The Entrepreneur DNA - Why Effort Alone Won’t Scale Your Business — The Shift to Intentional Leadership | Sarah Gibbons

Episode Date: May 26, 2026

Exclusive listener discount: Use code ATTEND25 for 25% off your registration! Register here: sarahgibbons.com/shop/p/when-effort-stops-working Join Sarah for a 75-minute virtual live workshop on Wednesday, June 3rd at 12 PM PT. This is the second in a series of four workshops and is designed for leaders who sense that the problem isn’t motivation — it’s the system they’re operating from. You’ll learn to work with capacity, timing, and internal alignment instead of against yourself. In 75 minutes, you’ll identify: Where your work has become unnecessarily heavy What actually matters right now (and what to ignore) The decisions and actions you already know you need to make In this episode, I sit down with executive coach and founder Sarah Gibbons for a deeply honest conversation about what it really takes to sustain entrepreneurial success without burning out. We explore why hustle culture is a trap, and how intentionality — not more effort — is what separates entrepreneurs who scale from those who stall. Sarah shares how she built a thriving, referral-based coaching practice over 17 years by prioritizing her inner world first: her values, her sleep, her relationships, and her capacity to lead. Together we dig into self-leadership, the courage to pivot, the power of “three-foot tosses,” the myth of time blocking, and why spaciousness is the secret ingredient to creativity. We also talk about navigating uncertainty — whether that’s the LA fires, economic shifts, or the messy middle of entrepreneurship — and what it means to show up as the leader you’re being called to be right now. About Sarah Gibbons: Sarah Gibbons is an accomplished executive coach and founder of Sarah Gibbons & Co., a global coaching practice dedicated to helping individuals and organizations unlock transformational leadership. With over 15 years of experience, she has worked with top executives and creatives from leading organizations including Goodby Silverstein & Partners, 22 Squared, Hey Wonderful, The LA Clippers, and TBWA\Chiat\Day. A former tech-industry leader with roles at Amazon, IMDb, and Fox Interactive Media, Sarah transitioned her career after earning a Master’s in Spiritual Psychology. She is the co-author of The Chalk Collective: Drawing the Life You Deserve and host of The Tidal Podcast. Sarah lived in the Pacific Palisades, a community recently ravaged by devastating fires, where she cultivated her passion for fostering connection and resilience. As a mother of three, she is committed to helping others discover aliveness, self-trust, and legacy impact in both their personal and professional lives. Connect with Sarah: Website: sarahgibbons.com Instagram: @sarahgibbonsco Facebook: facebook.com/sarahgibbons.co LinkedIn: Sarah Lyons Gibbons Substack: @sarahgibbonsco About Justin Colby: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

All right, the entrepreneur DNA. Welcome back to my family, the listeners. You guys make the show go around. And if you're not a part of the entrepreneur DNA community and club, this is where you get access, access to the right people like my guest today. She has been a consultant for so many of the biggest brands that you might know, so many of the companies and agencies you might know. And the reason why my guest today has been so impactful is because she doesn't just

just help the company in organization. She helps the people, the leadership, the founders, the people that need the most help. Sarah Gibbons is here. How are you? I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to start my week off this way. Yeah, this is a good one.

Now, you have an incredible resume in the corporate world, and you actually decided to leave the corporate world to go out on your own. Why did you make that decision? I was just talking about this over the weekend. I hadn't thought about it in a while. I would say the number one reason is I always knew at a young age I was someone who wanted to beat to my own schedule and my own drum. So I was number one. Number two, I love to make money.

I did not want a limit on the amount of money I wanted to make. And I was coming from sales and I think sales, you have a lot of flexibility as far as in how to make money. And three, I love flexibility. You know, I think I was truly in my heart. My mother was a school teacher growing up. And in some ways, I think a school teacher has more flexibility than most because they get the holidays off in the summer. But once I'd had my first son pretty, you know, within that first couple months, I was like, okay, I love to work. It's important that I work from a financial standpoint and from my own being fulfilled.

