https://www.listennotes.com/e/d2c1214b269f4c83877d4fa37694a4f0

Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Lueck. And this is the Doing Business Like a Woman podcast where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom one business at a time. Okay? Welcome everybody. Thank you so much for being with me today. I'm really excited to share with you a guest, one of my favorite people and most inspiring women that I look up to. And I'm really excited to have her here to share her wisdom with us today. We have Sarah Hart with us and I'm going to ask her to introduce herself in just a moment. But welcome Sarah. Thank you so much for being here.

Oh, thank you, Melissa. I'm very, very happy to be here with you.

So I know a little bit about you and actually as I was reading up on you today, I learned a little bit more that I'm really excited to talk more about and hear more about. But I would love it if you would give us an introduction so my audience can learn a little bit more about you too.

Sure. Well, as Melissa said, I'm Sarah Hart. I live In Los Altos, California, which is about 30, 45 minutes south of San Francisco. I went to graduate school, came out of graduate school, taught at Queens College in New York for a while. From there went to Pfizer and was in charge of the learning and development in the research division in the US and spent five years in the UK for Pfizer as head of HR for the research division in the uk. I came back and it was a wonderful company. I had a wonderful job. I loved living in Mystic, Connecticut. I had a gorgeous house and I didn't want to do it anymore. And so I this is a long story that I won't go through. But anyway, I left and I moved to San Francisco, started my company Heartcom. Now I started it before the dot com era so that com was my last name and com communication, commitment and community came in. So it became heartcom.com and so what I've had so I've had that for almost 30 years doing pretty much a lot of what I was doing at Pfizer that I wanted to do. I wanted to do leadership coaching and off site meetings, team development, that kind of stuff until about five years ago when I didn't want to do that anymore. And I realized what I wanted to do was with work with and on behalf of older women. And so I started Prime Spark. Prime Spark comes from I was talking to a coach at that time. And she said, oh, you're golden years. And I said, no, no, no, no, no. I want to help women in the prime of their lives find that spark deep inside that will ignite them forward into the world for the make the contribution that they, they want to make. I thought that spark in the prime of your lives. Prime Spark. And so that's when Prime Spark was born. So I've been doing that now for about five years and that's what most of my attention is on. I have a kitty cat named Cocoa Bean and he's a wonderful kitty cat. He's huge, but he's a good kitty cat. That's, that's me.

I love it. So I'm curious and I, I love the, the work that you're doing now around Prime Spark. And so we'll get to that. You know, definitely. As a middle aged woman myself, there's a lot, a lot we could discuss there. But I'm curious what it was like for you when you left your corporate job and so you were in Mystic, Connecticut, the home of Mystic Pizza. Remember the. Do you ever watch the movie?

Yes. There was one scene in there that was shot in mystic once. Oh, I love that.

So cool. I remember, well, I used to live in the New York City area and I remember the first. I was a Colorado girl moving out there and driving on the, the expressway past mystic and thinking about Mystic Pizza. I always thought that was so cool. Anyway, now I know somebody that actually lived there.

I loved it.

So what was that like for you? I mean, you talk a lot about transitions and what was that like for you at 50, kind of almost in the prime of your, you know, career? Time to leave the corporate transition to a new part of the country, a whole new life as an entrepreneur. What was that like for you?

