Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Prospecting on Purpose is Forbes meets Saturday Night Live - it’s *the* show for everything prospecting, sales, business, and mindset.
As business grows more complex, the biggest opportunities emerge when we learn beyond our own industries. From hospitality and design to technology and travel, this is where professionals come together to exchange ideas, uncover new perspectives, and prospect for business with creativity, authenticity, and intention.
Hosted by Sara Murray, a heart-centric sales champion, each episode helps you raise both your vibes and your game. Sara's playbook is simple - ABAV: Always Be Adding Value. Embrace your authentic self, lean into your unique strengths, and sell the outcome instead of the product or service.
Join Sara each week as she sits down with world-class thought leaders to unpack today's business strategies, mindset shifts, and relationship-driven approaches to growth, giving you practical ideas you can put into action right away.
Connect with Sara: www.saramurray.com IG: @saramurraysales LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/
You're listening to Prospecting On
Purpose®, where we discuss all things
prospecting, sales, business, and mindset.
I'm your host, Sara Murray, a sales
champion who's here to show you that you
can be a shark in business and still lead
with intentionality and authenticity.
Tune in each week as we dive into methods
to connect with clients, communicate
with confidence, and close the deal
Sarah Dusek is an entrepreneur,
venture capitalist, author,
and hotelier who believes that
business can be a force for good.
2009, she founded Under Canvas,
the leading upscale outdoor
glamping company, which she sold
in 2018 for over $100 million.
She then launched Enygma
Ventures, investing 10
million in women-led startups.
Her book, Thinking Bigger: A Pitch
Deck Formula for Women Who Want
to Change the World, the building
blocks for scaling any business.
It's an incredible resource for anyone
who is required to influence and sell,
which is a majority of our listeners.
And today, as co-founder and CEO of Few
& Far, Sarah is taking hospitality to new
heights, with the world's first aerial
safari at Few & Far Luvhondo in Africa,
where extraordinary travel and a net
positive impact on the planet can coexist.
I am thrilled to have her on the show.
Our listeners are going to leave
so inspired from this interview.
Sarah, welcome to Prospecting On Purpose®.
Thank you so much.
So nice to be here.
I'm so happy to have you.
Every time we speak, I feel more inspired
and I feel more equipped to go tackle
the world, so I'm excited to leave
our listeners with that same energy.
before we get into our questioning,
I'd love to learn, just give us
a little bit of an overview of
your entrepreneurial journey,
because you've had quite the story.
I, I have had quite the journey,
and I didn't start out my
career as an entrepreneur.
I, I consider myself an accidental,
entrepreneur because, I started
my, working life working for NGOs.
Right out of college, I went to
work for an aid agency in Africa.
I went to Zimbabwe, and then spent the
next eight years, working for various
different agencies in the nonprofit world.
And, at the time, I would still
consider myself a save the world
person, and I was most definitely a
save the world person in my early 20s.
and I used to think about capital as being
this sort of dark side of the universe.
Like everything that's wrong
with the world is because
we're trying to make money.
and you know, we skip forward just
a little bit in my lifetime, and I
realized, well, there's quite a lot
of wrong with aid agencies too, right?
And you know, the, the way we move
the world forward and the way we drive
change and make things better doesn't
have to be through a nonprofit vehicle.
And what I realized was that actually
nonprofits were not really designed for,
the vehicle itself is not really designed
for problem-solving, really designed for
bandaging and, propping up, if you like.
But the vehicle that really is designed
for problem-solving is really a business.
Every business that exists has a very
specific problem that they're trying
to solve for and a scenario that they
are trying to create a solution, a
financially sustainable solution
to solve that specific problem.
And I realized that actually business
could be an enormous, vehicle for doing
good in the world, for solving some of
our biggest world systemic problems.
Even, you know, we take a micro
problem, within a bigger, larger
problem, and use business to s-solve it.
So, I am an accidental entrepreneur.
