IAM1948 – Speaker & Coach Helps Passionate People Unleash Their Inner Badass

Transcription:

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Sandra Possing Teaser 00:00

I think a lot of it is just seeing the potential and being able to dream really big dreams with, and for my client.

Intro 00:08

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:33

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we were purposing our favorite episodes around certain categories topics, or as I like to call them, the business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, and what I like to call CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focusing on finishing it out fighting the good fight and closing out the job. I think just as important as it is to start something, it's even more important in how you conclude it or finish it out. So if you think of the different things that you can finish out, be everything from a project, it can be from a day, it could also be from a business in and of itself and it could also, of course be for the year. So when you think of finishing out, I want you to really think of these episodes because what we're going to really focus on is the last question that we really ask, which is defining what it means to be a CEO.

All the creative, innovative, and I think truly insightful questions that we received from this question is really what we want to highlight during the show. But of course, we want you to enjoy the entire episode and think about how you're going to finish things out and how you're going to finish things out strongly. So sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Sandra Possing of sandrapossing.com. Sandra, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Sandra Possing 02:05

Thank you so much for having me. I'm super stoked to be here.

Gresham Harkless 02:07

I'm super stoked for you to be here as well. What I wanted to do is read a little bit more about you so that people can learn a little bit more about all the awesome things you've been able to accomplish.

Sandra Possing is a speaker, coach and entrepreneur who helps passionate people with big dreams and even bigger hearts unleash their inner badass. Through her one-to-one coaching, group programs, speaking, writing, videos, and social media platforms, Sandra is on a mission to wake more people up to the incredible power they have inside of themselves and to break free from what's holding them back, seriously step up their game, and create extraordinary lives that they love.

Sandra, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Sandra Possing 02:47

Yes, please bring it on.

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Gresham Harkless 02:49

Awesome. Awesome. The first question I have is if you could expand a little bit more upon your bio, tell us about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Sandra Possing 02:56

Yeah, so I moved up to San Francisco pretty much right after I graduated college down in L. A. Went to UCLA and I honestly spent pretty much the next decade kind of like, in a way it felt like I was like wandering around, bumping into trees, trying to figure out what to do. When I grew up, I was doing all these different things and I was constantly searching and searching. I worked in finance, I worked in tech, I worked for startups, I worked in the service industry, I worked in fitness. I just always have this nagging feeling that, I have to do, I can't just have a job.

I feel like I have a calling. I don't know what it is, and it was incredibly frustrating and painful to feel like I have this potential and not know where to aim it. I eventually just stopped the wandering aimlessly and I said, okay, my job right now is to figure out what my job is. So I did a ton of soul searching, talked to mentors, talked to a bunch of people and finally stumbled across coaching. It was a little bit of a process of elimination. Once I discovered coaching, it was like this massive light bulb went off and I realized, okay, personal development, health, all this stuff. I've actually been obsessed with it my entire life.

I just didn't realize it was an actual career path. So once I found it, it was like coming home and then it just took off and then it was unstoppable from there.

Gresham Harkless 04:06

There you go. There you go. That makes perfect sense. It's funny because we always are interested in certain things, but we don't necessarily know like how that manifests itself in a quote and quote job or profession or path that we're going to take.

But it's great that you had those seeds set in place and then coaching found you or at least the term of it came around to you.

Sandra Possing 04:23

Yeah, exactly. Luckily, San Francisco is such a great place in terms of it's very open and progressive and lots of people are doing this kind of stuff. So I had enough examples around me of people doing it where I could see, Oh, wait a minute, this is actually a real thing and the people who love it.

Gresham Harkless 04:39

Awesome. Now I wanted to drill a little bit deeper, hear a little bit more on how you serve and help out the clients that you work with. How do you make these badasses come out and play, so to speak?

Sandra Possing 04:49

Yeah. So much of it really helped to be on that path myself. I feel like what I do is exactly the kind of the process I've taken myself through. So I'm using a lot of what I've learned along the way to do it. When I say I help people unleash their inner badass, I think of it as transformation from the inside out. Really at the foundation of it all is I help people figure out who they are to connect to who they are deep down authentically, like what makes them tick, what makes them so uniquely them.

Then from there, we figure out what the heck they want. And it's shocking, it's tragic to me how much people don't actually know what they want because they've been too busy doing what they think they're supposed to be doing. Then once we figure out who they are and what they want, we just go get it. Then it's a lot about goal setting and moving forward, taking tons of action, working on their mindset, holding them accountable.

I do that mostly through private one on one coaching. Then I've got my group programs, which is a whole other animal. It's really amazing because then you have a community to lean into too.

Gresham Harkless 05:41

Yeah, and I'm sure especially around the I'm sure the one-on-one coaching is obviously great because you get that kind of one to one looking at what you're doing, where your mindset said to be successful. But then I'm sure the group also helps that as well, because you get that feeling that you're not alone, so to speak.