It was terrifying. It was. Making those kinds of changes are really, really hard. And friends of mine tried to talk me out of it, of course. I mean, you know, and, and I said, you know, well, actually, what they wanted, they wanted me to just stay with Pfizer for five more years because then I could have taken early retirement. And that means a lot of perks if you take retirement rather than resign. But I said to them, you know, if I stay five more years, my soul will be a raisin and it won't matter what I do. And so that's what I encourage women to think about. You know, it's. Yeah, it's scary. I mean, we, for those of us who, who went through sort of what I went through and it was a very privileged background because I, I went to college, you know, I was taken care of, went to graduate school, I was taken care of, I worked, I taught in university, I care of, I went to a corporate environment, I was taken care of. And now all of a sudden, for the first time ever, I was going to be responsible for taking care of myself. And it all got collapsed into worrying about health insurance. I was obsessed with what I do about health insurance. Well, at that time, what you did about health insurance, you talked to a broker and you got health insurance. I mean, you know, wasn't, it wasn't a secret, but you just collapse all the fear into something. And that was mine, but I just couldn't keep doing it anymore. And so I sold almost everything I had through things, some things in the car and drove cross country because the only thing I knew wanted to do was live in San Francisco. So I found a one room apartment, put everything I owned in one room and I was so happy, Melissa. I didn't have, I had, you know, a teeny bit of the possessions I had had. I didn't have a job, I didn't have any prospects. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I had saved some money because I could see what was coming. Pfizer blessed their heart, hired me back as a consultant every once in a while. So, so I subsisted. I don't know if you could do that in San Francisco now, but you could. And I was so happy. And I just did that actually for about a year. It took me about a year to heal and to figure out what is it that I want to do. And I realized I didn't want to work for anybody else again ever in my whole entire life. And I really loved a lot of what I'd been doing. I just didn't want to work for anybody again. So I started my company. And that's all scary. So when I work, women I work with, I want to make sure they understand, you know, this, this isn't a walk in the park. Yeah, it's. We're not born and we're not taught initially any entrepreneurial skills. You know, if we come out of corporate, we know nothing about managing a company. And so it was scary, but it was 100% worth it. I haven't for a moment regretted it. Even during tough times, I'm not sorry.

Yeah, yeah, I love that because, you know, we know statistically 86% of people will never start a business. So, you know, just by starting a business, being an entrepreneur, we're already in rare air. And so of the 14 of us that decide to do that, you know, we. We know even further that as far as women, only 88% of us will ever make more than 100k in our business in a year. Right. And so I would love to hear, you know, what your. Maybe some advice for those that are starting out that entrepreneurial journey or, you know, really dealing with the fear and, you know, resilience. I know you talk a lot about resilience, and resilience is such an important part of the entrepreneurial journey. So maybe talk with us a little bit about that and give us your. Your w. Your wise and sage advice.

Well, I don't know about that, Melissa, but I think that one of the most important. And I didn't do this, and I should have, so I had to make up for that. I think one of the first things you need to do is learn about finances and how to manage the financial part of the whole thing. For a lot of us, that's hard because we've never had to do that, really. I mean, we had a paycheck and we had bills to pay, but that was simple as compared with what we're trying to do now. So I think really there are all sorts of courses you can take on setting up a small business, setting up on your own, and I would take advantage of that and really get more comfortable with managing the whole financial aspects. I think you can't do all this on your own. I really don't. I really don't think you can. And so if. If you have the ability to hire a coach or to do a lot of networking and find friends who can help you, you need support and you need guidance. And if you. If you really dig around and find groups of women in business currently who are managing their own business and really use that resource because they will have gone through it and they. My. My experience is that women who've done that are incredibly generous in offering knowledge and help. And so I would definitely suggest that it's also. That's all really hardcore sorts of stuff. I was just not very long ago listening to a talk by a man whose name is Stacy Peralta. I hadn't heard of him, but everybody else seems to have. He was a professional skateboarder very first. And he said, you know, just dream. Just pay attention to what is. Is glimmering out there and let it settle.

Just.

Just deal with the dream and don't let your brain get involved yet, because your brain will say, oh, that won't work. Oh, you can't do that. You don't know enough about that. So stay with the dream until it has a chance to form. And don't even tell friends about it for a while because they will tell you, oh, that's not possible. You can't do that. And so if you have the ability to do it, I think to just stay in that space for a while and figure out what really, really calls me, what really do I desire, what, what really do I love, where really do I want to be involved in this world. It may be a whole new skill set that you'll have to acquire or maybe a lot of the things you've already done. I mean, my experience in some of the women I work with, they've loved what they've done, they've been good at it. They just don't want to do it that way anymore. And so you can probably not just throw everything out, but look at what you really have loved about what you've been doing and how can you use that in a new and different and exciting way? And finally you want to make sure that you're setting things up. And this is so much easier said than done so that you don't end up working a lot harder and a lot longer than you did when you were in your job job. Because your life is what's most important. Your health, your friends and your family. Yeah, so those are just some things I think of.

