Sarah Fejfar (00:03)
Sarah, welcome to Greenroom Central Studios. Say hello to Linchpin Nation.
Sarah Petty (00:10)
Hey, Linchpin Nation, let's go!
Sarah Fejfar (00:14)
I've been so looking forward to this, Sarah. We're both tall. We're both Midwesterners. We have the same name. We're both moms and entrepreneurs and really value family first. You have this attractive character about you that's like one part joy and one part certainty. And it puts me at ease and at the same time makes me want to go climb a mountain. And I just love that about you.
Sarah Petty (00:21)
Yes.
Oh, that's awesome. I love that. Joy and certainty.
Sarah Fejfar (00:48)
I thought we'd start today and have a little fun having you share a story. So the whole premise around this show is that around my belief that being in the room is everything and a little backstory for you. About six and a half years ago, I made my way into my very first personal development seminar. It was a four day Brenda Burchard personal development seminar. And within 11 months of being in that room, I had...
left my corporate career of 16 years and started my own business. I sold my home and moved my family across the country from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. We'd been in the Midwest our whole lives. We paid off all the debt we'd been under for a decade and a half. So it was a massive shift to happen in under 12 months. And it makes me curious if there's ever been a room that you made it into that changed the trajectory of your life.
Sarah Petty (01:44)
You know, that's such a cool, cool question. And I've also been to Brendan Burchard. He was one of my first after I had my kids. Yeah. But I was raised in the right room. My dad in our old beat up car, we drove, I live in central Illinois and all of our grandparents lived in Northwest Iowa. So it was six hours to one grandparent and then another four more to the other grandparent.
Sarah Fejfar (01:52)
Oh really? Okay.
Mmm.
Sarah Petty (02:11)
and we listen to cassette tapes of Zig Ziglar and Stephen Covey and all of the greats. It's true. You know, it's funny because it's so easy, I think, for all of us to pick our parents apart with their flaws and like all the things they did wrong. But like the thing I'm most proud about my dad for is he was eighth of 10, raised on a farm. My grandparents came over from Norway, spoke Norwegian.
Sarah Fejfar (02:17)
Get out.
Yes.
Sarah Petty (02:37)
And so he didn't get a lot of things handed to him and he had to go out and find them. And so he discovered personal development on his own. He put himself through college, got his master's degree. I remember I was like a 10, 12 year old when he got his MBA. He put braces on himself at like 35 and he raised us listening to these cassette tapes. And I don't think at the time I really thought much about it.
Sarah Fejfar (02:50)
Ow.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (03:07)
But as I've become an adult and an entrepreneur, my dad was also an entrepreneur and a college teacher, a college instructor. And I think that was the room that changed everything for me because I've always sought out the next room, right? And I've been in some wrong rooms, but I still even look back on like coaching programs that I invested in that maybe weren't the right fit. They got me to the next step. And so I don't regret any of them, even the one that I did that was six figures because I thought, oh, I'll buy my way into the room.
Sarah Fejfar (03:21)
Ugh.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (03:36)
and realized that there were other people buying their way into the room that didn't even have businesses. And the coach wasn't even teaching a model that I wanted. I just thought the money will provide the answer. But that taught me some things, right? And it also, when you put that much money in yourself and invest in yourself, it makes you feel like I'm worth more for others to invest in me. So I think that's the mobile room that started it all for me.
Sarah Fejfar (03:47)
Yes.
Oh, wow. That is so beautiful. And what a gift to grow up in that space. I didn't meet personal development until or entrepreneurship. Like it was above the fold front page news to me, both of those items at 36. And I'm 43 now. It just yeah. And it rocked my world. And I wanted to go into the next room and the next room, next room ever since. And what a gift to get that so early in life. Oh, how cool.
Sarah Petty (04:30)
Yeah, and I think as a parent, I try to really share that with my kids. And we were never, we didn't have a ton of money, but we never went without, but that was always prioritized was education, even informal education. Both of my parents were teachers by trade. And so I always valued formal education.
Sarah Fejfar (04:35)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mmm. Yeah.
Sarah Petty (04:53)
but, or I was told, you know, I was voluntold, you will go to college and you just pick where, right? It was never a choice. But I, it's funny with Strengths Finder, I don't know if you've ever done that. My number one strength is learner. And when I saw that I was shocked because I didn't love school. I always liked to get A's, you know, because I'm competitive. So I wanted all the points, but I would get A's in like calculus and art and like.
Sarah Fejfar (04:58)
Yeah.
Yeah, I have.
Ugh.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (05:20)
I think I got a B or a C. I got one C and I think it was in history because I'm like, why do I need to memorize and regurgitate things? Like it's, it's fact, everybody knows it. It's not worth my time. So that's where the entrepreneur came out in me. Like I love to do the things I love to do and the things I don't, I don't care about. But when I realized I am a learner, I am, I'm hungry to grow and learn. And so when it comes to raising kids, I want them to know, like my college kids, I have one left in college, but they've all
Sarah Fejfar (05:27)
Right, yeah.
Sarah Petty (05:49)
education. My daughter just bought a $97 web design class. She's in college in a web design class and she found someone doing it because I've taught her like there's someone doing it out there. That's got to figure it out maybe even more than your college professor, especially in a fast moving fast changing industry like online marketing. And so I was so proud of her. She just put it on her own very first credit card. And she has a job she's going to pay for it. So like that's a proud mama moment for me.
Sarah Fejfar (05:59)
Yes.
Yes.
Oh, wow. That is, that is like that ability to go out and see, know that there's a gap and to go out and seek it. That's, that's amazing.
Sarah Petty (06:29)
Yeah, our kids watch us, they watch what we're doing. I love that saying, they don't always listen to us, but they watch us. I think that's what drives me to help, especially moms, right? Women who feel like they can't have it all. They either have to pick a career or a family. And that's always been my mission to prove that you can't have it.
Sarah Fejfar (06:32)
Yeah.
Yeah, no, the learning piece really sticks with me because I didn't think I was a learner. I didn't think I was someone who was like a book reader or a learner because I didn't like school. In fact, I was going to go to law school and then I stopped after college. I was like, I just don't like school. I've never been given a book that I like. And then I met Audible and personal development and entrepreneurship all at the same time. And I was like, holy cow, actually, I love learning and I can't stop now. And
Sarah Petty (07:03)
Yeah.
Yes, same.
Sarah Fejfar (07:20)
Oh, I love that. And I think that's an important lesson for me to think about as a mom is to how can I foster my daughter's love of learning now in her curiosity so that it then extends and does what your daughters did in college and has her going out to seek, you know, to fill the gaps that she's looking to fill.
Sarah Petty (07:41)
Yeah, yeah. And I think I love that whole concept of StrengthsFinder. And we run our team. We have like five or six assessments. We have everyone take more so we can get to know them and what they groove with because school were measured on everything, right? Like our ACT test. So to get a high ACT score, you have to do well at English and math and history and all the blah, blah. When I tell my kids like pass high school, but...
Sarah Fejfar (07:53)
Yes.
Sarah Petty (08:09)
Find something you love, be great at something, something that you can see yourself building a life around. I think people obsess too much about grades. Like do we walk around with our GPA on our shirt? You know, and there are people who had really high GPAs who are struggling in life. It doesn't ensure that you're gonna have a happy life, but if you find something that you can build a career around that you naturally love and are good at, forget the other stuff.