You have other people that are going through maybe somewhat similar things. They might have different gifts or passions, but you're able to have that community feel.

Sandra Possing 06:02

Exactly. And so many of the people I work with are the non-conformists, the people who are a little bit unconventional, a little bit maybe rebels, but they don't always know that about themselves. So they've spent years thinking there's something wrong with them. Why don't I fit in? I've ticked all the boxes. I've done all the things. I'm quote and quote successful. My life and career looks good on paper, but I'm not happy. What's wrong with me. They feel guilty that they're not happy.

So for them to find other people like them. Other visionaries and thought leaders or potential aspiring visionaries and thought leaders. A lot of them are aspiring entrepreneurs, but they haven't really been able to step out and claim that yet. I love being able to kind of coax them out of the cave and then set them loose in the world and help them find the confidence to really be that.

Gresham Harkless 06:44

That's awesome and very powerful, obviously, because you're helping out so many people change the world and make a dent in the universe, so to speak.

I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and ask you for what I call your secret sauce. This might be something that you feel like distinguishes you or differentiate you from other people that are doing something similar.

Sandra Possing 07:00

Yeah. So one of the things about me that has always been very consistent is I've always been this eternal optimist, and I've always been able to see the bigger picture, focus on what's possible. So not just focusing on what's possible for people in general, but specifically when I'm working with someone, I'm typically able to see a much bigger dream or a much bigger vision for them than they are in the beginning.

One of my superpowers is being able to look at what makes them so unique. And as we work together and I've helped them find those parts of themselves, I'm pretty good at connecting the dots and seeing patterns. So a lot of times I'll be able to make suggestions or plant seeds for people in terms of what I think could be a possibility for them. Then when they explore that path, they end up finding things that they never have thought of before.

So I think a lot of it is just seeing the potential and being able to dream really big dreams with and for my clients.

Gresham Harkless 07:47

Yeah. Yeah that's huge. Especially, like you said, having that superpower, and you're able to see that in somebody else. Sometimes you need somebody to recognize certain things in you, and that's able to help you unleash exactly what you're supposed to be, what your purpose is, and help you to go to an entirely different level.

Sandra Possing 08:02

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 08:03

Awesome. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. A CEO hack might be an app or a book or a habit that you have, but the idea is it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Sandra Possing 08:15

So I'm obsessed with hacks and life hacking and optimizing and I'm always looking for those kinds of things. I'm obsessed with performance and streamlining life and business and all of that. But by far the thing that has been consistently the biggest one for me is, I usually just refer to it as positivity brainwashing. What I mean by that, and I try to encourage all my clients to do this is we are so completely inundated with negative crap from all sides, all the time, right through the news and just society and, lots of other people's negative, negative beliefs, our own limiting beliefs and all of that.

So my idea, as part of retraining our brain to think in more positive, helpful ways, we need more of the inspiring, empowering, helpful information. Rather than just reading a book here and there, I want to have as much of that information going into my brain as possible. So the best thing I've found is because I'm busy, I'm not going to sit and read is to just use something like audible or podcast app or something.

Anytime I'm just walking, I'm running, I'm driving, I'm doing the dishes, whatever I pop in the earphones and I'm listening to books on human potential on manifesting on performance, basically anything in the self help category. But I listened to things on two X or three X. Not worried about retaining everything and implementing every single thing. I do learn a lot and I apply those things. But the best part is I've got the steady stream of positive, inspiring, empowering information going into my brain.

It really has changed the way my brain works. It's changed how I think. And it puts me in this kind of excited, motivated, uplifted mood so much of the time. Then I show up differently in the work that I do and in my life with my friends, with my people it's hugely helpful.

Gresham Harkless 09:51

Yeah, I think that's a phenomenal hack. A lot of times it's hard to fight because there's so much negativity out there, it's easier to say, Hey, I want all this goodness, so to speak, to come in. I'm going to listen to you like audible or the podcast that you mentioned to make sure that you're filling your mind and everything up with those positive vibes, so to speak.

Sandra Possing 10:09

Yep. I love it.

Gresham Harkless 10:11

Awesome. Awesome. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. A CEO nugget may be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or something that you might tell your younger business self.

Sandra Possing 10:21

Yeah. So I've been an entrepreneur for maybe 10 years, but I've been doing this business specifically for about six or seven years now. At the end of the day, what it comes down to for me is call it persistence, call it resilience, call it commitment. One voice that I always hear, I used to do a lot of different workouts and I'm CrossFit yoga running mostly, but I used to do some boxing. I had this one boxing teacher we're doing like this grueling 90 minute class and people are just falling over the place and dying and he just would calmly walk around the room and just say, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.