But I knew that I wanted to do my own thing. When you agree, you know, interesting you say these things, the word I've heard a lot and I'm using in my own. speeches there's two words independence is a word i really believe i think many entrepreneurs and tell me if you agree we go down this path because we want financial independence right we want to be able to have no ceiling on how much we make however we get caught into this like i got to work as hard as i possibly can and then you have no time independence did you ever feel that well i probably so i I've, in all fairness, I've been, you know, I've been running my own business now for almost 17 years. I think early on, I felt a little bit of that. But I'm also someone who, it was, I'm

quite disciplined. And I, and I figured out early on that I was not someone who wanted to work 20 hours plus every day. Now, I did a lot of that in my 20s when I was, you know, working for Amazon starting in 2000. I worked a lot of weekends, a lot of evenings. I didn't want to go back to that. And I really got, I was working with a coach quite early from the minute I became and, you know, started my entrepreneur path. And that coach really worked with me on the one thing I need to learn the most was my inner world and the way in which I was relating to things was really where my success was going to come from. And so I think I got it. early on that that independence that everybody talks about doesn't come from just effort over and

over and over. It actually also comes from what kind of systems do you have in place, how much capacity are you able to hold and all those type of things. So I do see that is one of the number one things that I think gets in the way of entrepreneurs, very quick. But I would say I figured that part out pretty early on. Yeah. The entrepreneurs typically get into hustle mode and they have a hard time getting out of it, right?

Regardless of the revenue, right? You could have $5 million a year in revenue, but you're still a hustler. And that's the challenge what you're talking about is. Yeah. And then how do you break the hustler mentality? And obviously you and I both know hustler cultures everywhere and you got to hustle and grind. But how do you break that? Like you've reached success.

You're starting to get some, what's the term I've been using recently is stability in your business? I'll use $5 million just to keep it easy. You have this $5 million a year run rate and like their stability. But how do you get yourself out of that hustle feeling? Yeah. Well, I can tell you my own tricks and take it for what it is, but you will never hear me use the word hustle. I don't think I ever used it.

And I have to be transparent. I have three boys. So once I had that third boy, I was so overwhelmed in my personal life that the last thing I wanted to do. It was come in and hustle. Now, not to be confused with, I value excellence, so I have a very strong work ethic, but I work very intentionally. So, you know, and I, I, when I was in a position where I was hiring quite a bit, I saw this with parents. You know, if I hired, whether it was a woman or a man, one of the things I noticed was that they learned how to become intentional very quickly because they wanted to have time with their families.

Yeah. In the morning or in the evening. So I think for me, you know, there's a mindset in there. Yeah. I don't talk about my work ethic in terms of hustle. I talk about being intentional. I talk about having my foundation really strong. And when I say that, I mean my sleep, healthy food, moving my body, spiritual connection.

I mean, all the basics. Because the last thing I want, I don't want to hustle. I'm turning 50 this year. That's the last thing I want to be doing is hustling now. The other thing I will say, as an entrepreneur, it is true that I believe it's important to constantly be in a new business mindset, which means when you start to hit those revenue marks, it can be easy to sort of sit back and then not be looking ahead. So that's where processes come in place.

Like, how do you plan for, when do you start planning for the year out? What does that look like? What kind of systems do you put in place? But I think that all rolls up to being really intentional. Yeah, I think you mentioned something that I, I tend to talk a lot about this transformation that needs to happen. And that's where I think that break needs to happen. Like, I just, funny story, I just recently went and spoke to 100 lawyers.

I was invited to come speak and it was great and I am not a lawyer. I find talking to lawyers very difficult. I'll fully own that. How did it go? Phenomenal. It was actually probably one of my better speeches I've given in the last couple of years. And here's why. Here's how I started.