Sarah Fejfar (08:11)
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Sarah Petty (08:35)
Let someone else do that, double down on what you do well, and you will build a really happy life.
Sarah Fejfar (08:40)
100%. We're in Montessori school right now for a reason that I believe so much that people should learn emotional intelligence and also should learn how to think. And I really don't care about grades. Like I don't care that there's no report cards and I don't care that there's no grades in homework because I really want her to learn how to think and interact with others. And I know now.
Sarah Petty (08:57)
Yeah.
Sarah Fejfar (09:10)
that there's a coach that will fill any gap that we need to fill. It's such a gift, it being in the entrepreneur space and knowing that the expertise exists and we'll just go get it.
Sarah Petty (09:14)
Yeah.
Yeah, because we're all science projects, right? Your kids are completely different humans than you, even if they're biological children, right? They're your DNA, but every single one is different from you and they're different from each other and they have different needs. And so I think figuring that out and encouraging them to find the resource, to figure themselves out, like what makes you tick?
Sarah Fejfar (09:29)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yes.
Sarah Petty (09:48)
What makes you happy? What gets you excited? What do you do when you're sad? Like how do you manage all of the emotions? Because it's hard right now for kids. I think it's always been hard, but I grew up pre social media. So it was just gossip back then, you know, Monday morning, everybody was talking about everybody else and what everybody did. And now it's just right there in your face. You get it real time. So it's just, you know, teaching them to have the skills to navigate that is a new challenge for us as parents who didn't have to navigate that as much when we were growing up.
Sarah Fejfar (09:52)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm.
Yeah, 100%. You know, I love your philosophy around putting family first, and I really value that too. And I think about creating experiences. A family is so important. And I kind of, as I've become an entrepreneur, it's put a different lens on how I think about being a parent. And I think about what kind of lessons I want to impart on her. And you know, I.
Sarah Petty (10:39)
Hmm.
Sarah Fejfar (10:45)
I think about how I want her to know how to create income outside of the traditional nine to five. It might not be her path, but I want her to know it's available. I think about things like I want her to know how to grow that wealth. I wasn't taught that. And then also the self-awareness and self-compassion, that emotional intelligence piece, which I just think is so, so very important. And it makes me curious what...
you've been working on all along with your children and then now is they're kind of becoming their own You know self, you know, they're almost like what they're adults now, right? They're they're pretty they're out of almost out of school, right? so Okay Wow, that's big. So yeah, what goes through your head?
Sarah Petty (11:23)
Yeah, I got two now, one graduates here in a month. Yeah.
What's interesting because we become obsessed with all of these assessments, you know, the disc and the strengths finder and synergist quiz and Colby. And, uh, it's funny, I have them all mapped out, profiled, trying to use that information to guide them into their unique ability. One of my top strengths is called individualization, which I think I'm really good at on my team. There are a lot of things I'm not good at, but I like kind of know where my strengths are and it's getting everybody on my team at my, in my company.
Sarah Fejfar (11:35)
Hmm.
Sarah Petty (12:01)
on the right seat on the bus. Because if they're doing what their unique ability is, they're gonna be happy, they're gonna do better, they're gonna be more efficient. And most of our team has been here more than 10 years, which is amazing. So I've kind of taken that approach with my kids of using these assessments to help them figure out what their strengths are. And my three kids all went through business programs. My son is leaning more towards sales, and my girls are sort of twins, boy, girl twins.
Sarah Fejfar (12:07)
Yes.
Wow. Mm.
Sarah Petty (12:29)
And my girls are both more in the creative side, photography, videography, marketing, social media management, all of those kind of things. But yet within those, they're all very different. One is a high C on the disc, which means like super high attention to detail. She's the planner. She's the one that would be a great event planner, right? Cause she's high I, high C. The other one is just high I, like crazy. And a lot of D too. She was my super most competitive athlete.
Sarah Fejfar (12:33)
Mm. Yeah.
Sarah Petty (12:57)
she would be great in sales. Like she can talk to anybody anywhere, anytime, right? But they both do photography and are super creative. And my son's more less of the high extrovert, but more of the strategic thinker, right? And figuring all of that out. So, but one of the coolest things, and I think your audience might really like this, that I love to share, that I've done for 12 years. So my kids weren't in like junior high.
Sarah Fejfar (13:00)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (13:24)
It's a program where I mentor these high school students and it's the coolest thing. And I literally think it changed my kids' lives because all three of them went through this program. It is a program that was started by a teacher in central Illinois in a city, a little town called Effingham. Everyone laughs when I say that, Effingham. But he had a local bank come to him and say, hey, these kids are leaving our community. They're graduating high school and they're leaving.
Could you create a class to teach them about our city and business and like get them to stay? And so he did, and he made this magical program. And they started having like a couple of towns around, added it, well then he was diagnosed with stage four cancer. And he is like, I am not dying without this program going on. And so he hired a process person to take everything out of his brain, create a system, and now it's all over the United States.
And it's where the local business community funds it, but it goes through a local school. So every month, 50 high school seniors from all of the schools. So we have county schools, right? Pig farmers. We have inner city kids who are living on the couch at grandma's and we have private school kids who have private jets. And I mean, we're not in a wealthy community, but like I'm just emphasizing the...
Sarah Fejfar (14:44)
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (14:47)
differences in all of these students and they come together every day they come to class early. So here at 7 30 to 9 every day they get college credit for it which is cool but also all year. So they have to create a business they have to write a business plan they have to make a product they have to brand it name it sell it they do a sharp tank at the end of the year and they have speakers every day they go to business all over the city how cool is that so my kids are going and
Sarah Fejfar (15:05)
So cool.
Sarah Petty (15:17)
Instead of going to high school and then moving away and never knowing the city because you just get your driver's license and you practically graduate high schools. They're it. You know, at all these interesting businesses learning about how the water park handles it when it rains for a month in the summer and how, you know, people have navigated all of these things and they work on the soft skills. They shake hands. They write thank you notes like really, really cool. And I run a toast master's program.
Sarah Fejfar (15:19)
Oh... Yeah...
Yeah.
Oh.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (15:45)
So they've been here all week, which I am not a morning person. I'm like, the only time I get up early is for you guys. But they go around and they have to speak on their feet. They have to do short little presentations, but it's all about confidence. And and when you're called on learning how to create an intelligent answer. So today was one of the last or not today, yesterday last classes. And they're like, just to look at where we've come in this semester or this year of like we were so scared to come in. And now we're
Sarah Fejfar (15:45)
Okay.
Ah!
Oh.
Sarah Petty (16:14)
were talking and they're becoming friends with, you know, that's the other thing you grow up, like I was a sports person. So those were my friends just because that's who I was with all the time. And if you're in drama or band or music, and so for the first time, you know, they're hanging out with people who are totally different and really seeing how cool that is. So if anybody wants to check it out, it's again, it's they're a nonprofit. So
Sarah Fejfar (16:15)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mmm.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (16:41)
your community pays for it, but you can go to midl And it's a CEO program creating entrepreneurial opportunities. So like ours is Sangamon County. So we're Sangamon CEO. And it's just, it's just been the coolest thing because that's what I think's wrong. Not to go on a rant, but with the school, we memorize and we regurgitate and you know, business isn't that way. You got to go out and do it and fail.
Sarah Fejfar (16:45)
Okay.
Yeah.
Yes. Yeah.
