with what I'm subscribing to to educate on and train on, but also um share my lived experiences on. So that's what I'm up to these days. Um and if I'm not doing that, I'm reading a book.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

I mean, I always say this bookshelf behind me is full of the books that I've read, and I've got stacks all around me of the ones that I'm diving into. So a lot of people that are listening will know you as speaker, um, as educator, as mentor in the Microsoft ecosystem. You are everywhere. You are a trusted voice of marketing, of ABM specifically, of AI. You were talking about how to practically use AI, I would say, before anybody else was really. Thank you. Um, so prompting, like you really helped all of us to get to be more comfortable with with what we were doing as we were jumping in. So before we get into the purpose and the things that you're doing now, I I want to ground your story just a little bit. So tell us about your we're gonna go with how did teaching, uh, learning, mentoring start to become part of what you're doing today.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

I've got kind of like a crazy path that makes a lot of sense to me now, but during it all felt really unrelatable or unrelated to each other. Um, but about I was a couple months ago, um, I was having lunch with my dad, and I just asked him, you know, did you ever see this as what I would be doing with my life? Like traveling the country in education and working full-time as a marketer and working for myself at one point and really standing in my power of what I know I'm good at and what I know I I have to share with the world. And he kind of laughed and he's like, Yeah, kind of I did. He said it manifested differently than I assumed, but but I knew you'd always be someone who was gonna be a kind of trainer teacher of some kind. He said, like growing up, and I remember it vividly too, even how I operate now. Like instead of just doing something, I feel like I have to understand the process and the why and the how and how I got there. Like I'm very much instead of just saying, go do this thing, instead, I'm saying go do this thing, and if you need help, here are the 50 steps to do it. Um, and if I don't know those 50 steps, I'm gonna go find somebody who does and gain that from them and and give back what I can, obviously. Um, but I've always been one who really wants to understand the root of something before I just go do it. Um, I don't know if that comes across publicly, because I think you guys get the off the cuff me often. Um, but there is a a side of me that is is pretty strong that um needs the the rationale and into to really understand the the full scope of something.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Yeah, you know, and you know and I I echo that 10, 15 years ago, I was teaching on-site lunch and learns for how to create a digital marketing strategy. And I've gotten my hands on a book by an unknown author at the time, and um started incorporating this book into my lunch and learns on how to create a brand, how to create a personal brand and understand who you are. And that book is Know Your Why by Simon Sinek. Funny. At the time, no one knew who Simon Sinek was. Now he's everybody knows who he but I read that book and it impacted me so deeply that I started every lunch and learn session with talking about that circle and um digging in and understanding your why before you even start putting strategy around how you're getting out there and presenting in the world. So yeah, that's something that you and I definitely share. I always ask with any campaign that launches, with any vertical that we go into, I always say, but why are we doing that? What do we want to accomplish? It has to be more than just generating revenue, but why? Um, and how are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 8:20

