Sara Sheehan, PCC, is a consultant and Executive Coach who works with C-Level executive leaders in designing organizations, developing business strategies, managing change, optimizing talent and leadership development, and solving complex human performance problems. Through executive coaching, Sara helps leaders sprint their way up the corporate ladder and increase their performance.
During Sara’s 25+ years in business, she has worked with leaders, teams, and organizations in Fortune 100 companies and individuals. Sara specializes in change management, talent and leadership development, executive coaching, and organization design. As a collaborative, results-orientated coach, Sara provides support and practical feedback to help clients effectively navigate change and address business challenges. She also integrates coaching techniques, methods, and approaches to help her clients develop change capabilities and learn to apply them right away. With a servant leadership mindset, she supports her clients in building new skills and customizes frameworks to her client’s project needs. Sara works with clients based on her network, referrals, and appointment.
What is Sara Sheehan Consulting all about?
Sara Sheehan Consulting focuses on executive coaching and change consulting. My Pinnacle Executive coaching program helps busy executives sprint their way up the corporate ladder. Over the course of six months, I work with busy executives to set goals, increase their performance, manage or resolve conflict, build better relationships at work, and create an advisory team so they can be even more successful. An ideal client for the Pinnacle Executive Coaching program is at a senior director level or above in a company that has at least 100 million dollars in revenue annually, all the way up to Fortune 100 companies across any industry.
My consulting business focuses on helping clients through big, complex business transformations from a human capital perspective. I specialize in strategy, organization design, change management, talent development, and optimization. Typical business triggers that reveal the need for a change consultant include mergers and acquisitions that need to be integrated and require strategy and organization design work, a new senior leader on the executive leadership team indicates the need for strategy and leadership alignment, digital transformation creates demand for change management, training, and communications.
The industries where I have the most experience are consumer markets, life sciences, pharma, and medical devices. However, my specialty really can be customized to any industry. At this point in my career, I would love to work with more clients in the mid-market that are growing and scaling their businesses. For both sides of my business, clients with 100 million dollars in revenue, up to 5 billion in revenue, would be my sweet spot for coaching and consulting. I am totally open to working with start-up businesses that are actively scaling for growth as well. I believe that I don’t need to trip over my former consulting firms gunning for projects in big corporations. If I can serve a large company and they would like to do business with me, the door is open.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
I have almost 30 years of experience in management consulting working with the world’s leading firms and fortune 100 clients. My specialty in the people side of business comes very naturally to me at this point. It is a part of who I am. The executive coaching side of my business is a skill set that I started building about 8 years ago. At this point, I am a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation and my goal is to become a Master Certified Coach. I have a tremendous passion for the insights an executive coach can help a busy executive gain. It’s a highly creative process and it is something that can absolutely change someone’s life. You can get insight that will help you truly level up your life and career.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
There are three skills that I think make a huge difference in creating a success trajectory as an entrepreneur: having solution-based or service-based expertise that the market needs, the ability to connect with your ideal client, and the wisdom to know when you need to be the one to deliver or when you should have a support team of experts around you so that you can lead the business.
This creates the foundation for a successful business and separates you as a CEO. When you have the mindset to grow a business and knowing that you may not be the right person to do everything is a very powerful choice to make.
What are your plans for the future, and how do you plan to grow this company?
I would love to attract so many coaching and consulting clients that I need to hire employees or contractors to serve them all. I am not looking to be a solopreneur. I am looking to create something special, for which there is no one role model, and I help create new leaders at every level in every new client relationship.
How have the pandemic and Lockdown affected you or your new business?
Coaching and consulting have been extremely resilient during the pandemic in that the work translates to a hybrid or remote marketplace easily. Over the past two years, we transitioned to Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet to manage both efficient internal and external communications, while also meeting with clients to boost client engagement. Truly, there is no barrier or obstacle to productivity with technology on our side. However, there are days that I would love to be on the phone rather than a video conference, as it is draining when you are on video for nine or ten hours. The opportunity that is now available is offering a blend between in-person meetings as well as online, which has been an experience in itself.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
I lead with authenticity, kindness, and joy in all that I do so that I show up in the world as my unique self. I am at the point in my life where I am not trying to be someone that I am not or fit someone else’s idea of who I should be. With all that being said, I am trying to set myself apart by being me. I am fulfilling my life’s purpose to serve clients with joy, gratitude, and a little grit from navigating so many complex situations.
What were the top three mistakes you made starting your business, and what did you learn from them?