Yeah, I love that. And I find so often with the women that I talk to and, and obviously this has been something I've struggled with too, is that we're not taught or not really encouraged to listen to our own inner wisdom when it comes to building a business. You know, we are conditioned a lot of times to believe we're not good at money or we're not good at business, or we're not good at marketing or whatever it is. And so we go to look outside of us for all this, you know, all the voices on the outside. And so, and I know you are really good at tuning in to the inner, you know, desires, inner wisdom. So how did that come about for you, especially around building your business?

I think it has to do. That's an interesting question. Listen, I never thought of it. I think it has to do with paying attention to your intuition and your creativity. And I don't mean you have to be a great painter. I just mean making things, making things happen, you know, I mean, I've had, I mean, since I was a tiny little girl, I've had this amazing imagination, which has not always served me, but has served me a lot of the time. And I think that. I don't know if you're born with that or if somehow you develop it, but I didn't grow up in a family that was. That encouraged intuition and creativity.

Yeah.

And so when I would talk about my imaginary playmates in the backyard, which were as real to me as my. My, My actual friends, I was not encouraged to do that kind of thinking, but it was there.

Yeah.

And I didn't let go of it. And so I think as children, a lot of us have that creative, intuitive knowing that we are talked out of, that we cover up, and that's what we're trying to get back to. So, thinking about what did I love to do as a child? You know, did I love Legos? Did I love making creative projects of some kind? Did I love. I mean, I remember when I was a little girl, what I used to do all the time was have presentations, you know, So I guess I like to make presentations from the time I was tiny because my friend of mine, Nancy and I would set up stages and we'd get on. Then we'd. We'd force our parents to come while we presented, whatever our thing was. But think about what is it like that. That I really love to do as a child? And I may not be able to make any money from that right now, but what does that suggest to me about what. What is. What is deep in there that may have been snuffed out? I mean, I don't know how many of us were taught over time. No, that's. That's not a good drawing. You. You can't make purple faces. No, that's not. That's not good. You have to. You have to stay in these lines. Don't go outside these lines. And so, you know, we want to be good kids or bad kids, but a lot of us want to be good kids. And so we do that, and gradually we think we can't draw, we think we're not creative and we lose it, but it's there, and so play, you know? Or did you. Did you take musical music lessons of some kind when you were smaller? And do you really have an urge to do that again, even though you'd be terrible at it? Probably initially. But anything that taps into what really was inside of us, in our heart? When we were little kids, I used to love to tell stories, and I would tell these incredible stories. One of my favorite stories about this woman who swam from New York To London.

Wow.

And it was. But it was fun. And so I still love stories. Somebody just says to me, once upon a time, I'm on the floor with a blanket. I mean, I'm just. That's it, you know?

I love that. So are you originally from the New York area?

No, I'm originally from Ohio.

Okay.

But I don't even know at that point how I knew about New York, but I did. And she swam from New York to London. I don't. Who knows, you know? I don't know.

I love that. Yeah. I've. I find myself having. Thinking a lot about wanting to go back to some of the things I really enjoyed as a kid, you know? And me, I don't know if that's a midlife thing, but now as my kids get older and, you know, I think about wanting to take up jazz piano and play in a jazz band.

Yeah. Oh, fun. Oh, fun, fun, fun.

I took piano lessons as a kid, and I always detested playing, playing classical piano, but always wanted to learn how to. How to improvise and, you know, do a lot of that stuff. And my son is that way. Like, he can just sit down and play the piano, but just for fun, you know, just for fun, like. And. I don't know, I guess it's my upbringing of coloring in the lines and wanting to do everything perfect that it's really hard for me to do that. But there's part of me that really wants. Has a desire for that.

