5 Key Takeaways:

1. Validate Your Business Idea First: Sarah emphasized starting with small, testable steps before fully committing to a business idea. She used a landing page to gauge interest in what is now Growclass by pre-selling courses to fund development. This greatly minimized her financial risk. 
2. Lead With Compassion: Sarah sets clear boundaries with herself and her organization. For instance, she doesn’t message employees after 5pm or on weekends. She encourages her employees to take the day off when they’re not feeling well because the company isn’t more important than peoples’ lives, no company is. As a leader you have to take care of your people and trust that they’ll do their work, fostering a supportive work environment that prevents burnout.
3. Work With Your Brain: Recognizing you need professional help and getting it, is beneficial for both your personal and professional life. Sarah turned to therapy, coaching, and medication to help her manage and work with her anxious thoughts. She now has a much better relationship with her brain which allows her to do scarier and bigger things, stretching herself outside her comfort zone.
4. How to Decide Which Opportunities to Take: When opportunities come your way it can be easy to say yes to all of them. If you’re operating a business, make sure the opportunity is aligned with your mission and see if people actually are wanting/asking for it. If you don’t have that information, ask for customer feedback. You can even run a small experiment to find out if it’ll be useful. Get your team’s feedback and understand how it will potentially impact their jobs and lives. Also consider how it’ll impact the boundaries you’ve implemented.
5. Be Aware of Your Inner Monologue: Understanding your internal narrative is empowering, reduces anxiety, and increases productivity by focusing on constructive self-talk rather than self-criticism. Questions to ask yourself: Whose voice do I want to hear in my head? Do I really care about the thing I’m building or am I trying to impress someone? What is the motivation for the work I’m doing? Notice how your inner voice tries to keep you safe and small and learn to distinguish between that voice and your gut instinct when making decisions or trying something new.

Show Notes:

[00:00:50] Sarah recalls advising and judging student contests in the early days of her career and her experiences with Venture for Canada.

[00:01:17] Sarah describes her initial reluctance due to anxiety and how she managed to overcome her fears to start Growclass.

[00:04:57] Insight into how Growclass was iteratively built through continuous feedback and pre-selling to minimize financial risks.

[00:07:04] The hidden advantages some entrepreneurs have and the need for transparency in sharing their journey.

[00:11:18] Discussing the integration of therapy and medication in managing mental health for better professional performance.

[00:17:31] Emphasizing the importance of not overburdening employees and respecting personal time to prevent burnout.

[00:22:11] Exploring how perfectionism and anxiety can negatively impact job performance and personal satisfaction.

[00:28:59] Sarah provides criteria for how she decides which opportunities to pursue to maintain work-life harmony.

[00:31:11] Reflecting on the disconnect between hard work and actual success, and how to align work with personal values and lifestyles.

[00:35:13] Discussing how societal expectations differ between genders in the workplace and the importance of self-assurance.

[00:38:16] Encouraging young women to trust in their capabilities and seize opportunities without waiting to feel fully prepared.