Sarah Petty (17:07)
And the pressure, they do a fundraiser at the beginning of the first semester, like mid semester to raise seed money for all of them, for their products. And they have an event and they have to sell tickets and people have to show up and it rains and it snows and it's real stress. They start bickering and they have to realize like this is part of it. And so, so beautiful to watch, so beautiful.
Sarah Fejfar (17:14)
Mmm.
Oh, wow. I'm going to look that up. I hope that we have one by us. So cool. Yeah, because I think about something like the Brendan Burchard High Performance Academy four days or Tony Robbins and thinking like, well, what's the earliest stage I can start getting my kid into that room? Right? Because I want to expose her to that. But also, this is a great reminder, I need to be searching out the ones that are
can't appropriate, right? They're meant for that age and like the development of the brain at that stage. So good.
Sarah Petty (18:06)
Well, my favorite was NSA. I've been a part of National Speakers Association and they have a kid program that is bomb. You can start at 10. And so upstairs, all the parents are up there learning and then the speakers will go downstairs and speak to the kids. So it's all motivational, like speakers doing the most amazing things. So we would do that every summer. I would go, I would take my kids, they would do the...
Sarah Fejfar (18:10)
Mmm.
Oh wow.
Aww.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (18:31)
teen, you know, the kid program, and then we'd fly my husband in and they were all over the country. So then we do our vacation in that area and then the pandemic hit and everything got turned upside down. Strategic Coach also has a young person program. They have to be a little older. I think that's 18 to 24. But that's also a really good one. Believe me, I've been in the market. I was always asking, where are the programs for young people?
Sarah Fejfar (18:37)
Sir.
I love this. I just finished the trilogy of the 10x is easier than 2x and yes, Gap in the Gain and then who knows how. And I did go and then peek at his website and realized, oh, there is a kid thing. That looks great. I need to put that on my radar.
Sarah Petty (19:05)
Gaff in the game.
Yeah, that's very cool. And then of course there's Landmark Forum that was very hard. We took my kids to, they did not enjoy it, but it definitely impacted them. It's more of a therapy type. And so it's deep, right? Kids are crying and it's difficult, but it's all personal development, you know? So important, so important.
Sarah Fejfar (19:22)
Mmm. Okay.
Yeah, which is so important. So important. Yeah, yeah. We all got therapists during the pandemic and I just haven't stopped. I think that's the best business decision I've ever made and I think it's gonna be a great support system for her. I want her to have more than just me, you know? Let's shift gears and talk about events for a little bit. I've heard you talk about gosh-worthy experiences and I love that.
Sarah Petty (19:41)
Yeah.
Yeah, 100%.
Sarah Fejfar (20:01)
phrase and I want to know how does that sentiment play a role during your planning for your events and I believe that your signature virtual launch event is Go Boutique Live, right? Yeah.
Sarah Petty (20:14)
Yeah, yep, we've done it five years. The first one was live in Dallas two weeks before the pandemic. I know, we just kicked off our high ticket coaching program. We got 50 buyers and then the world shut down. I was like, we're gonna go out of business. But we've survived. We've done four virtuals and it's been amazing. But yeah, so we teach the boutique business model to photographers specifically, but in any space.
Sarah Fejfar (20:19)
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Petty (20:42)
There's a Walmart, like a low end price driven, and then there's a high end custom high touch. You know, whether you want, if you want a bike, you can go to Walmart and get a bike, or you can go to the local bike store where there are experts in custom bikes and all the things. So we teach that to photographers. And so when I was creating this event, I wanted to have a different kind of event, kind of a boutique event. It's a niche, right? It's not gonna be millions of people coming to it. And so...
Sarah Fejfar (21:04)
Mm. Yeah.
Sarah Petty (21:09)
I'm very much, I come from a branding background. I worked as a marketing director at an ad agency. So branding is very important to me. And so my love language is swag. Really cool swag, but also for a reason. It's not just a t-shirt, right? Our events are three days and they're architected for people to have a nervous system reset, to have a breakthrough. It's not like big conferences where you get a whole agenda and you're like, I'm gonna go to that speaker at noon and that one at four.
Sarah Fejfar (21:38)
Right?
Sarah Petty (21:39)
and you might be breaking in between. Ours is start to finish and it builds on itself. So for example, one year we gave them envelopes and little things to open throughout for the kinesthetic learners, right? Where breakout rooms, whatever, but we do different colored envelopes and one year it was just a string, right? So even if they peek, they don't know what the activities are. And so it was really, I use the metaphor of the elephant, the baby elephant, which you've probably heard, you know, how...
Sarah Fejfar (21:50)
Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
Sarah Petty (22:07)
Elephants are, when they're in a zoo or they're little, they kind of wrap them, hate the word tie them to, but they secure them to like a post with like a piece of, basically a thick rope, and these giant animals, and they learn that they can't go anywhere. And then you can tie a giant elephant up with like a piece of yarn practically, right? It's sort of learned helplessness. They learned that they can't go anywhere.
Sarah Fejfar (22:25)
Mm.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (22:35)
and they're held back by it. And so we did an activity where people wrote out all their failures, right? The reasons why they can't succeed. And then we had them open the envelope and take out this string and then tie themselves. They're in their homes, this was virtual. Find something heavy in your room. So they found like a table or a heavy chair or whatever. And they tied themselves to that, as they looked at their list of the things that have been holding them back, because it's proof that they can't do these things. And then we had them break away.
Sarah Fejfar (22:40)
Mm.
Mmm
Mmm.
Sarah Petty (23:04)
And people were emotional, right? And then they, and we told them like, these things don't have to hold you back anymore. And so it's been things like that, that they're having these transformations and they go in a room and they share what opened up for them. And that's what I love. I want them to feel so loved, unlike any other conference where they just leave feeling more possibility for themselves than they ever felt.
Sarah Fejfar (23:10)
Mm.
Mm hmm. Yeah, I teach that people, everyone wants to feel seen, heard and celebrated. And I'm sensing that you're, you're making that happen inside the virtual walls of your event. What do you think about the emotion that you want to evoke in them by the end?
Sarah Petty (23:39)
Hmm.
Yeah, we try, we try.
Well, I think more emotion is better because if we live, like I think that's part of our problem in society is, we numb our emotions with social media or drugs or alcohol or any kind of addiction, shopping, wasting time. And people are all, I'm overwhelmed, I don't have time. And I think sometimes it's good to feel the emotions, right? Because if you can feel low lows, you can feel high highs.
Sarah Fejfar (23:58)
Mmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (24:22)
And, you know, I was, I'm so grateful that I had amazing parents. My mom's still alive. My dad, 10 years ago, he passed and I miss him and think of him every day and I love talking about him. But I had parents that cheered for me all the time and not in a like, let's go buy her a trophy, you know, for her soccer. But like my dad said, you can do anything you want. You can do anything
Sarah Fejfar (24:31)
Mmm.
Mm.
Sarah Petty (24:51)
Maybe they've picked a spouse that they, you know, their picker was broken or they're in a bad situation. I think almost everybody has some trauma that they're suppressing or holding down. And so that's why the three days is important for me. You know, let go of the guilt of, you know, passing your kids off so you could be here for yourself. And I just wanna be that voice that believes in them because they never had that. A lot of people never had that and still don't have.
Sarah Fejfar (25:01)
Yeah.
Mm.