Well, I think, Melissa, that is exactly the kind of thing we need to pay attention to and let that out in whatever way.

Yeah.

Because if we don't, then it just dies. It's sort of like a balloon.

Yeah.

It might not lead to anything, but who knows what it might lead to? You know, getting. Doing jazz piano might lead you to. To another instrument. It might lead you to singing. It might lead you to dancing. It might lead. You know, who knows what it would lead to?

Yeah.

See, I think. And this isn't really exactly what we're talking about, but I think that. That women in midlife naturally go through a big transition, and I think that we are. We become more of who we were meant to be, and we let go of some of the strictures that we've had. And for women who have children, that. That's a lot of. Of letting go and changing identity. But. But I think it's. Even for women who didn't have children, I think it's a time of life. I think it's. I think it's Almost like another puberty. I mean, I think it's natural if we let it happen.

Yeah.

And so to really, as a. As a woman, to pay attention to those glimmers is what I think of, you know, what is calling. And it doesn't have to become a reality right now. It doesn't have to make us a bunch of money right now, but just let it. Let it simmer. Let it simmer. Because if you just keep it in your heart rather than letting it go to your brain, it will become more and more formed, and that's what we want to have happen.

Yeah, I love that. It's been such an interesting kind of challenge that I've been even just giving myself of. I went to a conference here locally and went to one of the sessions. It was a business conference, but one of the sessions was about. It was put on by a gentleman that teaches actors and teaches improv acting. And so it was one of those things where you go around the circle and there was a prompt. And rather than thinking about it, you just had to say the first. First thing that came out of your mouth. It was really fun. Like, I've never connected with that part of me. Like, I'm always the one that's. Oh, let me think about it before, and I'll try to say something really smart, you know, but it's so. That. That's so interesting that you say that to really, you know, And I don't. I haven't talked to you about this, but I recently had a. I guess I'm 10 days out now from getting a concussion playing hockey. And so I've had a brain injury. But I've really seen it as an interesting challenge to open up more to my heart and my inner knowing, because my brain's a little slow now. Right. So it's really interesting, I think, that.

That what you just said before, Melissa, I think is an absolutely perfect thing for women to do. Yeah, improv. I mean, it is. It is. It just makes us. It makes us open up. If we really just go to the pla. Go and do it, because you don't have time to think about it. You have to respond with yes. And. And so it just keeps opening and opening and opening it. And. And you get over worrying about thinking about something before you say it, because nobody thinks about whatever they're going to say. You don't have time to do that. Yeah.

Yeah. It was really interesting. And I felt myself. I found myself feeling very uncomfortable. Like, I don't even. I wasn't even quite sure. Why I chose to go to that session because. But it was a. It sounded kind of wild and outside my comfort zone. So I was like, well, why not? Right? Let's go have a little fun rather than going listening to another, you know, lecture on, I don't know, dealing with clients or whatever. But. So it was definitely out of my comfort zone and you know, we're making weird noises and doing wild things and. But yeah, I've really kind of enjoyed. And maybe that's a midlife thing. I've enjoyed like exploring more of getting out of any opportunity I can get out of my brain and listen more to my heart and my intuition. And it just feels so, so it feels foreign to me, but at the same time very attractive. Like I'm. It's really beckoning me for more. So.

Good, stay with that.

Yeah, that's so interesting. And you know, I also. I've been recently reading a book about menopause and so, and the scientific fact that really has stuck out for me is the author is saying that that humans are, and hopefully I'll get this right, but humans, human females have, were very unique and that most other species of females don't have a period of their lives where they're not, you know, kind of post reproductive period. Like we have the longest post reproductive period of all, you know, of, of the animal species or something of that sort. And I found that to be really interesting. Like, why would Mother Nature or God or, you know, our creator give us that long of a period of post reproductive. Which, you know, for humans, we know we're, we are living longer and longer and have the technology now to live to be a hundred. And so that's a really long period of our lives. So I would love to hear your thoughts about this post reproductive renaissance.