As someone yourself, you go and speak all, you know, you get invited everywhere. And I went up and the first thing I said is you need to die now. And I held that for a minute. I didn't say another word. And the idea is what we are talking about. The person who got you here won't get you there because you need to start having different systems, intention, structure, leadership qualities, like all of the things are going to be different to get you there. And we're making up where there is. But that is the concept you're talking about that I think is

so important. And I know you don't use the word hustle, but it is that like grinder mentality. I mean, do whatever it takes to make my company successful at all costs. And a lot of times it comes to the cost of the family, the wife, the children, even your health, you're talking about. talking about eating clean, making sure your body's moving. We, I'm going to use myself. Like, I'm intentional with one thing. I need morning time. Where do you find?

Where does Sarah Gibbons find her time to be intentional for Sarah Gibbons? I'm an early bird. I always have been. So similar to you, Justin, I get up early. I go to the gym. Carving out quiet time is something that I need more of. I mean, I live in a house with four males. you know, cats and a big dog. So getting quiet time is is a little more challenging. But I do find, you know, I'm, I just put my shoes on, go for a walk. I listen to music a lot. I mean, I'm based in L.A. I'm an entertainment, you know, lover of movies and music and all things like that. So for me, it can be anything in terms of listening. And then also writing. You know, I'm a big

tone it of take five minutes and write down what's true for you in the moment or my intention for the morning. You know, I've been one of the books that changed my life years ago when I first read it was Wayne Dyer's book, The Power of Intention. Sure. And if you're not familiar with his work, get familiar with it. And so I'm very intentional throughout the day. I have my, you know, I know my values. I have a clear intention for each day. And I should say it's not just the intention of what I want to do, but how I want to experience it. And so I think that comes from prioritizing, like you said, my morning time, my quiet time, my moving my body. If I don't work out or if I don't, you know, eat healthy, then it's pretty hard to function, I find.

I'm, well, I'm just cranky. I'm irritable. I'm cranky, right? Like I just, I find myself quick to snap, right? But it's also about leading yourself. And self-leadership is a forgotten tool. and I know you preached this is people continue to, again, in business and in life, you forget that you got to put yourself first. I think people need to be selfish, frankly. There's limitations. But as a mother of three boys and a wife and a business owner and a consultant, like you have to put yourself first. You have to be selfish. Yes.

And I really pride, and this is a little bit gender stereotyping, but I work with men and women all day. long. And I will say men do this very well. And I don't, and as a compliment, I mean that. I think that men are able to prioritize their needs without then feeling guilty or dismissing that they're important. Whereas the women clients that I work with, it's much harder. There becomes a sense of guilt, a sense of, you know, I don't want to be known as someone who's selfish. But to your point, self-leadership sits at the heart of everything that we do. How you show up, one way is how you show in every way. So whether you're the seat of a boardroom and you're pitching for funding or you're sitting with your family, if you're, if I always say like if we're not connected inwardly,

then the self-leadership that's required in either one of those is going to go out the window. And you'll be, you know, we all know what happens when we start to get, when we start to get dysregulated and all of that. Oh, yeah. Well, we start to lean into devices, you know, and you start to whether it's drinking or drugs or eating poorly and it doesn't have to be extreme, things that you start to favor because of your internal mental breakdown. I find almost a sense of guilt, right? And it's not guilt about being a father or a husband or even a business owner, just internal like I can do better, right? Yes. It's a really interesting point you say, Justin, I think that is a value of those of us who are really driven and value excellence as we

kind of start to beat ourselves up a little bit. And it's like, yeah, this isn't, I know this isn't who I really am that internal. But you're right. That's a, yeah, I can definitely relate to that. Yeah. And it's only because, you know, so I have a great mentor, mine, Ben Newman. He talks a lot about being able to hold yourself to standards. And then are your standards helping you win the day, the week, the month when you're leveling your standards up? And I think internally, people need to, listen, I'm well aware, not everyone's a morning person like you and me. But if you don't create something of a level of standard to make yourself better. It is very hard to make, you know, impact on a company, on your people, to be a good leader. What's the cost of you just putting your head down and not