So um Yeah, there's this like natural curiosity in in my life, and I know we share that. That's just like you've got to understand all the moving parts before we we start the train to say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Yeah. So you talk a lot about mentorship um all the time, and you've talked about mentor that encouraged you very early on in your career. What impact did that have on how you're showing up for others right now?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yeah. I um a lot of people know this like full story. I'll give a s a snippet and then happy to chat offline about it. Um, I took a role as a content marketing manager about 10 years ago in the Microsoft space, also in a couple of different ecosystems. And through a series of crazy, um, our director of marketing left and the position was open. And I thought it would be a great idea to put together my plan of how I could have the job and do it well. Went into the CEO's office, presented the plan, and he said no. Um, he was like, let me think about it, and then kept interviewing people. And this was back in the day when we went into an office. So I had to watch these people come in and interview for the job that I was, I thought I was qualified for, that he was like, I don't know about it. Um then circled to a couple weeks later, we go to my very first event. It's me and my friend Steve, who ran partnerships at the time. Um, and this guy, Bill, the CEO, looks me in the eye and he's like, the two of you will meet everyone here. He's like, if you want to be a part of this community, you need to know the people that I'm gonna introduce you to. And I want you to remember them and we're gonna talk about them at the end. Um about day and a half into the thing, he pulls me aside and he's like, You can have the job, but I will help you. Um, he was like, You have some of the skills, but you have you're missing a lot of the soft skills, right? Of being a leader and being um, you know, responsible for PL and for budget and all of that. Um so he really saw my initiative and and helped me figure out how to put it all together because I think something that we talked about a little bit earlier was I like to know, you know, all the moving parts. And at the time I didn't even know what they were, right? I thought I already had them. And he looked at me and said, You have these but not these, and we're gonna learn these. Um, so he helped me peel back my own naivety on really what it meant to be the director of marketing for a SaaS company in the 2010s. Um, and he had the skills, he had the know-how, he had the boardroom conversation. Um, he knew the right people to put me in front of in order for me to learn that. And I think as I've started mentoring, he retired about three and a half years ago, four years ago, um, fully from all things. So he retired from the job earlier, but then finally retired from really anything other than um kayaking with his grandkids. So um he really pushed me to say, if this really did help you as much as we're we talk about, then you have to give it back. Like you have to. It's a responsibility that he built in me that was like, one day someone's gonna ask you to mentor them and you're gonna say yes. And I was like, I got nothing to tell nobody. Like, I just learned this. Like I I I'm not good enough to help someone else along yet. And then but that's the yet part. Uh-huh. Right, right. Exactly. The big yet. Um, I had a a woman in the channel or a girl or whatever you want to call her, um, come up to me at an event. We both were wearing the matching set. So she had the green pants, I had the green blazer on. And she like was like, I'd love to schedule time and talk with you. And then she just point blank asked me, Will you be my mentor? And I was like, Yeah. Yeah I think I could figure it out, right? Um, it it pushed me into the way it impacted me was so strong that I'm like, if I could even do a glimpse of what my mentors in my life have done for me, then I think I have something to stand on and really help people along as they figure out who they are as a person, who they are as a marketer or as a sales leader, who they are and how they want to show up more than anything.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

I think there's such a beauty in hindsight and being in your career long enough to see patterns start emerging and seeing, I wish I had seen that form of mentorship for you. I wish we'd been friends our whole lives for a lot of reasons. But to see that, to see you being mentored and then now turning that around and mentoring. And now we get the privilege of seeing those young professionals that you are mentoring now start mentoring others. Um, and so it just becomes this, you know, I I believe so firmly in that there's only so much that we can learn from the books that we, you know, have to buy in our our college courses. Exactly. Especially when you come into a channel like Dynamics and there's so much culture that's happening.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

There's so many jargons, there's so many um acronyms, there's so many people. It's such a hard learning curve. Yeah. Especially when you you walk into it, regardless of age, um, regardless of what point you are in your career. Yeah. You're walking into something already really solidified.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Um, so it's it's pretty difficult to navigate, um, in my opinion. And I was blessed to not have that difficulty.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Yeah. What a what a fortunate thing. And bravo to you for doing that, for continuing on that truly that purpose, that legacy of looking, you know, beside you and who's coming up next and how can you help? Yeah. And um can't wait to see both of the young professionals that you have mentored.

unknown 14:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Turn around and mentor other people. It's gonna be like, that's our girl, that's our boy at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

I know. I know, I know. There's already there's one in process right now who's helping a couple people with some programs, and it like gives me so much joy. Like, I won't cry about it, but I have that it's like uh somebody said something at some women in tech thing early, early in my career. It was like a startup week here in Columbus. And the ladies said, just because you took the elevator to get there doesn't mean you shouldn't take it back down and add somebody into the into the bus, right? Like just because you got there quickly doesn't mean like everyone can. Some people are climbing the stairs to the 30th floor. You got an elevator, but what you do with that elevator is what makes your legacy. And for me, it's like, yeah, I could just hang out up here and only have friends who are exactly in my marketing peer group who do exactly what I do. But then my world is really limited. And also my path can help somebody else on their path if I just remember to turn around and and help somebody up, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Yeah, I love that. So we're talked about hindsight a little bit and seeing these patterns emerge and and seeing now, looking back, you you have answers, right? So where you are now, what were some of the early signs, early cues that you were meant to teach and to guide other people?