Sarah Petty (25:19)
And then they're dealing with their own voices of disbelief. Well, remember that long list? Remember how you tried Pampered Chef and you failed? Remember how you did this and you failed? So that's really what's important to me is to just, whatever their transformation is meant to be, maybe it's laughing, maybe it's crying, like whatever emotion it is, feel it, and then know that somebody cares enough about you to show you the way.
Sarah Fejfar (25:27)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Sarah Petty (25:45)
I always say, I will believe in you until you believe in you because I have so much proof that what we teach works, right? But you're not willing to step into the ring because you don't believe in yourself. So let me grab your hand and I will believe in you. You can take my belief because I know that what we teach works. That's what I want people to feel is supported and loved and cared for and important.
Sarah Fejfar (25:57)
Yes.
Mm.
Mm.
Mm. Oh, what a beautiful role to play in their lives. And then to be able to see it play out through your kind of your ascension model, if you will, your all your tiers of supportive programs you create. And is there a story that sticks out for you of someone that, you know, kind of had a breakthrough in one of your rooms and you were able to bring them to much higher levels of success? Yeah.
Sarah Petty (26:37)
So many, so many. Gosh, I have Karina as a student in Canada who was in tears, like, I can't do this, I can't do this. I've had so many in tears. And sometimes I think that you need to get to that point, right, where it bothers you so much of where you are. And she, I thought, well, she's probably, you know, I'm supporting her, but I never know, you know, who's gonna wake up tomorrow and be that person that finds a way or they just are like, I have.
Sarah Fejfar (26:43)
Mm.
Sarah Petty (27:05)
to stay, you know, they just can't dig out. And she joined our program, didn't have the money, didn't have the money, and within like 36 hours, just went out there and hustled and had the whole year paid for with a couple brand jobs, a contract, just went out there and hustled. I had another student who did my first program, this is right after the pandemic, she'd been selling digital files and we teach photographers how to go to selling prints and artwork.
Sarah Fejfar (27:07)
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (27:31)
which gets your average sal your life back, right? Th comes in. Her husband has had kind of, I think thei He's a really great guy. of all the things they've relationship was kind of she was feeling not suppo also said, I can't go to I was like, you can't not now that has to make the
But I said, I love you and support you, but like I see the vision for you. And even the end of the conversation, she wiped her tears and she said, I'm gonna find a way. And she went out and she scooped dog poop and she did different things and she just hustled to make the money. And the best part is she got to six figures within a year and she's now a coach in our program. And it just warms my heart because all of my coaches in my programs.
are photographers who have been there. Like I don't just hire coaches. Like I want people to know that my coaches have come from where you are, just like I did. And they're doing the hard work every day. And so she's just an amazing, amazing coach. So, I mean, I could go story after story, but that's what gets me out of bed every day. It's not like, oh, I wanna make all this money. It's like, I am empowering. The one, the Karina, she was like 24, right out of university in Canada, got married, had a baby, and was making money for their family.
24 or 25 years old. Isn't that amazing? Yeah.
Sarah Fejfar (28:56)
That's amazing. That's so amazing.
What do you think about the impact that you've been able to make because of your ability to scale and do the hard work on the marketing side? How does that make you feel?
Sarah Petty (29:14)
I think that's my why, right? Is I remember how hard it was. I had twins and then I had another baby two years later and I had a great husband and he had started his own business, but we went from two incomes and two people to one income and four people. And it was hard. And when I started my business, it was a mess. And I felt the downward spiral happening and I was able to get out of it, but knowing that I am now reaching
Sarah Fejfar (29:18)
Mm.
Sarah Petty (29:44)
you know, back to help pe behind me, coming after m those younger people and dude, it doesn't have to have to struggle. You can be amazing and be a g wife and make money and l dreams. Like that is what in the world. And I want to, right? I want it for it for my daughters and o
Sarah Fejfar (30:05)
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (30:10)
But I think being a female and remembering how hard it was, like just the bullying, and I was six feet tall, you said you're tall too, how tall are you?
Sarah Fejfar (30:18)
Yeah, I'm 5'10", but I have a 43 degree curve in my spine, so I'm sure that I would be right up there.
Sarah Petty (30:25)
Yeah, yeah. And being teased that pants were too short and was uncoordinated and all the things and trying to help women. We are strong and confident. We don't have to be the B word and the boss or sweet and nice and stay at home mom. We can be whatever confident amazing version to raise the next generation of humans. So I want that to be my legacy, not just like, oh, she made money.
Sarah Fejfar (30:48)
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (30:54)
Right, because the money is just a thing. It's the impact of my kids and their friends and their friends' friends and my students and their kids. It's just, it feels good. To answer your question, it feels really good.
Sarah Fejfar (30:56)
it 100%.
Yeah. It makes me think about how, you know, wealth isn't just about the money. It's about generating the money that then like and growing the wealth, like the wealth that will afford us. And in a sense, it's like it allows us to be more of who we are and experience the freedoms that are part of our heart. And, you know, like whether it's time and location or
whatever. And there's a makes me think of this entrepreneur I really admire up in the Skagit Valley of Washington. Her name's Erin Benziken. She's runs a company called Floret and they sell like she started off selling flowers and then moved into seed production. But she figured out the online piece of selling a course to teach people how to grow flowers and then sell them. And it's afforded her.
the ability to figure out the online pieces afforded the ability to build like the most amazing farm, like flower farm ever that any farmer would love. And with all the hoop houses and all the fancy dirt, and as I was watching, it allows her to be more of who she is. And I was watching your video on your studio on YouTube and the one that you and your husband,
you know, design and built together. And it's gorgeous. And yes, with the little window to the gym. And it made me want to ask you, how do you think you being able to generate wealth through the online, you know, in the monetary sense, through the online course space, what has that afforded you in like wealth in other areas of your life, allowed you to be more of who you are?
Sarah Petty (32:40)
Good gym. Yup.
Sarah Fejfar (33:03)
in other areas, because not every photographer gets this studio, you know.
Sarah Petty (33:08)
Right, right. And my photography studio alone would not have been able to afford or justify the building that we're in. It's got a gym, it's got the most gorgeous camera room. And we have events for our students here twice a year as part of the year long program. And they get to come in here and they get to hold the frames and they get to see what's possible, even if they never want a studio, but to see like all the cool things. And I've had multiple studios that were cool,
Sarah Fejfar (33:26)
Hmm.
Sarah Petty (33:37)
They were much smaller and they were still really amazing. But to be able to build our dream studio with also a volleyball court in the middle, that's now a pickleball court as my volleyball players have all gone off to college to play volleyball. But it's been amazing because in fact, this week we have a junior high volleyball team. We're in the center of the state and our state tournament for most sports is usually in the central, in our town or near us.
Sarah Fejfar (34:06)
Okay.
Sarah Petty (34:08)
And this little eighth grade team qualified for state. And so they asked if they could use our gym. It's not a full gym, but they come down, they walk through, they have dinner, and then they go to the six o'clock game versus just sitting in a gym or eating McDonald's. Like the parents can cook them food and feed them healthy food. They get to have their hands on the volleyballs before the game. And two times we've done this and they've won state both times. So they're coming again this week, this team that won last year. You know, I'm able to host this CEO class for 11 years
Sarah Fejfar (34:21)
Uh huh, yeah.
Sarah Petty (34:37)
We've only been here six or seven, something like that. But to be able to have this space to do that is so cool. And then, you know, just all the things we can do for our local community, but showing our students how to do this. We just created a program called Community Seed Money. Had to think about it. We just created Community Seed Money where we're teaching our students how to go out in their community and raise money for things that are important to them.