holding yourself of value of standards? Oh, I mean, for me right away, it's the cost of connection, which is my number one value. So if I don't hold my standards, I'm, I feel because I'm so then disconnected from myself because I haven't nurtured my own inner well-being, I find it very difficult to connect with my husband. I end up coming from a place of, you know, just judgment or, you know, all of that. And same with the boys. You know, I'm able to pull it together for work more, but I really notice it on the front lines with the people that I'm closest with. Yeah. And that's the, Me too, by the way. I'm, and it's funny because I'll be able to pull it together and have so much grace and patience in the work front.

Yes. And by the end of the day, it's like it's all empty. And I come home to my five-year-old daughter who is so full of attitude and spunk right now, wants to tell me no at every moment, right? And so I'm like, man, that's just, and that's that back to standards and holding yourself, like, are you doing the things that you need for yourself more than anything else? you actually have an event. What's coming up? Don't you have an event coming up or some sort of formal function? Yes.

So I have a workshop coming up that will be the second workshop. It's part of a series of four. And I do a few workshops out of the year. I'm not someone who does loads. And so I put a lot of intentionality around them. They are an hour. It's June 3rd. You can get the details on my website.

But the theme for this one, is when effort stops working. It's very much you and I are talking about. You can only effort yourself so much. And then you've got to start to look at your inner architecture of, gosh, how am I showing up inwardly? And then from that place, okay, then outwardly looking at wherever I am in my journey of being an entrepreneur, what am I being called to create so that I can, so that I'm not just relying on effort and burnout. And this all ladders up to a bigger theme that I'm spending a lot of time on right now called living in the in-between. And this really originated from last year.

My family now were very much impacted by the fires in the Pacific Palisades. We're West L.A. We raised our boys in the Palisades. So when the fires happened, I very quickly found myself living in the in-between. And as I started to process that and notice, you know, clients who are going through relationship changes or career changes, you know, our life really actually. happens in the in-between. This is the second of four workshops that, you know, you can do one.

You can do the remaining three. But it's really a way for people to get visibility to my work while at the same time leave after a one-hour experiential virtual live workshop with me and leave the tools that are going to help you not just rely on your effort. So wherever you are in your entrepreneur journey, I promise you, it will benefit you. Yeah, in the messy middle or the in between, right? It's those areas where there's no definition, uncertainty.

I'm also talking a lot about uncertainty right now, right? Whether it be the fires and the palisades, whether it be the financial economy, whether it be politics, whether it be there's so much of it. Like it is everywhere. And how do you show up in the times of uncertainty? And how you show up could cost you everything or could make you everything, in my opinion.

So in these two days, that identity shift of who are you going to be in that time of uncertainty, the messy middle, you know, the time of in between. What's your point of how people need to show up and who they need to be in those moments? Well, I think you just hit the nail on the hand. I think the first question is just to have the consciousness of asking yourself, who am I being called to be as a leader right now in this moment? As an entrepreneur, I don't think we ask ourselves those questions. enough. I think we're so focused on, I've got to get revenue coming in. I've got to get my

website up. I've got to get, you know, appointments on the book so that I'm in conversations. And so walking it back a minute and getting really conscious of, wait, who am I being called to be as a leader? I think that's number one. And then I think number two, if you know your values, which all my clients who work with me know that that's one of the first pieces of work we're going to do is make sure that you know what your values are. Because that, becomes a foundation for one, when you start to lead from your values, then you're not leading from expectations. At any time we lead from expectations, we're going to be disappointed. So I always say to people, if you're not sure who you need to be today, then take a look at your