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Yeah. So in high school, you and I have talked about this before. Um, I took my study halls and did um our art class, like eighth grade students. When I was a junior and senior, I was helping them with all their projects and being like a TA. Um, I actually was planning on going to school for art education and then decided I wanted to be a full-blown artist and then ended up here. So the journey really was um wacky and a it's a long story. But um, that was kind of my first time where I was like, it brings me joy to show people how to do something or walk them through doing it their own way, even. Um, but then my very first kind of speaking engagement in the channel was also through um same mentor introduced me to a man in the channel here who owns a marketing agency with a friend, and he put me on a panel. He said, you know, it'd be great if you could come speak on this panel. And I'm like, I don't know what to talk about. I don't why would anybody trust me? You know? Um, and then circled to the next year where I I submitted my own sessions and they got approved and I was so nervous and freaked out. Um but in those exact moments, I remember looking around the room and having people take notes and having people take photos of the slides and ask really intelligent questions and build this conversation in the room with the people um that were there. And it really brought me a lot of joy to see that my insights were impactful to other marketers or to people who were like the business owner trying to do everything. Like, how can they make an impact? That really has been cool for me to be a part of. And that was about four years ago that that happened.

unknown 17:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

And then I just really took off. Um, I I started submitting kind of for every event that I go to, big or small, um, around topics that I think are really critical and pivotal to marketing in the day and and moment that we're in. Um sometimes they don't get approved because sometimes they're a little too far out, right? Um, some of the stuff we're putting together, like you and I submitted a session called Um Community is the New Funnel. And I think that's too beyond, right? Like we're we're thinking of stuff that we're doing in our day job that we don't even realize is that growth motion. Um so having to kind of peel back and do kind of what you said in the beginning with my AI sessions, we're really like, let's start from ground zero. Here's how to open this and use it so it doesn't freak you out, right? I'm a big proponent of crawl, walk, run when it comes to learning and teaching. And some audiences really do need to crawl. Um, and learning that's been really fun too.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah. So I think I've shared this with you before, but when I was in high school, my I wanna I want to say it was my sophomore, junior, and half of my senior year. I would skip my lunch period. Yeah, I would go to my art room and I would help my art teacher teach other classes. Um I set out on my original career path to be an art curator. So I started out as an art history major, um restoring and preserving old paintings and and uh my my dad is a brilliant artist, and I grew up with you know, art was a part of our our everyday, our our conversations. Like my dad would teach me art like life lessons through artists and their stories. So that's beautiful. When I went to college, I was a um I was a art history major with the intention of becoming an art curator and then got married, moved to Florida, tried had to transfer colleges, and my college did not have an art history major program, which is yeah, I was like, what am I supposed to do now? So, you know, we're aptitude test I'd ever taken was like, you know, public relations, marketing is for you. Yep. And it was right. I I don't know that I, while I love art, I also don't think that you should have a career in your passion. Passion, which is another podcast for another day for us. Um, I think you should have a career that's in your talent and that aligns with your purpose. And art is my passion. Um, yep. So, you know, that lends to I could have ended up in a role that was so not meant for me, and that wouldn't have been aligned with my purpose, my purpose. I know my purpose. I'm a community builder and a connector. Um, that would not have aligned with with what I believe I am here to do. And that is my professional world, my personal world, of course, with my children and and creating a lighter space with my kids. With my kids. So, kind of in that light, let's talk about misalignment. Yeah. Yeah. Safe, brave space, Sam. Let's do it. Right. Safe, brave space. Here it is.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Um, a lot of you got a front row seat to my my brave space in the last couple of years. Yeah. I think I I say it's like about 18 months or two years of of misalignment in in big ways when it came to work and life for me. Um I actually worked at a company that I started getting all these speaking sessions, and they told me I couldn't do them because I was doing too much of them and not enough talking about their product in my speaking sessions. And I actually quit the job. Um, I was at I remember that. I was in Denver and I said, I'm gonna call and I'm gonna quit. Today. And I remember feeling such a sense of freedom, even though it was chaotic, to be like, if you don't want me to do what gives me the most joy in my life and what makes me feel most grounded in why I'm here on this planet, I can't do it every single day. I can't list, I can't do a list of tasks in Asana and not be able to go out and educate the masses or even the two people that show up to the session. Even that gives me so much acceleration and joy and fire that I'm like, I can't stay put here. So I did, I quit then when I got back to work on Monday after this event, and they asked me to stay for a month to close out some things, which was fine because I didn't have anything planned. So I was like, perfect. Um, worked for myself for a little bit. That was big misalignment. Everyone who knows me knows I'm like, I love entrepreneurial spirit, but I hate the organizational part of it all. Like keeping all those ducks in a row, I'm not your girl. I'm not. You can't give me a list of tasks and expect me to do them and expect me to be happy. Um, there's gotta be gray space in my job and my day. So that was tough. Um, oftentimes another misalignment for me was um since I'm such a channel person and I'm such a relational person, I talk to everybody, I know kind of the pulse on the room. Um, because I am listening to the background. Um, I am oftentimes paying attention to the conversations two tables away from me. Um, and and not in a creepy way, but like I usually am pretty plugged into what's going on in the Microsoft ecosystem specifically. Um, so it got me into a lot of partner marketing roles. Um, those are very misaligned for me. Uh, the role itself is an amazing role for someone, like I said, who likes a checklist and then some gray. Um, those are are great for for that. But it taught me a lot about how to say this isn't right and how to really come into my own power. So through the series of those 18 months of trying stuff that didn't stick and trying things that didn't work, the real undertone of the whole thing is I was not living to my purpose and also generating revenue and value.