I realized that if business could be
a vehicle for, for driving change and
moving the world forward, that I needed
to learn something about business.
So I stepped into the business
arena almost 20 years ago now.
In fact, def- yeah, 20 years ago, over
20 years ago, and, have had a myriad of,
failures and successes along the way.
And, all of our endeavors have
attempted to try and solve some
problem that I personally care about.
I think that, I think that's what really
resonates with you, to me, is this concept
of wealth and capital doesn't have to
be bad, and the fact that you can use
business as the vehicle to solve problems.
Because when I think about, politics
for example, I wish we could
get some business people into…
yep.
…political roles.
But, they're solving different
problems, and I just think that it's
such a, it's such a refreshing take
on something that I, completely agree
with you, and so I'm excited to get
into it in a little bit more detail.
With, all of your business ventures,
you've had to go out and raise capital.
You've had to go out and sell yourself,
and with your background in nonprofit,
obviously I don't wanna assume you don't
come from a sales background, but it…
Definitely didn't.
Doesn't seem that was part
of the mix at the beginning.
No, it definitely wasn't.
And I think it's, I think culturally
too, I am originally British.
I'm now a naturalized and proud
American, but I am originally British,
and culturally, this whole concept of
selling yourself and selling anything was
also slightly weird and uncomfortable.
I think Americans innately have
a, a stronger culture around
sales, than us Europeans do.
But the, one of the things I have
learned along the way, is actually
the best version of selling is a
very authentic, very natural version.
And I have learned in my own journey
that there was, there was absolutely no
point trying to be something I am not.
But actually, finding my way to getting
comfortable with promoting the things
that I care about and passionate about,
and the ways in which I'm trying to
move the world forward, and I'm trying
to move my business forward, is the
most natural extension of a version
of, of selling that is that what,
that's what that looks like to me.
It just looks like me being
my authentic self and caring.
And the reality is, when you are
super passionate about something,
and you really, really care about
it, it's hard not to sell it.
Right.
It shines through.
It's not performative.
Just is a natural
extension of who you are.
Yeah.
It's not, it's not, it's not weird in
any way because it's just, "I love this.
I love this, and I want you to love this.
And this is really great, and here's
what I've discovered about this.
and here's why I'm passionate about
it." And the reality is, so many
of us are passionate about so many
weird and wonderful things, right?
you know, we, we each have our
things that make us light up and get
us excited, and I, I think that's
where we find our sweet spots.
That's-- And we find our… You know,
and when we do business with people who
are genuinely, passionate and excited
and authentic about their passion, so
it feels real, it doesn't feel fake,
you wanna buy from those people, right?
You wanna do business with those people.
It just, it's a natural, it's a natural
phenomenon, and that for me has been sort
of one of my sort of strongest learnings,
I think, sort of crossing over from a
nonprofit world into a business world,
because you don't have to be anything
other than who you are, to do a good
job of, of giving other people things
that they actually will want and need.
Everything you said was just spot on.
In my sales workshops we really try to
pull out, our authentic selves because
I've found that it, when I am my authentic
self to others, it gives them permission
to be their authentic selves to me.
And now all of a sudden there's this…
You can build on that.
Yeah, it's, that's where
you find the connection.
And I think a lot of times people
just wanna skip to the end and,
show the pitch and get the money.
Show, you know.
And I think…
yeah yeah.
That you're pulling from
an empty bank account.
You have to find those connection points.
Yeah, and and I, I think
that's exactly right.
The connection is really the magic
that helps make a sale happen, right?
You are so much more likely to, to have
a sale if you have a point of connection
that is maybe about something else.
Like, it doesn't even have
Exactly!
Have to be about the thing
that you're trying to sell.
it's just, you know… I have
a wonderful friend who's become
a f- I call her a friend.
she became a friend over this last year,
and we bonded over something ridiculous
like, having hip trouble because we
sit in office all, all day long, right?
And I had discovered an amazing
company that created, like,
these cushions to sit on that are
really, really good for your hips.