And so a friend of mine spoke actually at Russell Brunson's event, Funnel Hacking Live. And she talked about how she looked at her sales funnel, right, a funnel, you can picture it with a wide opening at the top where you put all these people in that you're gonna help. And then it trickles down and not everybody does the work, does the work. And you feel like, gosh, I'm only impacting so few. But then she continued it into an hourglass. She's like, but every one person that I impact goes out into their network and impacts and impacts and impacts. So.
looking at it that way, that it's not about changing every single person in the world, right? I'm just one person in a small town in central Illinois. But I mean, I've mentored in 11 years, 50 kids a year. You know, all of those students have been spent the year with me. Now they're out running companies and doing cool things. And we have an alumni get together over the week of Christmas every year and they come back and they pour into the next group. And it is the most beautiful thing. And it's
Sarah Fejfar (35:40)
Mmm.
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
Aww.
Sarah Petty (36:04)
75, 80 people, but how cool is that, right? And so I think sometimes we try to think of impact as being this big monster of like, I should build schools in Africa or do something amazing. And I feel like if we all just did a little more, that's cool. And then of course, I get our event. We do a necklace every year. So this year we did one of a squirrel. Squirrel is our mascot in our business institute. I know we're all about the squirrels. They're everywhere.
Sarah Fejfar (36:07)
Yeah.
Great.
No. Oh heavens.
Sarah Petty (36:33)
And I'll explain that if you want, but we raised 20,000 for Village Impact in Africa. We've raised over 100,000 for Operation Underground Railroad and Operation Smile. We raised 50,000 as a community of photographers. So I love raising money. I love giving back. In fact, we created a certification program for our students like to become certified boutique photographers. They have to generate and raise a thousand dollars for a charity in their community.
Sarah Fejfar (36:47)
Yeah.
Mm.
Sarah Petty (37:01)
It's that important to me. We give them the campaigns and the programs and we teach them, we mentor them as they do it because I want them to see, you don't have to wait till you have a big pile of money. I know that you're struggling too, right? But our motto is we lift as we climb. And so you can lift and climb and you'll climb higher. So you give back as you go. You don't wait till you're at the top of the mountain because you may never get to the top of the mountain. Mountain keeps growing.
Sarah Fejfar (37:12)
Yeah.
Mmm.
Aww, wow.
Sarah Petty (37:26)
And so that's pretty cool. We have our awards and we share like what people have given to charity and all of that, right? It's the hourglass. It's my students going out in their communities and giving back and that is cool.
Sarah Fejfar (37:31)
Mm-hmm.
Wow, what a ripple effect that you're creating. I, and I, yeah, it, it's, you've structured your business so that you have the time freedom to do that too, and not just the money freedom. And that's so beautiful.
Sarah Petty (37:41)
Very.
Yeah. And I don't know, I just think, you know, we fill our cup. I love that book. Is it called fill your cup? I think it was a Gallup book. It's like a little one. It's good one for kids too. But the whole premise is we all go around with a bucket, an invisible bucket in front of us. And every interaction we have with anybody, we're either taking or filling their cup, their cup. Fill your bucket. Maybe it's called. Yeah.
Sarah Fejfar (38:04)
I haven't read that one.
Yes. Yeah. Read that one. Have you filled your bucket today? Something like that. Uh huh.
Sarah Petty (38:23)
They have a really great kids version. It's a great kids gift for friend parties, put a little money in as a bookmark. That's like my signature college. Yeah, so I give them, you are a B-A-D-A-S. With a bookmark.
Sarah Fejfar (38:25)
It's so cute.
It's your go-to.
That is such a good entry-level personal development book. It's so good.
Sarah Petty (38:40)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I don't even know where I was going there. I was going somewhere. Oh, but there. Yeah, and the bucket, right? When you fill someone else's bucket, you're filling your bucket too. When you're taking from their bucket, you're taking from your bucket too. So they think they have to go out and get to build their business. And it's like, that's emptying your bucket. Like you fill your bucket by giving and by helping and being part of your community. And then your bucket's filling too.
Sarah Fejfar (38:47)
Oh, we were just talking about time freedom and just being able to give back. Yeah. Oh, sure.
Mmm.
Sarah Petty (39:09)
And a lot of people, again, like you grew up without the personal development world, and that's most of our people who come into our community. They've never been exposed to these messages, which is why I love events, right? Because you can do a course and you can do an hour here and an hour there. But if you have a community and you want to just surround them with these words of change and awesomeness and the new beliefs that they need to add,
Sarah Fejfar (39:13)
I did, yeah.
Mm.
Sarah Petty (39:39)
adopt, it takes more than an hour or two hours. Like they need to be immersed in it. Just why we take vacations, right? Because you need to separate from your problems so you can get perspective on what you want to change. And that's why I love events. They're one of my favorite things. And I'm so glad you love them too, because you got to leave home. And even if it's virtual, right? You've got to leave your life and really focus on what it is you want to make change in. And events are so.
Sarah Fejfar (39:50)
Mmm.
I do.
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Petty (40:08)
perfect for this.
Sarah Fejfar (40:10)
Yeah, yeah, it was in that first personal development seminar where I realized it's like, I was sitting next to entrepreneurs above the fold front page news to me that you could live anywhere you want and run your own business. And it made me, it took a full year for me to decide, oh, I'm supposed to, I'm so, I'm so good at producing events and I love it. And I'm supposed to be putting my flag in the sand and helping in the online coaching space. These entrepreneurs who...
want to do this too, but are too overwhelmed or they don't know how the, you know, the wizard behind the curtain works and I do. And this is like so fun for me. And yeah, it was at an event that I had that was able to put all those pieces together. And it was because of that immersive environment that you're describing where it took more time to kind of, you know, arrive at that space, kind of close off the rest of the world and have the breakthroughs. Yeah. Mm hmm.
Sarah Petty (41:00)
Yeah!
Yeah, and if you think back, because I had a student one of my early events where I had a small event in my studio, like 10, 15 people, we were out of money, like we were behind in the year, and we're like, the only way to catch up is to sell something bigger. What can we do? And we threw it together. And by the end of day one, this girl who had a lot of emotional sort of struggles during the day, she was like, this is amazing, I see it, I see it. Went to bed, slept, came in the next day, like back to the same old like.
Sarah Fejfar (41:13)
Mm.
Sure.
Mm.
Sarah Petty (41:33)
I know yesterday I was in a different place. I just realized this morning it can't happen for me. So it took us that whole day of her seeing again and overcoming all the places she'd been and all the, everybody brings a lot of past with them and a lot of proof of why they're different and it can't work. And so I watched it with her over this couple of days, how much she needed to sleep and come back and hear it again in a different way.
Sarah Fejfar (41:37)
Mmm.
Yes.
Sarah Petty (42:02)
sleep and come back and hear it in a different way. And what I'll say to anybody who's out there listening, who's scared to have their first event, because it is. Sometimes you put a lot on the line and while now virtual makes it so easy, I've had to, I had this talk every year before I have our event. And we have challenges and smaller events, but like we build the huge stage, like we're Tony Robbins, not literally, like we build the whole thing. And I just tell myself, Sarah, just love your people.
Sarah Fejfar (42:25)
Yep.
Mmm.