unknown 24:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

And I'm like, in order to work as a marketer, you gotta generate some leads and some pipeline. Um, and in order to be fulfilled on my side, I had to to educate and train and mentor. Um, so that's how ambush on air actually started. Um, I was bored to death in my day job of not being challenged, uh, of not being pushed further. So I pushed myself and then brought other people on to chit chat with me about those experiences.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Yeah. And it it's brilliant. I mean, it it is those emerging conversations because you are such a future thinker. So you're often pushing us around you, your, you know, your marketing circle to look at don't get too comfortable with where you are right now because something different is coming. And um, you've said some things before, and I just shot my eyes over at you and you knew immediately. Oh, you're thinking about that too. Oh, yeah. Um yeah. So, and I think, Sam, I think for some people, for a lot of people, purpose isn't uh it isn't a moment. It isn't uh like, oh right, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. It's a slow realization of trying tons of different things, assuming, you know, in your mind, you think, surely this is gonna work. This checks all the boxes, and then you get into it and you realize that maybe it wasn't. So, how for you now, your CMS of DooOp, how do you know that the work is aligned right to who you are?

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Yeah, yeah. I think with with DooOp, I'm in a really cool culture of work. Um, it's a Finnish-based company. Everyone's very direct and very, very open to test and learn, which is something I've had less of in my career. Um, I'm in a place of immense trust where it's I'm the expert in my thing and you're the expert in yours. So let's go off in our directions and go running. Um and even in just our quick little calls, even I won today, we were talking about how one of our competitors wrote an entire blog about 12 competitors that you should pick instead of us. Um, and they got a couple things wrong in it, which is funny. So we're talking through it, and I was explaining what I'm gonna do as kind of a competitive campaign, and everyone is dialed in and listening and they're caring because I'm explaining instead of just doing. And I think that's the culture of work I've really been looking for and and I haven't found easily. And I think some of it comes down to size of team, size of business. Um, I've worked in every size. This company's 25 people-ish, and then I've worked up to like 2000. So I've been, well, pre-Microsoft days, hundreds of thousands, but um, that's a story for another day as well. But in my marketing life, and I think getting down to a core group of of coworkers who want to elevate themselves, but also how we show up is has been really pivotal to meet um here at do up.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

I think that purpose can look a lot of different ways. I said for myself, I know that I'm a community builder, I know that I'm a connector. Some people are builders, they're building companies, they're building processes, they're building product. Um, some people like to mentor quietly behind the scenes. So there's lots of different ways. And trust me, the blog of all blogs is coming from this episode in the different ways that we can show up in our purpose. But if once you've found your purpose, how how do you live it day in, day out?

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yeah. Um, I think for me, it is subtle reminders or loud reminders in my life of doing it. Um, like I have my brand builder award over here that I got from doing all of this work in the channel, or I have like a list of all of the topics I want to train on and just always iterating with what I hear. Um, but my favorite way to kind of live it day to day is on LinkedIn. Um on LinkedIn is where I usually find all of my topics for either my blog or for Ambush on Air. Um, and then even formitting speaking sessions because I'm listening to the pulse of what people are asking questions about or topics they care about or comments they make on other people's posts. Like I'm having a podcast with somebody who did a whole thing about how you show up in a sales demo and the company has its 30-slide deck and then the demo. That we don't care about the deck, we want the demo, right? Like just show me the demo.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