values, because that'll give you insight into when you show up from them, then you're likely that much closer to showing up in your most powerful version of yourself. And that'll give you a bit of a North Star and framework. But I would just say, you know, ask yourself the question. Who is the universe, God's spirit, whatever it is you believe, calling me to be today in this moment. And if that's the only question you ask yourself, I fully believe you will show up as your most powerful leader in whatever moment you're navigating, whatever circumstance. Is it as simple, and maybe I'm oversimplifying it, is as simple as just do the next right thing? Well, first of all, everybody who knows me knows I love simplicity. It's one of my values. I would say, I don't necessarily believe in like right, wrong because sometimes as an entrepreneur, I don't think we always know what the right thing is. So I would actually just alter that slightly, do the next thing that is an alignment with what feels good to you. You know, I think I've heard Oprah say this a thousand times that there's many times in her own journey where, She couldn't see 30 feet in front of her, but she could see three feet in front of her.

And so I often say to my clients, you know, what's the three foot toss that you can make in this moment? And a three foot toss is like the thing that you can do that feels doable. I would rather you do a three foot toss every day than try to hit a home run and then not do anything for the next five days after that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm I'm the same way. I think most entrepreneurs as I have mentored so many as you have, they tend to get caught up on getting it right. Yes. I think you and I having the longevity of being entrepreneurs as long as you have and you having the great ability to see the executives at Amazon, IMBD, right, the executives that find see them make mistakes versus what is what is that blend between the three foot tosses you see. said of just go, do something, take the next action, take the next step versus taking the right

step? I think it looks a little bit more like one of the things that I think is important is putting structure around what your goal is. So a lot of times I would say if there is a right step, that right step will come from being quite informed. And all my clients who I work with, you know, and I think this is probably true with most people, is that they've identified clear goals. I think where people then get off track a bit is that they then don't put structure around those goals. So I have a project plan that I have honed over the years and that my clients then, when they have a goal, they create a project plan around it. And it's not meant to be, it's not meant to confine them. If anything, it's meant to help them expand.

But what it does do, it gives them direct. from a few different ways so that they aren't just throwing spaghetti at the wall. And I think as an entrepreneur, one of the things it takes getting used to is all the sudden, you're in charge of your own day. And before you know it, you're, it's almost like you can be throwing spaghetti at the wall and you're squirrel, squirrel, squirrel, and you get to the end of the day and you're like, I don't even know what I just completed because I'm trying to do so many different things at once. But if you have some structure around it, that acts as a North Star. And so I think that's, I think that's the next step beyond simply taking a three foot toss is get some structure around your goal, which looks like,

okay, start with the end in sight. What are the results? I'm really big on experience. What's the experience you want to have as you create your business? What are the monthly milestones? What is your living vision? You know, I'm big into, you know, we hear a lot about manifestation. Well, manifestation is a fancy word for visualization, I believe. I was an athlete growing up and those of us who learned to visualize saw, you know, you saw the benefit of it. And so I, you know, that's an element of the project plan. So structure is really important to a degree. And then I always say you don't want to be attached to it, but you want to be tethered to the structure. So that when you wake up in the morning, you do have a North Star. You're not just

floundering around doing, you know, multitasking and only getting to the things that are urgent. Yeah. And the next step, I think what you're saying is great because it's more about doing it within alignment. So a word I'm hearing without maybe you saying is make an alignment to your values, make an alignment to your vision, make an alignment to what you're trying to achieve. And then go do it. That's the hardest part. I think I see so many entrepreneurs regardless a vertical, it's the actually taking the step. They have all this. It's almost like you have to give them approval.

It's okay to take the step. It's okay to get it wrong. It's actually okay because you will actually learn something more often than not, you know, we learn from the mistakes, not from actually succeeding and taking the right step. I mean, I couldn't agree more. And look, easier said than done. I think we all know that. But when I look back when I first launched my business, the name of my business was

it's funny as I even say it I'm like I don't know why I did this but I do know why I called it conscious working mama and I was going to coach working moms well two things with that number one spelling the word conscious is very difficult for everybody no doubt we launched the website and my husband who's an English major was literally like you spelled conscious wrong in every place so insight into people aren't even going to know how to spell your URL so like that could be a problem and then I also found early on I didn't have the expertise and the mastery that I would say I have now to really support working moms.