Well, I think. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's. I, I can't cite this and I can't find it. And so I'm not 100% sure this is accurate. And if anybody knows, please tell Melissa so she can tell me that when women stop being able to have babies, their hormones change in such a way that they actually do become more independent and braver. Because up until that time, we, we in early, much earlier days, we had to depend on the community to help us raise children. We, we couldn't do it our own. So we had to be accepted, we had to be liked, we had to have people wanting to help us because if our children were to survive, we had to depend on the community. And so hormonally when, when we stop, during that, during that time of our lives of being able to have babies, we actually change. And see, I think this happens even for women who don't have children, that it's time that it's. I think it's a physical, but I also think it's. It's a. It's a really social, psychological, spiritual development that women go through. And so. And I think that we're finally getting to the point that we can recognize menopause isn't a disease and that we can. Number one, we can talk about it. Number two, we don't see it as a disease, and we can see it for what it is. It is a total change in our bodies and what we are able to do physically as women. And so it's not surprising that all kinds of spiritual, emotional, psychological things change. And after that time, because our bodies have changed so drastically.

Yeah, it's fascinating. And talking about transitions, I know that is a big part of the work that you do and in coaching and teaching and talking about transitions. How are you teaching women about that transition and how to navigate that in a successful manner?

Well, it. We. We talk about endings, you know, what's ending and how do you feel about that? I mean, it's. It's really tough in this society because when we get to be 40, 50, 60, our society sometimes treats us as if we're useless. I mean, we're not particularly cute anymore. We're not particularly sexy anymore for society. We can't even have babies. And so what good are we? And so I think we have to get a grip on that, because I think we all unconsciously walk around thinking about that we don't want to be older women. And given the way that older women are depicted in our society, who would want to be one of those? Now, for those of us who work primarily with women, we know that. That women in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s anymore aren't that stereotype of what a, quote, older woman is. So initially, we have to get a hold of how do I really feel about aging? Because that's what's happening. You know, that's during this midlife. I'm. I'm getting older. And every. A lot of. Not everything, but a lot of the ways I defined myself up to this point in time are not there anymore. So who am I? And so we. We have to really get to what's ending. And then. Then we get into the. This idea of opening your heart and what's there, what is servicing, you know, where. What can you bring Forward that you is, is, is in your heart. And I don't talk about, I'm on purpose. Don't talk about purpose because I think we freeze people by. Find your purpose.

Yeah, very intimidating. Like the one, like it has to be the one.

It has to be one. It has to be one purpose and it has to be mind blowing. It has to be, you know, earth shattering. And that's just bunk, I think, I mean, I think throughout life we have lots of different purposes. Now I, I think there may be an, a sort of a through line of things we, that are important to us. And I don't, I think those probably form very early and may continue through life, but there's not one purpose. So I don't help women find their purpose. I help them find the ability to listen to their heart, get creative and play and try lots of different things. If you have not, not all women can do this because they're, they're. I know we all have things that we're responsible for, we need to take care of and so forth. So to the extent possible, just explore things that interest you and, and they can be things right around you. You don't need to make a big deal of it. But you know, are there, are there museums around you you haven't gone to? Are there libraries around you where you haven't really spent much time? Are there little shops where you haven't gone into to see what it is, just explore and just find as many different kinds of things as possible. And so we, we do that for a while and I, and, and, and really encourage. And some women really rebel against the word play. And I try to find another word, but that's what we're doing. We're encouraging play and letting go of all the strictures that have been on us for a lot of years about how to be a good girl, how to be a good employee, how to be a good mother, how to be a good wife, you know, just, just to let go of those things. And who am I? You know, what really turns me on? So we do that whole middle part and then really get to the point of okay, what is next? And it doesn't mean it has to be forever, you know. Does try this, does this work? No. Okay, well now, you know, you can let go of something and try something else. And if that doesn't work, then you can let go of that and try something else. So it's a whole process and, and some of it is step by step and some of it is just mishmash in Trying to find what is my deep desire at this point? What do I love? What do I just love to do? You know, I think if you ask a woman what brings you the most joy in your life, women can say that. And then you say, great. How often do you do that?