You're exhausted before they even get to the demo.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Exactly. So that's how I kind of live it day to day is investing in the the time that it takes me to kind of peruse what's going on and mainly on LinkedIn. Yeah. And then I surround myself with people who also do it. Um, it can be a really, really, really inspiring thing to sit at a table at an event with a bunch of other people who do the same thing in a different font, right? Um, my friends all do some version of this in some capacity. Um, and it's really energizing to be around and to remember that even though one of them's talking about um change management, the other one's talking about how to implement a process as business central, and I'm talking about ABM and you're talking about building a brand, um, it's still really, really empowering to have a seat at the table with people who have the same fire for education and and making making this channel elevated and making this channel more than just a bunch of people who work for Microsoft products.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

And and to that, I I think once you've figured out your purpose, you can't help but live it. It becomes ingrained in whatever job you're doing. I saw my former boss a couple of nights ago. Um, and we just wanted to catch up. He has some um some big changes in in his life. And um, you know, he's like, What what are you doing? Like, you know, I see you on LinkedIn, you're doing all these things. What are you doing? And I was like, I'm just connecting dots. Like I'm a professional dot connector. And he he was like, You've always always like 10, 15 years ago working at the marketing agency, that is what I'm doing. And that is how I know it's a constant thread everywhere I'm going. That's how I know that's my purpose. Even in my wedding photography days, that's what I was doing. I have a conversation, be like, oh, you need to meet this person, this person can help you with that, or you know, you have got to have this person in your life, or even you've got to read this book. Yep. It might not always be people, but just connecting. I'm a connector. So I think once you've found that purpose, whatever that is, and I have a whole list of them. I did, you know, I've asked, I've like done kind of research and reading on this. What you know, if you're empathetic, like look at my boss, he's the most empathetic person. We're in payments. How can that show up? It shows up in his leadership every day. Every day. It shows in it shows up in in the way that he presents in the side projects he takes on. And you're really fortunate if you can find a job that or a boss or you know, leadership that sees that in you. And to the point where Sam, you had to leave a company because they said you can't do that on on our time. Yeah. That that you're underserved in if if that's if that's the case. Um because that's the most important thing, and that is what keeps you inspired and pushing forward to feel like and know at the end of the day, know that you're making a difference. Exactly. Exactly. Whatever that purpose and whatever that purpose is. So what advice would you give to someone? Finding purpose isn't always easy. What advice would you give to someone who may feel lost in finding their purpose?

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Yeah. A couple of things. So what really did it for me was I was beating my head up against the wall for a year of I'm not growing, I'm not learning, I'm not teaching, I'm not none of it, right? Um, but what it really took was me slowing down and doing nothing for a month. And I know that sounds crazy, but even just do your regular job during the day and then in the evenings, really, really think about moments in your life, not just in your current day-to-day, but like moments in your entire life where you felt the most happy or joyful or seen the most of your spirit come out and reflect on what you were doing in those moments. Like I went back and was thinking, you know, when I was a teenager and and what was so cool about my life then and what was awesome in college that was great for me and my career pivot and all of that stuff. Like in those moments, what was I actually doing and reflect on the actions and activities you were doing during that time? Um I also think we all have a purpose and you just need to uncover it inside yourself and you need to, if you are feeling lost or unaligned or like you're just going through your day, um, I encourage you to really sit down and think about yourself. Think about um the highs and lows of your life and and write them down. Write them down. Like even I did a blog at the end of last year that was like, I had a real crappy year, y'all. But here's some of the things that were great. And on that list, there's three of the 20 that were about speaking sessions for me and about mentorship. And I'm like, that's an easy thread for you to pull out and say, these are common denominators and what brings me the most joy, and it's likely your purpose.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

Yeah.

unknown 34:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

I woke up this morning with these two questions in mind. And um, I'm gonna ask you the questions, but I also think if someone does feel lost, asking themselves these questions can help help at least get your feet pointed in so much of it is self-discovery, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:19

So much.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

I will say it's okay if it changes too, because you are changing. You are growing, right? So the first question that I literally 5 30 this morning, Sam, I texted you at 5 30 this morning.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Sure did, sure did.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