Oh my gosh.
You're gonna have to send me the link
and I'll put it in the show notes.
They're amazing.
Yeah, they're amazing.
And we bonded over having, like,
like, 50-year-old woman hip pain.
Like, and now we do all sorts
of stuff together, o- on, on
a variety of different levels.
and that's how you, that's how you
move your own business forward.
It's how you build your
social network forward.
It's how you build relationships, and
it's just being interested in other
people and, and recognizing, our
connections are very valuable to us.
And it's so funny too because
when I started my business ChatGPT
was not mainstream and I started
… Mm-hmm.
…It around I'm gonna help people
learn how to build relationships
and add value and sell the business
model and people didn't want what
I was selling at the beginning.
Yeah
Because just thought the relationship
piece was like a soft sale.
Unnecessary.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah but now all of a sudden AI is
everywhere people are inundated and
whoever can get to the human connection
first that's who's gonna win so things
are shifting and I think what I really
feel inspired about you too is, you're
such a thought leader in a lot of these
spaces Because you built Under Canvas to
a point where you could sell it for…
Mm-hmm.
…100 million dollars.
I can't even wrap my head
around that number and those
are big dollars to talk about.
And so when you're thinking about you
having no sales background, finding
authentic connection points, pulling
from your passion and then being
able to build what you've built and
continue to build, that is fascinating.
So I would love to learn, I wanna
dive into the book a little bit more
because the book was just so cool.
There were so many really
really tactical pieces to it.
But I think one of the things
that stood out was it's about
communicating your value.
And that there's a lot of
different layers to that.
But I want to understand from you like
when you're thinking about building
a compelling pitch or a compelling
delivery what do you think is the
most critical element that's needed
for that to be a successful recipe?
Well, one of the reasons I ended
up, writing my book, which is called
Thinking, Thinking Bigger: A Pitch
Deck Formula for Women Who Want
to Change the World, because I'm a
woman who wants to change the world.
One of the things I realized was, we
often find a disconnect between, what
we wanna sell and what people wanna
buy, and you just mentioned it yourself.
Yeah, my example.
Like your example is a
really, really good example.
Nobody realized that they
needed, to improve their human
interaction ex- experience.
And often I wrote the book because,
when I transitioned away from working,
full-time as CEO of Under Canvas
and transitioned to running our
own small venture fund, I realized
I was getting a lot of pitches.
I was being pitched all the time.
and it was, it was new for me to be on the
end of, sort of the incessant pitch cycle.
but what I realized was that, most people
did not understand the rules of the game.
Like…
Mm-hmm
…didn't understand what I
was looking for as an investor.
and I, because I care, I started
telling women, "If you just repositioned
this like this," or, "We worked on
the pitch together, and we realized,
you know, you're not quite thinking
about the business in the, in the
right way for attracting investment."
And what I realized was there were
hundreds of thousands of amazing
businesses that were coming across my
deck, my desk, but most of them were
not positioning themselves in a way
that was attractive to me, the investor.
And largely that was because they didn't
know the rules by which investors play.
Like, there's a rule book, there's a,
there's a, there's a kind of a common,
set of- math, you know, probabilities
and things, specific things that
investors look for, to even consider
something that might be investable.
And so I ended up writing the
book because I wanted to, like,
break down those barriers around
understanding what the rules were.
because I firmly believe if you
kn- if you know them, you can play
by them or you can break them.
You can make your own rules.
and then that's, that's up to you
how you navigate the landscape.
and so I think one of the critical
components is understanding your audience,
understanding what they care about.
I mean, it seems obvious
and simple, right?
But understanding, what makes them tick,
why they do what they do, why they buy
the way they buy, why they, why they
invest the way they invest, what are
the metrics that they're looking for.
Because if we can't carve something
up in a, a language that someone
else can understand, it's just
gonna get lost and dismissed.