Sarah Petty (42:33)
And somebody gave me that advice before my first event, just because I was so hung up on like sales conversion and offer and it's so scary and all this stuff. And I remember being like a piece of, if nobody buys anything, I'm going to serve these people hard and they're going to feel good about me. And I'll figure out what I need to do next time to make an offer that converts, you know? And we had a mad rush to the back of the room and that doesn't happen. I've had it happen. You know, where
Sarah Fejfar (42:48)
Yes.
Yes.
Mmm.
Sarah Petty (43:00)
there's crickets, I've experienced that too, and that's what I was expecting. But I think that changed me when I was like, I just want to love people and encourage people and help people and share my story, and the money will come. And people like you have the system, right? So plug into a proven system with your mentor, right? If you're like Sarah, it makes sense to me. Her system seems amazing. Like find a way to invest in the system, follow the system, and then just love people.
Sarah Fejfar (43:09)
Mm.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Mm.
Sarah Petty (43:29)
Let the chips fall where they will, fix it, do better next time, right? And then we'll do better. Like we've done it five years and every year we're like, oh my gosh, I can't, how did we do it that first year? When the first year we were like, we did so great, you know? And this year we were actually in bed before nine o'clock. The first year it was 2 a.m. You know, we're like, how are we surviving? We were just adrenaline and fear all mixed up, you know? That first time, just horrified of all the things that could go wrong, but it was also such an exhilarating feeling.
Sarah Fejfar (43:41)
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (43:59)
If you're not doing it and you want to do it, just do it. Right? Let it, even if you crash, like you get to be put in a really exclusive group of people who have done it versus those who just think about it and talk about it and dream about it.
Sarah Fejfar (44:13)
I mean, those that are winning are creating those experiences for people. And that's so pro team, Sarah, that you're in bed by nine. It's so pro team. I look at, I watch social media for the behind the scenes of so many people's events and I noticed who's had the space and the leadership to be able to sit down and have a meal with their team before the event or after the event. I noticed those things. And that tells me.
so much information about who they are as a leader, how the team that they've, support team that they've surrounded themselves with. So kudos to you. That's huge.
Sarah Petty (44:53)
Hey, thanks. And you know, it's been a process. I mean, the first year we were understaffed, we were smaller company, we, my little team, I about killed them. And I said, we're not doing that next year. And each year, we've gotten better. And this year, we had three extra people. And most of my team is virtual. So there were only about seven of us here. And it just was so beautiful, right? Everybody knew their role.
Sarah Fejfar (45:20)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Petty (45:20)
There were some floaters and I had a ski accident eight weeks before our event was two weeks ago and I tore both of my MCLs on both knees. So I mean, I would come off stage, they're bringing me, one's holding my food and one's putting ice on my knees, right? And that's when you're like, man, we got a well-oiled machine. They're like bringing, timing my Advil and Tylenol every six hours, like to make sure I don't get out of pain where I can't recover.
Sarah Fejfar (45:25)
Oh no.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (45:48)
And just that kind of team that can pay attention to my needs, like when, because I try to be pretty low maintenance, but it was like, this added a new element of complexity, right, having the main speaker for three day event in pain. And so it was just, it was amazing to know that they were there for me. And it just was really fun. It was really, really fun. Events are so fun. I could talk about them all day. They're really, really fun.
Sarah Fejfar (45:51)
Mm.
Yes.
Yes.
They are. They are. They are. Yeah, I just I know it's one of those things they're either for you or they're not for you and I could tell you're in the camp where this is like, whatever it takes, like I have to do this because it brings me so much joy.
Sarah Petty (46:21)
Yeah.
Well, and I'm a high eye on the disc. So is Andrea, who's been with me 15 years and runs my studio, coaches and runs our event. She's kind of become our producer. Like we're 90, I'm in 99, she's in 98. So we have to have people. And when you have a virtual coaching program, like we just need to be with the people and hear from the people. And so that's why they come to us live. So we do two fulfillment events.
Sarah Fejfar (46:34)
Mm.
great.
Mmm.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (46:56)
where we don't offer anything. Like they're just serving for two days. But then I also love the game of selling, right? And making an offer because that's what, I mean, we teach photographers how to make money, right? Not all events are teaching people how to make money, but they have to learn how to make offers. They have to learn how to talk about money. And so we're really showing them how to do it. We're putting them in breakout rooms where they can talk about their fears and practice communication, you know, little tips and tricks and.
Sarah Fejfar (46:58)
Yeah.
Yes.
Sarah Petty (47:26)
I don't know, I just, I love the community. And I think that's something that we didn't do. I've been in business 25 years and I've been at my online business since 05. So it's at almost 20. Um, and we, I just did low ticket things, right? Cause I'm like, Oh, we did a try to coaching program and someone told me I wasn't good. You know, well, it turned out it was the person who didn't want to do the work and play the same game. So I told myself I'm never doing that. I had three little kids.
Sarah Fejfar (47:36)
Okay.
Mmm.
Ha ha!
Sarah Petty (47:53)
And it wasn't until, you know, talking about being in the right room, proximity is power. We know it got in Russell Brunson's inner circle. We were down and watched it. Watch how he built a community. He calls it culture, no cult. Like that's how cults for negative built people, you know, in a negative way, but like building a community that if it went away, people would miss it. I that's like my guide of is the community strong enough? And I mean, I got people.
Sarah Fejfar (48:04)
Mm. Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Sarah Petty (48:22)
It's just the stories about our community. We've ascended, like we have volunteer leaders and they can do half scholarship and then our coaches are full scholarship and they're creating content and they're doing meetups and they're doing one-on-ones with our students. They have weekly group meetings where we have a no photographer left behind policy. And just to watch them love this program and company as much as I do has been overwhelming, right? Because I mean, they are just, they...
Sarah Fejfar (48:33)
Ugh.
Mm.
Sarah Petty (48:51)
They know what it feels like to be alone and they don't want anybody new coming in to feel alone and they just wrap them up. It's so cool to watch.
Sarah Fejfar (48:57)
Mm.
Well, people support what they create, right? And it seems like you're building that in as a leader to the structure of the community you're building. Mm-hmm.
Sarah Petty (49:04)
Yeah.
Yeah. So I think for people who have a higher ticket coaching program, I think the event is a key component because we can do it without the event, but the event is where they want to get a spot on the stage, whether it's a success panel or a small teach, they want to get recognized at that national level when they get awards. They want that. They want that. They, it's a, it's a group effort, go Boutique Live, you know, our event. And so,
Sarah Fejfar (49:16)
Mm.
Yeah.
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Petty (49:39)
They just are beautiful together. The event and that community, it just, it brings the community together. Sort of like I tell them, you're like the varsity team and we're going out to the junior highs talking to kids about volleyball program, right? They're looking at you, hey guys, like I wanna be like them. And they show up, they go in the enrollment lobby and they tell people you need to do this program. I mean, they just, they are right there rowing with us down the river.
Sarah Fejfar (49:40)
Mm.
Right?
Sarah Petty (50:07)
all of us together in sync, it's beautiful.
Sarah Fejfar (50:09)
I did that in college a little bit. It was fun. Yeah. The Mississippi. Mm hmm. A little cold.
Sarah Petty (50:12)
You rode? Good for you. Oh, nice. Yeah, they liked all athletic girls on the row teams. I have some of my daughter's friends who got into that. Yeah.
Sarah Fejfar (50:25)
on the crew team. Yeah. Oh, that's so cool.
Sarah Petty (50:30)
I thought being the little petite one that sits at the front of the boat and yells at everyone would be a good job for me. But yeah.