During the startup phase, I have had to experiment with presenting myself in the market as an expert that clients want to engage with directly, aside from the large firms I have worked with in the past. It has taken a little bit of time to find the right people, referral partners, and resources that I would need to build and grow my business, but it’s all a part of the journey of starting a business.
Tell us a little bit about your marketing process, what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
A big part of marketing for me is having as many conversations as possible with ideal clients or people I know that can refer me to ideal clients. I have a social media presence on LinkedIn and a website that sets the tone for my goals in serving clients, supports legitimacy, and increases my reach.
In order to level up my business and amplify my message, I have engaged a publicist, and I wish I could have done this more than 6 months ago. I think the combination of having conversations with the right people, the website, and LinkedIn presence, while also having a publicist to create more touching points with the right people, will really help me attract the right clients.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
My biggest challenges have been getting my message out, becoming visible, and attracting the right clients. It’s taken time, effort, and getting the right support team around me, but they are all progressing efficiently and effectively with one another to push the business forward.
What was your first business idea and what did you do with it?
As a very young child, I could foresee the impact technology was going to have on our lives and I drew out a laptop computer before it existed in detail and sent it to IBM. I was far too young to do anything substantial in describing how this kind of portable technology on the go would transform our lives, but I definitely got the point across. I wish I still had a copy of that letter and picture to share as part of my story and message!
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
I am learning how to use every conversation brought my way as a way to create a positive connection. It’s important to create a dialogue with others to gain an understanding of what they do professionally, how they are looking to be supported, and what that type of support looks like, to better understand if they are an ideal client or if they could be a good referral partner. Sharing more about what I do with people, and understanding the type of support others are looking for, is a great way to build a referral network and thrive within social circles that are passionate about supporting one another.
If you started your business again, what things would you do differently?
I would have engaged a few of my current supporting vendors earlier, and I would get a virtual assistant that’s offshore creating more hours in a day.
What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
The top three online tools and resources that I am currently using to grow my business are Google Workspace, Slack, QBO, and Quickbooks Online. All three tools make work easy, support me in what I am doing, streamline all of my efforts, and keep me focused on what’s most important.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
I schedule as much of my calendar as possible, scope out the top priorities for the day, and I still have room to improve. This is something I work at every day.
Can you recommend one book, one podcast, and one online course for entrepreneurs?
- Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller: I believe the Story Brand is absolutely essential for entrepreneurs to incorporate as they build their business.
- Online Marketing Made Easy by Amy Porterfield: This is filled with great advice, marketing strategies, plus mindset guidance as you market and grow your business.
- Go-live without losing the plot: This is a very practical course that helps you deliver a message on camera live (think LinkedIn, Facebook, or YouTube Live) without losing your mind! The course was created by a former BBC correspondent.
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
If I had $1000 dollars to start a new business or start over, I would secure an offshore virtual assistant and meeting scheduler to focus solely on scheduling time with as many ideal clients as possible. Having an offshore virtual assistant and meeting scheduler would allow me to have more productive hours in a day without doing all of the work while allowing me to engage more potential ideal clients in conversations. It’s an opportunity to increase my impact and productivity in a leveraged way.
What helps you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business?
I am driven and motivated naturally. I can press on through ambiguity to complete things that I may not have 100 percent clarity on when I started. It may not be a completely linear process, but it works for me.
What is your favorite quote?
I have so many favorite quotes! Here’s one that is on my mind and heart right now:
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
– Jack Welch
What valuable advice would you give new entrepreneurs starting out?
For new entrepreneurs starting out, I would advise them to get several compelling mentors that can serve on a board of advisors to help them. To set yourself apart as an entrepreneur in the early stages, it’s important to have relevant industry experts, as well as professionals, that have worked with you in the past on the board that can further support your initiatives.
Who should we interview next and why?
You should speak with Gretta Brooks, Founder, and CEO of Salesboost, for an upcoming interview. It’s one of the most advanced skill-based learning platforms I have seen. She’s going to be incredibly successful. She started out focusing on hospitality, but the solution fits many industries.
What is your definition of success?
My definition of success is being able to achieve my purpose and do my genius work with joy and ease!
How do you personally overcome fear?
To personally overcome fear, I meditate regularly and I have a strong spiritual foundation as well. I use exercise to work through stress or fear responses while practicing gratitude by journaling and verbally speaking thanks and praise over others. Finally, I make sure to connect with friends that are like-minded to stay grounded and inspired by the connection that I make with others.
How can readers get in touch with you?
To connect with me, you can visit my website at www.sarawsheehan.com as well as send me a connection request on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/Sara-Sheehan. I look forward to connecting with the readers!
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