Yeah, yeah.

So we don't. We don't. I think of it almost like a seed. We don't take this seed, this joy seed and plant it and see what. And water it and make sure it has sun and let it sprout. So what does it sprout into?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. As you're talking, I'm thinking, you know, I. That sound. It sounds great, and it sounds really invigorating and fun and explorative, but how do we help the other people in our lives that may be not so supportive or excited about us changing and going out and transitioning and experiencing all of these, you know, experiencing joy? Because there's sometimes people in our lives that like to see us stay in our box.

Yes. And that is a huge issue because some of the people who are closest to us will not be over the moon about seeing all this. And so there's some decisions there that we have to make is, do I want to stay with this person? Do I want to stay with these friends? Do I want to stay with this partner? Probably so at least the partner part. So we can. We can do what we can do to reassure them that this isn't changing my feelings for you. It's changing my feelings about myself and what I want in the world.

Yeah.

But it doesn't have any impact on. On my love and deep feelings for you. I'm. That's not changing. Other. Other things are changing and. Yeah. And, you know, side by side with that, you have to be pretty firm about. And I am going to do this. And so I really ask for your support or at least not having your blocking of it, because I am going to do this. And we need to figure out how to incorporate this into our relationship, because this is going to happen.

Yeah.

We don't give up. We don't give up once. Once we get. Start getting some of these feelings, because if we do, then we wither and the relationship's not going to be good. Life is not going to be good anyway.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's really what life is about, is continuing to grow and change and go through these transitions. Right. Because my grandmother, who lived to be 99, she said, once you stop moving, you start dying. And she talked a lot about physical movement. She Believed in exercise and did Jazzercise, you know, forever and whatever. But I think I use that quote a lot because it's so applicable to all areas of our life as we're aging. Right? Yes. The physical movement, but also the emotional, the spiritual, the inner movement too, Right?

Yes. And for a lot of women, when, when here would talk everything we're talking about, Melissa will say, oh, well, that's really good. But I, my, my financial contribution to the household is, is important. I have to. And so. Of course you do. If you have that responsibility, then that needs to be put into the pot. But not first, first we deal with where is all this leading in terms of your dream and what you're most interested in, what really is calling you forward. And then at some point and how can we monetize at least some of this? And so that has to be taken into account at some point, if it has to be taken into account. So I don't not deal with that. But I really, I really like the question, if you didn't have to make money, what would you do? And then at some point down the road as. And I encourage women not to leave money making now if they need to make money until something else is set up.

Yeah.

You know, the way I did it, I don't encourage women to do it.

Yeah, you learned, right.

I was fine, but I, I'm not always. I was responsible just for me.

Yeah.

Didn't you know, I didn't have a partner, I didn't have children. I did at that point. I didn't even have a cat. I was just. I, you know, and so a lot of women aren't in that position, and I recognize that.

Yeah. And I think what's so important is to consider the both. And you know, I think a lot of times when we're in transition or, or when we want to do something different or explore some of these desires in our inner. Listen to our inner wisdom and, and listen to our heart. We think it has to be either or like, it has to be all heart and not making any money or all this and none of that. But there's, I think, a lot of room for thinking, well, how can we do this and that?

Right.

How can I follow my heart, follow my passion, and have health insurance, Right.

Yes, yes, absolutely. And that stuff is real. But you can't start with it. You don't, you don't let go of that if you need to be doing it until you get some other things going. But you don't start with, how can I Make money at this.

Yeah, yeah. A concept I teach is the. That there's two parts of us, like, there's our business brain and then there's. There's our helper's heart. Right. And so it's our helper's heart where, you know, we have our best ideas and that's where we're doing sales and marketing from. But yes, the business brain also has a role, too.

Sure.