You know, it's like going into a
supermarket and, you know, in Japan
and saying, "I need to buy hot
dogs." And you know, probably maybe
not American hot dogs in Japan.
Like, you know, and, and just having
a complete disconnect with I'm trying
to buy this thing from the… or
sell this thing to this place, and
it's, there's no market for it, or
there's no-- it's not on the shelves.
So we do that a lot when we're trying to
pitch ourselves, and trying to find, as
we said, sort of common understanding what
someone else needs and is looking for, and
doing our homework up front without just
pitching what, what, what we wanna sell.
everything you just laid out too, Sarah,
is you're selling to the business model
of the person you're trying to sell to.
Like, how
Not your business model.
Yes, exactly.
I think that's the… I
totally agree with you.
It's one of the biggest offenders
I see in the work that I do, is
people don't ask any questions.
They maybe do some surface level
research, and then they go into their
presentation, and they waste the
hour or whatever the allotted time
slot is product vomiting on someone
who do- i- it's not always relevant.
And I think we don't take the time to
research, we don't take the time to ask,
and you literally wrote a rule book on it.
So we'll make sure to definitely include
the link to the book in the chat.
I have read it.
I got so much out of it.
I think the other thing I
really liked about the book was
this concept of, confidence.
Mm-hmm
a quote in the book saying, "If you
aren't comfortable betting on yourself,
it would be very hard to convince someone
else to bet on you." And I think that
translates to any role in the workforce.
can you dive into that a little bit
more, like this confidence piece?
Yeah.
it came about because I, I was hearing,
lots of pitches from women in particular
who were asking me to invest in their
business, who had no skin in the game.
Like, it was like, "I want you to be
my safety net. I want you to make it
possible for me to take a leap of faith,
because you have underwritten it."
And I was like, "Hmm, that's not
really how this works." It's like,
Mm-hmm.
have to really believe in this thing.
You have to have a ton
of skin in the game.
You have to, like, really
s- like, you're all in.
Like, I really believe in this
thing, in order to convince someone
else that, oh, I might join you.
You're all in, I'll come and join
you because, you know, you're
telling me the water's great."
The the hard part is, is if we don't
know the water's great because we haven't
tasted it, we haven't boiled it, we
haven't done anything to it, and we're
saying, "I think the water's great. I
don't-- I, I, I think it is, and I want
your money, you to come in for us to take
the test that says, 'Let's drink this
water and check that it's not poisonous.'"
Like, I really need you to
know the water's not poisonous.
In fact, it's crystal clear, sparkling
mountain water that is purer than
pure and, and you've been drinking
it, your kids have been drinking
it, your mother-in-law's been
drinking it, your worst enemy's been
drinking it, your best friend's been
drinking it, and everybody loves it.
And that's-- th- then
there's a hope, right?
Of getting someone else, to the table
in-- whether you're selling something,
whether you're pitching something, whether
that's for business or for an investment,
whatever it is, you have to be all in.
And I think, you know, this comes back
to authenticity, is like, you know,
there's, there's I'm all in on-- I'm
really all in, and then there's a whole
'nother layer of I'm so all in, I've
got so much skin, like, into this.
I'm-- like, we're so deep into this.
And one of the interesting things for
me has been sort of coming back to the
entrepreneurial table, now building
another travel company, is I still
have to have skin back in the game.
I can't rely on, "Oh, I had
skin previously, and because
I've had skin previously, now
you should still trust me."
That doesn't work either.
Fascinating because it's like you went
from being the seller, bootstrapping
your business, to then raising the funds.
you're a venture capitalist on the
reverse side receiving the pitches,
and then back to being the pitchee.
Yeah,
the… And
exactly
it's so interesting, too, the c- I
wanna double-click on this concept of
betting on yourself and, tasting the
water and having skin in the game.
I think where I see this come
across as not confident or maybe
ill-placed confidence, which cross,
translates to ego or arrogance,
When people don't walk the talk,
Hmm.
people can smell that from a
mile away, and so I love… A-
and then that's inauthentic.