That voice like still plays in my head because I think of, Of course, the entrepreneurial journey is up and down and up and down. You have breakdown after breakdown, hopefully followed by breakthroughs. All of these things are important. Having mentors, having good strategies, training your mind to think differently and community and all this stuff. But at the end of the day, gotta just keep going.

If you're going to make it work, I believe that the people who are most successful and who actually outlast all of the ups and downs and make it out on top are the ones who literally just keep going.

Gresham Harkless 11:26

Yeah, yeah. And it's funny because sometimes you think it gets a lot more than that.

But sometimes the people that are able to be the most successful that are able to make it to the mountaintop, so to speak, are those people that just kept putting one foot in front of the other, even though they were down on the ground and they stripped a little and maybe got, a little bit bruised, but they just kept going.

So I think that's a phenomenal CEO nugget.

Sandra Possing 11:45

Being stubborn AF.

Gresham Harkless 11:47

Exactly. Exactly. It's very necessary.

Sandra Possing 11:49

I'm gonna keep going.

Gresham Harkless 11:51

There you go. You're gonna have to, you have to rip it from my bare hands. So that's an incredible mentality to have.

Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is like the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different CEOs on this podcast and get an opportunity to hear exactly what it means for everyone. But I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Sandra Possing 12:10

So when I think of being a CEO, I think of it in two different ways. Number one is what that means for me. So just on a totally selfish and personal note, when I get to be the CEO of not just my business, but of my life, that is my way of saying, look, I am a 100% responsible for not just my life and my circumstance and like what's happening in around me. I'm responsible for my thoughts, my feelings, my actions, the impact of my actions. I'm going to take responsibility. I'm not going to blame anything on anyone else. I'm not going to be a victim to my circumstances.

It's a joy because I get to choose how I work, when I work, how I live, I'm trying to be very intentional and putting on my CEO hat to me as a mindset. It's a way of saying I am creating my life. I'm the conscious creator of my life. I'm choosing that. It's amazing. On the other side, the second part is when I'm choosing to be a CEO, I'm choosing to be a leader. I'm choosing to have an impact. I'm choosing to take responsibility, not just for my life, but for my world. As much of I hope to have a very big impact on the world, but in the meantime, like my world, the people that I come into contact with, I want to take a responsibility, not just for my intentions, but actually the impact.

So if I mess up, I get to go clean it up and do what I need to do. But I also want to have a big positive impact. So I'm keeping that vision in my mind, something to always be called toward. It's part of my why it's part of my purpose and will get me through all the ups and downs is to know. Hey, I'm here to make a difference and that matters, and CEO is where it's at.

Gresham Harkless 13:37

Hey, I completely agree. I think it's awesome that you do that. By helping those around you helping yourself, of course, it creates like this domino effect and next thing there's this huge wave of positivity, I guess I can say going on in the world.

So Sandra, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best people can get ahold of you.

Sandra Possing 14:02

Yeah. So, I guess as my closing argument, I will say that I think that we are living in a very, very exciting time right now as there's so much negative stuff happening in so many places around the world. I remain so positive and so hopeful because I truly believe that there are a lot of people, a lot of humans and a lot of pockets all around the world who are waking up to like you said, what I do, waking people up to their own incredible potential and the power, but also waking up to the power of what happens when we work together and when we work together in a more collaborative, creative, supportive way.

So I think there are these pockets of people, communities kind of starting to lift each other up and the more we can connect those pockets and talk to each other and support each other, close and far, the more I think that we can start to collectively shift the consciousness of our species of the planet. I really, truly believe, people are doing it, but I think that entrepreneurs make up the large portion or a large percentage of the communities that are doing that. So to all of the entrepreneurs out there who are already working their stuff and the people who are thinking about it, aspiring to be entrepreneurs, flirting with the idea, I feel like if you have that calling in your heart, it's part of what you're meant to do.

I want to encourage everyone to keep going, get after it. We have a lot of work to do and it's so possible. We really truly can make a difference, and entrepreneurs are going to play such a big role in that, I believe. For anyone who wants to get in touch with me, the easiest way to find me is just to go to my website, www.sandrapossing.com.

You can also just Google my name. There's only one of me, as far as I know, haven't found anyone else with my name. So I'm very easy to find. I'm on all the things, all the platforms. You can hit me up anytime.

Gresham Harkless 15:35

Awesome. Awesome. We appreciate that Sandra. We'll definitely have the links in the show notes so that anybody can click through and follow you and go to your website.

But thank you for doing so much awesome work for the world. We definitely need it. I truly appreciate you for taking some time out and everything that you're doing.

Sandra Possing 15:49

Likewise. Likewise. Thanks so much for having me.

Outro 15:52

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast, powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts, subscribe and leave us a five-star rating.

Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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