And working moms, God bless us, me being one of them, we are not reaching to put budget and time and energy behind our own growth. We are not low-hanging fruit. You know, we know that it would, it could, we could benefit from it. But we're going to do things for our family first before we do that. So I quickly realized after putting a lot of time into different workshops and group coaching and it not going anywhere that I needed to expand my psychographic and demographic. And that felt that felt almost of juxtaposition because we are told so early on like, what's your niche? And you've got to know specifically who you're going after.

And I found I actually needed to work with a wider, a wider, you know. Yeah, demographic so that I could then really see where I had impact and who resonated with my work. And now I've been able to hone it in. But had I just done what every book told me to do in every podcast, God, I probably still have conscious working mama and don't even know how to spell the word conscious. Well, you bring up a really good point that a lot of entrepreneurs need to know right now is it's okay to adapt in pivot. And it's okay to have some level of a gut feeling of like, okay, I need to go this direction. based around what you're seeing, feeling, the results you're getting. People, again, they need to be given some level of like, it's okay to go do that,

but just go do that. And again, I bring up a lot of the uncertainty right now. People, everyone, executives, C-sweets, you know, founders, we all, including myself, I'm sure we are pivoting, we are adapting, we are innovating right now. Mm-hmm. I mean, it's, and if whether, you know, if this was two years ago and AI was just on the map, I would, I think you and I would still be saying that, you know, every brand, you know, I work with a lot of agencies, you know, media creative agencies who work with, you know, the biggest brands in the world, Levi's, Gatorade, Hyundai, you know, you name it, Nike. And every agency I work with and support and coach, they're, you know, they're. You know, you name it. And Nike. And every agency I work with and support and coach, they're all staying at the top of their game with innovation. There's no sitting on your laurels. So regardless of the circumstances around,

that is how you keep reinventing and how you keep things interesting. So, yeah, I couldn't, I mean, I couldn't agree with that more. And it reminds me of when I was working corporate side, you know, we always had this phrase, you know, hire, slowly fire fast. and I think there's a version of that that very much stands true in the entrepreneur world. You know, if you're feeling it or you're not seeing something take off, abort mission,

yeah. Divit, get going, you know, don't just keep trying to do the same thing over and over. And sometimes it's a nuance, you know, it doesn't have to be blowing the whole thing up. But absolutely, you've got to be pivoting. We talked about relationships. I think relationship, the whole reason the entrepreneur, DNA community club, right? I'm going more club because you and I have been,

we have the stability in our business to cut big checks to be at the right table, to be in the right room, to be able to ask the right question, so we can get informed, we can get intel, we can get experience without going through it, right? The entrepreneur DNA club, which is coming from this podcast, is all about having access so that we can listen to Sarah. So Sarah can give us an objective piece of advice. a story that Sarah did the same thing, found this result. So if you want to find that result, great. If not, then I would go right, you know. Talk to us about your belief around how relationships

can really impact your brighter future. Well, I love this question. I'm listening to a book right now called Start With Yourself by Emma, who has really got me thinking about this question that you just asked, because I think we all know intellectually relationships are really important. I think for a lot of people and I live in L.A. where it's like, you know, there's, you could be at a networking event every night. And if I speak for myself personally, I have, I haven't really ever created a client from a networking event or from a fancy dinner or a room that I've been invited to. My clients get created through relationships, one relationship at a time, one conversation at a time. And I'm always playing the long game. So, you know, I have a client this year who, you know, I met four years ago.