So I think that the example you just
shared is so spot on because people
can tell, and then again, people don't
wanna work with people who are selling
snake oil or too afraid to the water.
yeah.
Yeah
I love that example.
One of the things that, I wanna talk
a little bit about is the pitch deck
formula because I think this could
translate to any type of presentation.
no matter what, you have to be
mindful of the person receiving
your pitch or your presentation.
So I would love to learn from you a
little bit about, if someone's going
to put together this deliverable,
what is… Like, why is this
so important to get it right?
You only get one shot usually, right?
So your first impression, is
your shot, and it's very rare
that we get a second chance.
And so, doing everything we… I mean,
it's not impossible obviously, but
like our first impressions matter.
Like how we show up the
first time, how we present.
it'd be unusual to get someone like
me on the other side of the table
that says, "Oh, you know what?
If you did this to your pitch, it would
be a whole lot better, and if like we
tweaked it and you worked on it like
this." That's very unusual, right?
That's not…
Come back in a month and do it again.
Do it again.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, unheard of.
Yeah
so you know, time, time, you-your shot,
your, your opportunity to show up is,
is a, is a one-time deal, and we have
to kinda think of it like that and have
done everything we can to work on how
we're gonna present, what we're gonna
present, and the way we go about it.
And, I've definitely had numerous
opportunities that have slipped through
my fingers, because I, I, I thought
what I had was good enough, and it
still missed, it still missed the mark.
And we can easily dismiss that of, well,
you know, we're gonna get plenty of no's.
We are gonna get plenty of no's.
I mean, that is the,
the rule of life, right?
but I think we… There are ways to
improve our, our chances, and being really
prepared and thoughtful and having other
people, like input on your, your pitch,
your work, is really, really helpful.
I think one of the dangers of working
with-- many of us working with AI
right now is that we can use AI as
our, as our checker, as our tester.
and AI has a really great habit
of telling us what we wanna hear.
You're doing great, Sarah.
Is an amazing cheerleader.
Yeah.
It loves to… I don't know why it does
this, but it really loves to puff us up.
I have some theories on that, but we
won't, we won't go into them right now.
but I think we still need real people
feedback, input, advice before we push
something out, and that we take that
critique and criticism to heart, and
action it because otherwise we can
live in our own, we can live in our
own bubble very easily, and we can live
in our own AI bubble very easily too.
That's such a great point.
We create We create, our own echo chamber
There's so many nuances.
I, one of my clients shared with me, he
went to a doctor's appointment recently.
The doctor came in and he had
his, a, an assistant with him, and
he said, "This is my scribe, and
we're gonna use the note-taker."
my client says, "Why do you need…
why both?
a human and the note-taker?"
And he goes, "There are so many
nuances that we miss." And he gave
an example of, they might ask the
patient, do you eat healthy?" And
the patient says yes, and his wife's
behind him, shaking her head no.
I would know
like, all of the human nuances, and so
I love that example of, even if you're
practicing in front of your friends, you
can see when they make a little grimace.
You can see when they're dozing off.
So I love that.
we
Mm-hmm
We need to be able to practice
and role play to prepare for the,
for our one shot that we get.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely
Do you find, on your, on the receiving end
of the pitches, how often did someone do
any type of, like, pre-work ahead of time?
So they almost primed
the pitch ahead of time.
do you find the pitch sometimes
starts before the meeting happens?
Yeah.
I mean, you're much more like,
I mean, sadly, you're much more
likely to get the meeting, right?
If the, if the wheel is primed already.
I mean, in vent- in the venture capital
space, we talk about this, as the,
the human bias issue problem in that,
you know, people who know people are
more likely to get the business than
people who don't know people, right?
And that's particularly true when
it comes to, capital investments
when you've got relationships.
so I have found I, sadly, and I, I hate
this is reality, but it is reality.