Sarah Fejfar (50:32)
The coxswain. Yeah.
I was just on a podcast yesterday and the guest, it came up that I was on the crew team. And he's like, you know, one of my, one of my coaches, my mentors is a coxswain, Pat Flynn. I'm like, Oh, I didn't know that. In the, I went to the university of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Yeah. Then I grew up just north of Milwaukee in Cedarburg, just like cutest downtown ever.
Sarah Petty (50:51)
Where did you row?
Okay?
Sarah Fejfar (51:04)
And then we vacation every summer for a month or two up in Door County, Wisconsin. And since you're a midwesterner, you're probably familiar. Yeah.
Sarah Petty (51:09)
Gotcha. Yep. You're not super far. Yeah. You're not far for me. I'm about five, six hours south of where you were. So that's super.
Sarah Fejfar (51:17)
Yeah, yeah, we, yeah, we would drive through Illinois every summer on our way to visit grandparents in northern Indiana. So I feel like, yeah, we just spent a lot of time in Illinois growing up, too. Yeah, exactly, exactly. One of my mentors, I told you, Brendan Brichard, he jokes.
Sarah Petty (51:30)
Yeah, I mean, road goes right through it, right? From Chicago to St. Louis. Yeah, cuts us right in half.
Sarah Fejfar (51:42)
about his personal development brand, High Performance Academy. And he says there's no building anywhere with sign up front that says High Performance Academy. But you actually have a building with a sign out front that says Photography Binses Institute. And I want to know what did that moment feel like when they put the sign up on that gorgeous building that you and your husband built together?
Sarah Petty (52:04)
It felt pretty amazing because we are actually on Interstate 55 from St. Louis to Chicago. So I'm looking out at the traffic, like 100,000 cars a day go by it. So we didn't ever put the name up when it was Joy of Marketing. We've just rebranded because what does that say? And that's one of the reasons we rebranded. We're a school for photographers. We're a business school.
Sarah Fejfar (52:10)
Okay.
Yeah.
Sarah Petty (52:27)
And we did it digitally first. And so like just seeing the digital version of my sign, because I'm very visual, I needed to see it before I paid for it. Yeah, so my team like put it together and I was like, oh, that feels good. But the day they were out there with the crane and the men and it was chilly and we went out every like hour taking videos and then it got done. We had to drive by, we had to go out and drive by at night. You know, multiple times and it just.
Sarah Fejfar (52:35)
Yeah, me too. Yep.
Sarah Petty (52:57)
It felt really cool. And I went, I remember thinking like, I wish my dad, I know I've visioned that he sees it from heaven, but you know, he was a small business owner and grew his, he was a mechanic. Had one bay of a gap of a little gas station. And when he retired, he sold a brand new state of the art 17 Bay facility. Um, and I think he, he knew the struggles of an entrepreneur. I think he would have really enjoyed seeing that sign go up, but, uh, it felt good. I think so.
Sarah Fejfar (53:09)
Mm-hmm.
I bet he was watching. Yeah. Did you bring your mom over and show her?
Sarah Petty (53:25)
I think so. No, my mom's not that not that much. She's she looks at everything on social media. She's I'm Yeah, yeah, I mean, we send her pictures. She's my best friend. We talk every day. But she's it's so funny because I'm so much like my dad and my mom and my brother are so much alike. Like we play monopoly and my dad and I are like want to win and my mom's like I this blue park place. Do you want it? My brother's like, Oh, sure. You're half boardwalk. I'm like,
Sarah Fejfar (53:33)
She's like, I'm good, I saw it.
Sarah Petty (53:54)
You can't do that. They're like the least competitive entrepreneurial type. So it's just good. It's good that we're all not the same in the world.
Sarah Fejfar (53:59)
Yeah.
Right, right, how boring would that be?
Sarah Petty (54:07)
be so boring or scary if everyone was like me. I get I'm intense. That's okay.
Sarah Fejfar (54:10)
Yeah.
I am too. I am too. Yeah, I work to tone it down in certain areas.
Sarah Petty (54:21)
I know we have to, we have to, because especially when you're an entrepreneur, right? And then you're going into your marriage. And I mean, we do have a masculine energy having been athletes, right? And the boss and everything. And then I have to remind myself, like I don't have to be the boss in the family. Like I can just chill it, bring it down a little bit.
Sarah Fejfar (54:35)
Yeah, right.
That's the conversation my therapist and I were having this week. So let's revisit I statements and tone when you're in your family. I'm like, yes, okay, let's do it. So as we wrap up, I've got one last question for you. So I subscribe to the school of thought that, you know, life, I value lifelong learning so much. And I think that we need to design our own curriculum with intention. And
Sarah Petty (54:50)
Yeah. Ha ha ha.
Sarah Fejfar (55:06)
So before we wrap up here, I'd love to know three parts here. What are you reading right now? Why did you pick that book? And what's one thing you learned so far?
Sarah Petty (55:16)
Oh my gosh, that's a good one. Um, I, you should know my intern did that as for birthday present surprised me, which my love language is not gifts, like acts of service. And that came in, I like was almost crying. I'm like, that is the coolest thing. And then my new employee who was an intern 15 years ago, helped me do the ornaments at Christmas to color code. And I can't take them down. I know it's March, but I like that.
Sarah Fejfar (55:20)
And your books are color-coded. Be still, my heart.
Okay.
Sarah Petty (55:45)
That is the coolest thing ever.
Sarah Fejfar (55:47)
That's interesting that you said that, that acts of service is your love language. It's mine too. But you said that your love language during events is swag, which I actually feel the same. That's interesting that you love gifting in the events space, but service is your love language. Yeah.
Sarah Petty (56:05)
Yeah, isn't that interesting? I think for me, swag is a bit of an act of service because again, it's not just a cool shirt to wear, but it's something that we do together that gets you out of your own way, right? So I feel like it's kind of an act of service, but it's all beautifully designed.
Sarah Fejfar (56:25)
Yeah. Yeah, I love that.
Sarah Petty (56:29)
And we did bracelets with squirrels on them. We did, we always have a money activity. You know, that was kind of our money thing, like switching hands when you have negative money thoughts with the bracelet, because so many people have money blocks. But in acorn, like if you think about that's why squirrels, they plant one little seed, and the whole ecosystem of trees everywhere came from squirrels. Like they're really crediting squirrels for planting all those seeds. Now, granted they planted them,
Sarah Fejfar (56:39)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Mmm.
Sarah Petty (56:58)
lost them. They wanted to up for meals and they los a different issue. But um and tenacious and they hu community. They're a faml they're a smaller animal compete in the wilderness lions, tigers and bears. the squirrel. But back to have books even on my des
Sarah Fejfar (56:59)
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Mmm.
I love it!
Sarah Petty (57:28)
Kitten Potentials is the most recent. Like these I haven't opened yet. I literally just got them. Built to sell, as we're building our team and like looking at how do I build a business that over the next 10 years operates less with me. And then I bought the workbook because I always like to see how people structure workbooks for their training. Your best year ever, Michael Hyatt. Just somebody who's talking about it and I didn't have it. So I was like, I need to have it.
Sarah Fejfar (57:33)
Is that buyback your time?
Oh, OK. Yeah.
Yep. Yeah.
Mm-hmm, yeah. Ah, yeah, good.