We had not worked together. And this year we signed a six-figure contract to support, you know, to support her organization, big organization. And that could have not happened. But because I just believe that relationships are at the heart of every. thing, regardless of what your product is, I spend a lot of time really authentically nurturing relationships. And what I mean by that is I spend time getting to know what's going on in my client's world professionally and personally. I'm deeply invested in them. And even when a client and I decide that our coaching agreement has served its purpose and it's come to an end for now,

I'm still really invested in their success. And so for me, you know, relationships are key. I've built a business pretty much on referral, a pretty lucrative business. And it's something that I take, it's something I take very seriously and I don't take for granted. And so I think, you know, if you are someone who really values relationships, then, you know, put your action, you know, where your mouth is. and look at your week and go, gosh, if someone, if, you know, if Justin and Sarah looked at my week, how would they know that I value relationships? What would they see?

If you're spending a bunch of time trying to get your website all fancy, that is not valuing a relationship. It's funny you say that I literally changed. I don't want to say change. I turned 45 last week. And I told myself, my actual superhuman power is people, get along with people, building relationships, you know, talking to people. And I said, moving forward in business, the only thing I want to make sure I'm doing is staying very much intentional with cultivating either new relationships or cultivating deeper relationships. Yes. My calendar today, tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday, because I travel Friday, is insane.

I literally think I have 12 calls every single day or more because I told my internal team. And then I am also within my own social medias, literally, like if you were on Facebook or Instagram, I say, hey, girl, let's catch up. What's new? I want to catch up with you. It's that intentional. Yeah, that's exactly what it looks like. And there's, in every single one of these calls, I have zero agenda. I'm not trying to be transactional.

I am not trying to sell them on a thing. I'm not trying to do anything. But deepen the relationship or cultivate a new one. Look at that clear. I mean, that's a really commens. you because that is the kind of clarity it takes, I think, to be a successful entrepreneur. Is that kind of clarity? And then the action aligns.

And your team could look at your calendar and go, oh, we know what's important to Justin. It's obvious. Yeah. Yeah. That's great work. Well, and I think this comes from an understanding of where your strengths go, right? And so kind of going back to even how we started this is understanding what am I going to be doing all day? What are the right action steps?

What moves the needle? What fulfills me? If you start to lean in to these questions, you know, one of my first coaches years ago, and you've probably heard this, like you got to do seven layers of why. Right? Why are you doing this? Okay, here's the answer. Why?

Answer. Why? Right? And then you start to get to the root of like the thing. Yeah. And I did that with myself. And I was like, ah, it's because I want it. I love people.

I love talking to people. I mean, that's why I have two podcasts. Yeah. One is very specific to real estate. The other is very specific to all business. owners and getting to know Sarah and the things that Sarah and I are going to be able to do, moving the needle for their entrepreneur DNA and that club and the people. It's just incredible. And you and I have both been known to talk about like creativity and moving that needle for impact and for value. What are most people that, you know, in the either C-suite arena or even in the founders, what are they lacking in this space of creativity, impact and value? Oh, that's an easy one. I had to reframe it in my head for a second.

That's a great question, by the way. And I work with so many, like, world-class creatives. Like, they are literally paid to be creative and put campaigns together for the best brands in the world. They are lacking space. You do not have spaciousness in your day to connect with your thoughts, to connect with the outdoors, to connect with, you know, what's going on in culture right now. It is very hard to come up with, you know, creativity, whether you're problem solving, whether you're coming up with a campaign or a new slogan or copy or getting ready to go

into production, whatever it may be. But I would say if you asked any one of my clients, they would say they are intentionally looking how they can carve out spaciousness. where there's some quiet, because that's where they can start to hear their ideas and connect with them. It's really hard to be creative if we are multitasking and being disconnected. One of the best things, you know, one of my coaches who I worked with very early on who I still work with, I'll never forget it. He said, you know, you have to slow down to speed up. I thought, well, if it was that, you know, if it were all that easy, we'd all be doing it, right?