I have much more of a likelihood of
getting in the room if someone else
has made an introduction for me, if
someone else has been the connector,
and you and I were just talking
about this before we pressed record.
the possibilities of, of me making an
advancement somehow are so much stronger
if someone else is vouching for me
than if I'm just pitching myself cold.
and those things are hard to find.
Like, those… Like, getting people
to, like, vouch for you and, like, open
doors for you or make introductions
for you is not transactional.
It's relational.
Yes
and so, like, I think as women in
particularly, which is weird because women
are so much more relational than men.
but we haven't learned the business
rule book, which is that relationships
are so critical for us doing business
with men and women, not just women
and women, but men and women.
And having, like, and being a voucher
for someone else and allowing someone
else to vouch for you and introduce
you and put you in rooms that you
aren't normally in, is a very critical
component of winning anything.
And I think we're going to see that
that is even more true in the age of
AI, because I was listening to something
the other day that was saying, you
know, college graduates are send- now
sending off 500 job applications, and
AI is filtering 500 job applications.
And, you know, the, the reality is the
ones that had some human connection
somewhere in the chain, much more likely
to make it through the filter than, a,
an AI tool scraping your resume to see
whether you may have what it takes.
What filter to kick you
out and disqualify you?
Because they're
Yeah.
looking to disqualify.
Looking to disqualify.
Yeah
your point on the relationship
piece, this is… I- I call it
ABAV, always be adding value.
if
Mm-hmm
always adding value to others and being
a connector of others, and there's
so many ways to do this for free,
and I think that's what really, my
little hill I'm gonna die on is it's
takes no money to leave a positive
review on a hotel or Sarah's book.
I left a wonderful review on
her book 'cause I loved it.
It took me minute, It didn't take long.
read, and there's just so many ways to
fill the bank account, because a lot of
times people pull from an empty bank,
and that's where you can actually,
hurt and damage the relationship.
But it is a little bit of a delicate
balance and I struggle with this too
sometimes where I give and I give,
Hmm.
and I should totally be okay to
ask for the favor in return, but
Yeah
Sometimes I hesitate.
And I've been challenging myself
a little bit more to start asking
for things more proactively, and
I'm getting wonderful responses.
So
Well of course you are because
you have relationships.
So you, you can't do the asking
when you have nothing in the bank,
but that's why you put things in
the bank in the first place, right?
And I think sometimes that's what
we forget about the whole cycle.
it's not-- we don't do things because
they're transactional, but, but because
we're building relationships with people
and we're, we're having genuine, real
interactions with people, and we get to
know people over, you know, in various
different ways that then, you know, y-
it's like, it is like coins in the b-
in the piggy bank that, you know, some,
some point in time you're gonna remember
like, "Oh, you-- this person would be
perfect for this," because you're in a
room and someone's looking for something,
and you'll go out of your Rolodex.
"Well, I know the person for
that." And the reality is, you
might be that for someone else.
And then being able to say to your network
and your, the people that are in your,
in your orbit, "Do you know anyone who
could help me do X?" That's really the
value of, of networks and relationships,
and I, I think for our college grads
coming out of school, like, you know,
our young people understanding that our
relationships are our value, you know,
and, and, and how we start building,
putting, you know, pennies in the, in
the bank account is, pretty critical for
actually being able to make things happen.
I like that.
And I like, and it's funny because
we're talking about not being
transactional, but we're using
an analogy that is transactional.
But I, what I like about this, 'cause
I have a lot of male clients, I have
a lot of male podcast listeners,
and one of them, year one of my
business called me and he said, "In
the past I would have this wall up
and I wouldn't even talk to someone
unless they gave me a purchase order.
Mm.
I shifted the thinking after, we chatted
through it," and he said, "This woman
she's going on vacation." And he's "I
heard your voice in my head, and I said,
'Where are you going on vacation?' And
for 20 minutes we, we shoot the bull about
her trip, and I get back to my office
and she has a project for me in my inbox.
she ha- wanted me to present to her
team of 12." He's "I couldn't believe
how easy it was." And I- but he told me
he liked the language because then the
time he was spending on this chitchat,
Feels like a waste of time.
yes.