Sarah Petty (57:58)
And then this one's Jason Flablin, a webinar book that like I just nibble and chow and it's a tactical book. But Hidden Potential by, I think it's Adam Grant, is the most recent one. And I read it to talk about, someone recommended it. I opened it, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm using this in my event. So I opened my event with this story. He talks about the junior high chess championship back in 1991.
Sarah Fejfar (58:02)
Mmm.
Sarah Petty (58:26)
up in Detroit, Michigan. There was an elite prep school called Dalton who churns out like champions every year. They start them in kindergarten, they take a half a year of chess in first grade, a full year, and then the top kids go into like a training program. So by junior high, there are these elite chess players. Contrast that with a school in Harlem, didn't have a chess program.
Sarah Fejfar (58:28)
Okay.
Sarah Petty (58:52)
This guy, this Jamaican immigrant came in to coach them who just had a love of it. And he had to take a bunch of sixth graders and build a program. And one boy played chess in the park with a drug dealer. Right? And he came in and he built this program and he talked about hidden potential and how the Dalton boys just started at a higher place than these other boys. And yet with the right mentor and the right support.
They won, they were able to get to the finals. I get it, it goes through, it's a whole long thing of their battles and how, you know, but how he held them together, which really, you know, study after study shows that we go further faster with support and with a mentor and with a coach. But every story in that book is fantastic. I mean, there are so many great stories and studies and things. So.
Sarah Fejfar (59:23)
Wow.
Mmm.
Sarah Petty (59:43)
That's really, I mean, I haven't even really finished it because there were so much content. I was like, I have to tell this story. I have to tell this story. But if you're a coach out there, that is an amazing book. I highly recommend it. And I love my rule with books is if someone recommends it, I don't go, I'm gonna add it to my list. I go look at it. If it looks like I'll read it, I buy it. And I have like 15, but you know, some days I just get up and I like consume all of them. I don't go in a linear way. So like, I'd rather have more.
Sarah Fejfar (59:48)
No.
Mmm.
Sarah Petty (1:00:13)
that I haven't read, then be like, ah, I really wish I had a good book. So that's a good book.
Sarah Fejfar (1:00:14)
Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, thank you. I have, I'm going to add that to my list. I haven't read that one. Yeah, I just am finishing the, I have like a couple, one chapter left in 10x is easier than 2x and it's just blowing my mind. I'm loving it so much.
Sarah Petty (1:00:23)
really good.
And you know, that's a great audio book because they do an interview, Dr. Benjamin Hardy interviews, Dan Sullivan at the end of each chapter. So I tend to do that too. I buy, if I like it and I feel like I'll want it when I travel, I'll get the audio version, but that's a really good audio book.
Sarah Fejfar (1:00:42)
Yes!
Yeah, since I'm the chief dog walker in the family, I listen on audible while I'm walking the dog in the morning because I must multitask. And I've really enjoyed those interviews. And I'm so blessed. I joined Amy and Stu McLaren's book, Mastermind, and they had the author Benjamin Hardy on a few weeks ago. And it was like the best zoom of my entire life hearing more stories about that. And I think he said something like.
Sarah Petty (1:01:07)
Nice!
Thank you. Yeah.
Sarah Fejfar (1:01:21)
that book has turned into like 100 new salespeople that they've had to add at Strategic Coach.
Sarah Petty (1:01:33)
That is amazing. He came and spoke at Russell Brunson's Mastermind in Mexico. And we saw him sitting at dinner the first night, because nobody usually would probably recognize him like that. And we're like, hey, do you want to come join us for dinner? He was surprised that we recognized him. But we're all bookies, right? And so he came and joined us. There were like 10 of us. We laughed and got to know him. It's kind of awkward when you feel like.
Sarah Fejfar (1:01:36)
Oh, I'm so deady. Oh.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. We're the nerds.
Ah, yay.
Sarah Petty (1:02:00)
Like, you know their names, you know, he's adopted kids, he's got some kids, and we like know his whole life story. So it's kind of awkward that we know him. He doesn't know any of us, but we had a really nice dinner. He's gonna do more books. He's amazing. His books are the best for sure. So good. You're with me.
Sarah Fejfar (1:02:01)
Yeah.
Yes.
They're so good. Yeah, I think it really does help me open my eyes. There is books that are more well-written than others that just help you get it. So, such a gift.
Sarah Petty (1:02:28)
Yeah, yeah, and his messages, I mean, 10X is easier than 2X if you think about it, right? We grind so hard to make incremental changes when it's like, take a breath, get rid of 80% of the junk that's not moving the dial, do the 20% and the dial moves really fast.
Sarah Fejfar (1:02:43)
Yeah, so, so good. Yeah, and the wanting what you want part just like kind of blew my mind wide open. Sarah, what have you got going on right now that we should know about and where can Linchpin Nation find you?
Sarah Petty (1:02:52)
Yeah.
Yeah, I think our biggest thing now that we're the photography business institute is we're teaching more photography skills for people who have cameras and want to make money but think oh I could never do that but we put them through the filter of what skills do you need to know to go make money now so people I mean I think there are a lot of people out there who would love like you said for your daughter a little side hustle I mean think if you could bring in a couple thousand
Sarah Fejfar (1:03:17)
us.
Yes.
Sarah Petty (1:03:25)
If you're a stay at home mom or whatever, or you have a kiddo who wants to bring in a little extra money with their camera, we've now added that because we realize people, even trained people are missing some certain skills and they're simple and easy and quick to learn and then you can go make money. So phot our newest version of our website just went up this week so you might find some problems, it's okay. I'm Sarah.Petty on Instagram.
Sarah Fejfar (1:03:27)
Mm-hmm.
Yes!
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Petty (1:03:54)
and love to hear from you, even if you had takeaways from today, send me a message, I love hearing from people because we're all in this world together, just trying to make it a better place, I feel like.
Sarah Fejfar (1:04:04)
Oh, that's so beautiful. I, last thing to share with you before we go, I got married, I hired a photographer, they took the pictures, they sent me the website with all the pictures and said, okay, go ahead and pick and we'll make the albums for you. And I have this many photos of our wedding. I have zero.
Sarah Petty (1:04:29)
All zero of them.
Sarah Fejfar (1:04:31)
and I have been married since 2006.
Sarah Petty (1:04:35)
Yeah, we don't serve people.
Sarah Fejfar (1:04:36)
Yeah, that like I so hearing your story of so I'm like anybody who needs a photographer in the central Illinois area should see you too because you'll help people get the stuff on the walls like where it needs to be instead of like not and it's so sad and I will fix it someday but like that process of having to cull through was like actually chest tightening for me and
Sarah Petty (1:04:52)
Yeah.
Yeah, people think, oh, well, you can do it yourself and save money, but you know, we go to restaurants and people cook the meal. We don't go into a nice restaurant and go give me just the raw meat because we'll go home and screw it up, right? Like they have their way and they love to do it. So I feel that this is gonna be the lost generation. And there were no pictures of me as a kid because I was the second and like people just didn't have cameras in their pockets like they do today, but now they're taking the pictures and not printing them.
Sarah Fejfar (1:05:08)
Mm-hmm.
hahahaha mmhmm
Mm.
Mm-hmm. Yes. Oh, so beautiful. Yeah, it hurts me. Sarah, thank you so much for being on today. It's been a joy.
Sarah Petty (1:05:34)
Yes, we can help you with that. We need to find someone to help you because that hurts me. That hurts me.
Sarah, thank you for having me. It's been so fun.