and there's a lot of truth to that, I think, regardless of where you are, if you're corporate, if you're an entrepreneur and your tenure is in, but spaciousness is where, and my clients, you know, they get called into lots of meetings. They're on a plane every other day. So carving out that time and being ruthless with their boundaries, that's a challenge. A real time. There is. What's the biggest myth about time blocking? Because a lot of people would say, oh, well, they just need a time. block. Well, yeah, and then have everyone else not override your calendar and for you. The biggest myth about time blocking, it's you can time block, but then you also have to have the self-discipline to then work within that structure. You know, if a client says to me,

well, I did all the time blocking by still getting anything done, and then I'll say, well, tell me how many meetings you took today? Well, I did six meetings. Okay, well, that right there tells me you, I don't use the word boundaries as much. I had this really enlightening conversation last week with a client who's doing a lot of work around boundaries. And she wasn't, and she was really frustrated. She's like, you know, I'm doing a workbook and I'm trying to really like implement boundaries and he's a high performer and whatnot. And I said, you know, one of the words that I use, because I actually don't use the word boundaries very often. I don't feel like I connect to it that much. it's sort of this like nondescript word is I learn when I got my master's in spiritual psychology

that they taught us this phrase self-honoring choices. And for some reason when I hear that, it's so much easier for me to connect with it. So I'm a big fan of time blocking. I think two hours is max. I think by after that you're you're you know, you could do shorter, but I wouldn't do any longer. But then you have to remind you. Okay, what's the self-honoring choice I'm going to make here? am I going to turn my phone off? Am I going to close all my browsers? How committed is my self-disciplines that I actually move the needle

within the structure? Yeah. Are you going to actually achieve the thing? I like you. I go, what's going to actually move my needle here? Am I time blocking? Because some guru said go time block? Or am I actually being intent?

To me, the word I keep going back is intentional. Yes. That's the only thing you get, I think, from this session is intentionality can catapult you as an entrepreneur. Now, if people are hearing this before June 2nd, I think, this is when you have your upcoming 3rd. I'm checking.

Yeah, June 3rd, Wednesday. If people are watching this and are hearing this before June 3rd, there is a place, are we able to have them join your? Absolutely. Go to sarah gibbons.com and you will be able to sign up, register for this workshop. and we will even include a discount code in the show notes. I'll have my team create one for your community. Awesome.

Yeah, and sign up. I mean, you know, I say to my clients, every time they show up for a coaching call with me, even the ones who are in a, have a contract and we meet very regularly, it's not lost on me taking time out of the day to do the, you know, to join a workshop where you, it will absolutely benefit you. that takes a commitment to something higher. It forces you to get out of the urgent moment

of all the things that you want to get done that day. So, you know, first step, sign up, Sarah Gibbons.com, second step, show up. And then I always say if you show up as you are and be willing to play full out and you will leave there with value. I guarantee it. Guarantee it.

Well, I love that. Well, thank you so much, Sarah, for coming on to the show. We could go on and on. I know I'm going to ask you to participate in our club help lean into some of these entrepreneurs, learn the things that you know that you can move their needle, because it's always about resources,

always about the experience that Sarah had that can share to others. And so thank you so much. You're welcome. And, you know, one thing I didn't say, Justin, but I love that you have this entrepreneur club, and I'm excited to contribute in any way I can, is that I really believe revolutionary growth happens inside revolutionary relationships.

Our journey doesn't work in a silo. So the fact that you are, you know, again, bringing like-minded people together who have similar values and goals. I know I have a lot to contribute, but I also can learn from that. So I'm excited. Help you out. Oh, thank you. I love that revolutionary relationships. That's a great term.

And that's what it's really about is to be able to go longer with the relationships and just trying to do it yourself and try to figure out with yourself. That's the point. Yeah. And we've got to have fun doing it. Have fun. Make money. you know enjoy what you're doing that's the whole thing I'll offer value so this has been a pleasure I'm sure you will be back and I'm sure we'll see you in the community that is Sarah Gibbons I'm

Justin Colby this is the entrepreneur DNA and if you think someone should hear from Sarah please share this with at least two of your friends talk to you soon thank you