And so it's, it, we want, I just
wanna clarify that, and y- Sarah had
brought this up before we hit record.
It's just karma too.
And what I've found,
Yeah.
I've always been able to get to the
decision-maker in any role I had because
I realized whoever built that business
had to go knock on doors themselves and
Yes.
had to get help themselves.
Yes
the top dog is actually the more
approachable person than some of the
gatekeepers or the people below him or
her because they did the same thing.
And so I think that has really
helped shift the mindset.
And even, meeting someone as, like
established and just so well-known and,
you're like a little celebrity to me in
this industry, but I knew I could reach
out to you and you would say yes because
I knew you've had to do it before.
100%.
what is really cool about
shifting that confidence and
having conversations like this.
I think it's really gonna
change the game for people.
Yeah, and the reality is, what's the worst
that can happen if you make an ask, right?
Someone can say no, and you go, "Okay."
Exactly.
Exactly.
And I think the other piece though
is if you make the ask and they
say yes, gotta jump on it fast.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
Exactly.
100%.
Do you have, there's just so
much we could talk about, and I'm
so enjoying this conversation.
If someone is… if you wanted them
to hear one thing from you today, like
walking away with one, one or two really
takeaways from what you've learned
in your journey, would you share?
Oh, such a big question.
No pressure.
I mean, there obviously there are so
many different ways to answer that.
I, I think, one of the things that's
become very clear to me, is that
my, values are very important to me.
The things I care about are very
important to me, and I have learned
over the years now that aligning
myself with being true to that and
true to who I am, and aligning myself
to other people who care about things.
They don't even have to necessarily
care about the same things I care about.
But people, people who have
values, people that, are my people,
people that, you know… and so I
think we are all of us trying to
constantly find our, our path, right?
We're constantly trying to navigate
our way through complexity that we
don't even necessarily understand.
I have found when I am true to who I am
and I am not trying to just play a game,
like I am my best self and my happiest
self, and I'm leaning into finding my
own pathways, like understanding the path
where the, where the real, where the real
world pathways exist, and then realizing
where I'm gonna step on the path and
where I'm gonna forge a new path, and
who I'm gonna take with me, or who I'm
gonna ask to help go in that direction
with me, has been one of the most
sort of guiding principles of my life.
And, and recognizing how, just
how important my own values are,
who I wanna do business with, who
I don't wanna do business with.
That's also like we call that our
North Star and/or South Star, right?
Our South Stars
I love that.
Can be as valuable to
us as our North Stars.
You know, our North Stars are our
values, the things we care about.
Our South Stars are all the
things we don't want, all the
things that we don't like.
and then we use them to guide us.
We use them to, like, help us find our,
find our where our foot goes next,
and those things we realize, you know,
I have no a**hole policy now, right?
I don't wanna do business with people
who I consider to be an a**hole.
I just don't.
A**hole policy.
I love it.
Just, I don't, I don't wanna waste
my time or my, my… I have a finite
amount of energy, a finite amount
of resources, and a finite amount
of time, and so I, I just don't
wanna I don't wanna waste any of it.
And so trying to figure out, like, are
you my, are you my people or not my
people pretty quick, has become, become
a very clear guiding principle for me.
And sometimes that can be ha- hard because
you think, "Oh, that a**hole over there,"
excuse my language, but, like, has all
the resources that I want." and then I
have to go, "It's just not worth it."
Yeah.
Like,
Yeah
that little nugget over there is not
gonna create any form of happiness or joy
or desire in the work I'm doing for me.
And whilst the end might justify the
means, it's not gonna work out well.
And so let's just be very clear
about that from the beginning.
We're not aligned.
We don't see the world
in quite the same way.
Okay.
Let's just-- let's use that
as a, as my South Star.
And it, and it, and those kind
of things help guide me as
to where my- to put my feet.