And I said, I have I have an idea, and this is where I think we can go with this episode. And I have these questions. And the first question is when you think about the impact you want to leave in, I'll say in this ecosystem, but really anywhere, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Yeah, yeah. The word that always comes to mind for me is actually two words really. I want you to feel ambushed by my alternative ideas and opinions. I want you to really think outside of the box when it comes to pipeline and funnel and community and partnerships, like really think outside of that. And then the other one is my life in general. On my little tombstone, I wanted to say she was always helping something. She was always a helper. Like the word helper has always been um, in my mind, viewed negatively for a lot of reasons growing up was like, if I'm helping all these people, then I'm not helping myself. Um, and I've had to reflect on what it means to how much help you offer others versus yourself. Um, I went through a phase and and actually had a comment made to me last year that was like, what are you doing to serve yourself? Like, what are you doing to help you? You're helping everybody else, but what are you doing for you? And I think those are the two like lasting impacts that I would want to make on this channel is Sam was always down to help, roll up her sleeves, and Sam was always down to tell us what we were doing wrong and how to fix it.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Yeah, well, it's true. That's what I would say. Second question what do you hope people say about the difference that you made? Ooh, ooh, that's a hard one.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

You don't have to answer. I think, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. A couple of things. I want when you guys are at my celebration of life with bourbon and tarot cards and aura readings and all the silly fun things. Bandana scarves. Bandana scarves, as always. Um, I want you to be all sitting around laughing about all of the ways that we show up for each other and all of the things that you've learned from me exposing my secrets, my experiences, my failures, my wins. Um and I hope that that makes you feel a sense of a lasting impact that I helped you in some way, um, whether it is in work or in life. Um, that's what I really hope my legacy is.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Wow, that's really powerful. And I think if um if somebody is looking for that, I don't I don't know any young adult right now that's like, I know my purpose. Maybe there are. Um, I mean, I have three young adults and they are figuring out their purpose and and what they want their impression to be outside of the work that they do, right? That's not your purpose, can't just be the work that you do.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Job.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

Your job. It can be a great job. I love my job, but my job is not my purpose. So I think for somebody, and again, uh when I ask my AI, like how many books have been written about purpose, it's like everyone's searching for it. Every yeah, it's countless. It is like the number one topic in the self-help genre is finding purpose. I've read several on finding purpose. Um I've cried into multiple. Right. And I think once you find it and you are aligned in it, to back to your point, Sam, when you're not, it's so uncomfy. It's that's when you know. And I I had a coffee talk quote a couple of weeks ago that says, you know, your purpose is not what happens in you, it's what happens in other people when you are living in your purpose.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

So when you can look around and see that impact, whether small, large, whatever size your circle is, um, living in your purpose is you you see and feel and in the impact. You have any like closing, any any other piece of advice that you want to give?

SPEAKER_00 39:57

No, I think my like final or like recap would be if you don't know what your purpose is, sit down and really think about the wins that you have in your life. Um, what are the moments that piqued the most joy and laughter for you? Write them down.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

Um, write down the ones that were the worst and then compare what they have in common or not in common in that case. Um, and then surround yourself with people who are doing that thing, who are living that way. Um, and you'll be amazed to see how you rise to the occasion when you're surrounded by people who are already doing it. Um when you're around people who know why they're here and what they want to do from a lasting impact, it makes a positive impact on you just from being around them. And I really encourage you to find people in your circle that that give that to you.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Wow. Sam, thank you so much for opening up, for sharing um your early stories of finding your purpose, of your misalignment and being really honest with yourself and settling into where settling into your purpose because everyone around you benefits from that. So thank you for um for opening up and me today. If that was fun, it was, it was great fun. We did it. We did it. We did it. I mean, we we have mini podcasts every day through audio message. So you know, I knew that this wouldn't be a stretch for either one of us.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Not at all.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

Yeah. Um, Sam, thank you for being my friend. Thank you for sharing my thank you for sharing um, you know, live, laugh, love with me.

SPEAKER_00 41:37

Always live and laugh and love in these conditions.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

Oh but we do.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

Yeah. And I love it. Yeah. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

If today's conversation resonated with you, take five minutes. Answer some of the questions that I've posed, that Sam has posed. Um, ask yourself when do you feel most alive in your work, in your life? Because very often that's where your purpose is living. Thanks so much for joining us. Uh, we'll see you next time on Coffee Talk. Thank you for joining us today on Coffee Talk. A special thanks to my guests for sharing their story and to you, the listener, for being a part of this conversation. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a Monday morning chat. Until next time, I'm Kate Coffee Bacon, and this has been Coffee Talk.