But it's opening up to that both. And thinking. Yeah, yeah. So fun. So one of the other things I'd love to hear you talk about is throughout your journey, you incor. Began to incorporate speaking, and you're now a speaker and you travel all over and speak. And you're actually. So Sarah and I know each other through E Women Network, and I'm a managing director for the Northern Colorado chapter, as many of you know. And so Sarah is actually going to come speak at our chapter in June. And so if you want to see her and get to interact with her in person, in real life, irl, she will be here with us for our accelerated networking luncheon in June. That's on June 5th. Yeah.

June or July.

July. No, you're right, it's July.

Okay. I was thinking. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Correction update. She's going to be with us in July, which is really exciting. But tell me a little bit about how that came about. Like the speaking career.

I think it was. I. Like I said before, Melissa, I think that from the time I was a tiny little girl, I like to get up and talk. And I am. People don't believe this, but it's very true. I am a very, very strong introvert. And I have spent my entire adult life standing up in front of groups, talking, because I did all the learning and development stuff at Pfizer. That's what I did for the next 20 some years in my company. And that's just what I do it people. Some people. And I understand this because I've coached some. Some speaking. I do some of that coaching.

Nice.

That public speaking is scarier to some people than dying. And I understand that. And for me, I'm. It's not scary to me. And I think it's. I think it's because when I was tiny, I used to just stand up all the time and do presentations. We had productions.

Yeah.

And so as time went along and when I was doing my. My. Then my own business, people would talk about the best way to get clients is speaking, networking, you know, and for me, the easiest one of all of that certainly Easier than networking is speaking. That's very easy. So I didn't do. I did a lot of speaking in. In the sense of teaching groups, but I didn't actually do very much speaking. Speaking until I had prime spark. And I am so dedicated to it. And I want to get that message out to women as wide as possible. And I realized that was not going to happen if I kept doing small groups of women or coaching one on one, that I needed to be talking to larger audiences. So that's sort of how it came about. It was a desire to get my message out.

Yeah. I love that. So good. And you have gotten your message out on some pretty big stages, but being a finalist with the North America's Next greatest Speaker and. And if you ever get a chance to hear Sarah speak on stage, she is amazing. So it's definitely.

Thank you. And I love doing it. But the. But the biggest payoff for me is when I came off the stage at I. At the conference one year, a woman came up to me with tears in her eyes and she said, I. I know now why I came. I needed to hear your message. Now that. That is why I do what I do.

Yeah. That conviction. Wow.

Yeah.

That's amazing. I love that.

Yeah, it was. I was just.

Oh, yeah, that's worth. You can't even pay for that, right? Like, no.

What's better than that To. To be helping somebody come to that point when you're talking about something that's so important to you?

Yeah, I love that. So good. Well, thank you so much for being with us today. And I love every chance I get to chat with you. And we always invite our E Women Network chapter, Northern Colorado. We always invite Sarah to be our adopted member during our annual conference in Dallas in August. And so we'll definitely invite you again to come.

Thank you. Thank you.

It's always so fun to get to chat with you. And then we feel so much pride when we get to watch you on the stage and speak. And so we're looking forward to that again, too, because I know you're a finalist again this year. Yeah.

Yeah.

Nice.

And again, May and Marine. Why I keep doing this is it's a wonderful way to get my message out.

Yeah. Yeah. And I love that, that it's really that conviction and the. The commitment you have to getting the message out that gets you on the big stage, regardless of being an introvert. And, you know, all the travel and the preparation and I'm sure nerves because everyone gets nervous now and then and. And it just gets you overcoming all of that in order to share that message. So I love that.

Thank you. I just really want women to know that the rest of your life can be the best of your life. You're 40, 50, 60, 70, 80. Whatever you are, you can still do that.

Yeah.

Still possible. It's not too late. It's never too late. As long as you can keep any health at all, it's not too late.

I love that. Well, thank you so much and I love the work that you're doing in the world. And thank you for coming by and sharing, sharing that with us today. And I will look forward to chatting with you again real soon.

Thank you, Mil.

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