Because I think that's the journey
we're all trying to do all the time,
is figure out our path and figure
out where do I land and how do I
take the next step and where am I
going and how am I gonna get there.
And those two things, have been very,
strong guiding principles for me.
I love that, and I, values are a big
part of my curriculum too, because I
have found you understand your values,
then you have a deeper connection
with yourself, which then allows you
to show up authentically, which then
allows you to show up confidently.
And I think the confidence piece
is what people struggle with in,
in sales, in selling internally,
in trying to get promotions.
So I think that, having you narrate it
that clearly with the North Star and
South Star analogy, I love the South
Star, because knowing what you don't
want can almost be an easier one,
Mm-hmm.
It's easy.
than…
Yeah
that doesn't align with my values.
The answer is no.
And we see this all the time.
There might be clients, in a, if
you're in a B2B role or a B2C role,
where it's not there, walk away.
Yeah, you know, you're not my people.
You're not my clients.
Yeah, let's not waste time.
Let's not waste time and money on
something that's not a good not
a good fit, and I think sometimes
we, we wanna make everything a fit.
I… And I've fallen into this camp.
I wanna, I, you know, you feel like
the, the opportunities are, are not
as many as you would like, so you're
trying to make everything fit and
everything work, and it doesn't work.
You're gonna, and every yes you say
yes to is a no to something else.
And so if you say no to something
that's not a fit, you might open the
door for the good karma to come back
because someone's gonna do an intro
for you because of all of your value
added throughout your relationship.
And I, I am so happy to hear some
of what you're saying because it
means, I'm on the right track.
You're on the right path.
A lot of the episodes in the past of
the show are speaking to the same thing.
You're just giving us, action and reality
Mm-hmm
How you can really take these things
Sarah is sharing with us, and we can
take them and really build something
meaningful, whether we work for someone
else, whether we're self-employed,
whether we're raising capital.
These messages translate everywhere.
So the book is called Thinking
Bigger: A Pitch Deck Formula for
Women Who Want to Change the World.
Before we wrap, I want to ask Sarah
about her Few & Far property if anyone
is interested in traveling to Africa.
I just listened to a webinar about it.
I've learned so much.
So tell us a little bit about
the lodge, and then where people
can visit and connect with you.
Yeah, yeah.
We are doing large scale conservation
work in Southern Africa, in South Africa.
trying to preserve and protect 100,000
hectares of the Soutpansberg Mountains.
and we've built an extraordinary
little lodge called Few & Far Luvhondo.
And, I'm sure Sara will put that in the,
Mm-hmm, of course.
The note links.
but, yeah, we are creating experiences
for people to experience nature,
experience the wilderness, and have
an extraordinary time, and at the
same time, helping preserve and
protect an incredible ecosystem that
will be lost if we don't protect it.
So, that is the work I'm doing
now on a day-to-day basis.
we're doing more travel.
I love travel.
so, we're doing more, hospitality, outdoor
hospitality work and doing, large scale
conservation work at the same time.
I love it.
it's on my list to visit May 2027.
I've got it on the calendar.
I know, I'm so excited to
have a reason to go to Africa.
I am so inspired by you as always.
Thank you so much for being a
guest on Prospecting On Purpose®.
Where can people connect with
you if they wanna learn more
or come visit the property?
Yeah, I have, my own website,
sarahhdusek.com so you can, connect with
me directly there, or you can find, Few
& Far Luvhondo at fewandfarluvhondo.com
Awesome.
I'll link everything in the show notes.
Sarah, thank you so much for lending
your time and expertise to our audience.
My pleasure.
Thank you so much for listening to
the Prospecting On Purpose® podcast.
If you loved what you heard today,
subscribe to the podcast and
please rate and leave a review.
For more info on me or if you'd
like to work together, feel free to
go to my website, saramurray.com.
On social media, I'm usually
hanging out @saramurraysales
Thanks again for joining me,
and I'll see you next time.