SARA PRESS [00:00:00]:

If you could just think a little bit bigger and put yourself out there a little bit more, that could potentially change your entire career path. It can completely transform your life.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:00:08]:

For Sara Press, this mindset helped her land her first TV job in Los Angeles, work on the TV show Celebrity Apprentice in New York, make it through multiple rounds of Shark Tank casting, build a thriving business, and now launch her own media company. Sara is the founder and CEO of Press Edit and the host of the Nothing Small About Business podcast.

SARA PRESS [00:00:24]:

And it’s like, if I would have sat there that day and thought small and thought I had to stay in this one specific area, I think so many times that we hold ourselves back for reasons that probably don’t even exist. And the most successful business owners that I’ve spoken to were not successful on their first try.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:00:44]:

Through Press Edit, Sara helps medical and professional practices create branded podcast miniseries so they can build authority, connect with their audience, and share deeper stories without the pressure of having to run a full podcast. So, if you’re a creator, an entrepreneur, a coach, or a service provider who wants to be seen as the real expert that you are, this episode is for you.

SARA PRESS [00:01:04]:

So, start thinking about what the root is for what’s holding you back and keeping you small. Go several layers down to see what the root is, because all of this lives inside our own heads. The only thing holding us back is ourselves.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:01:15]:

Welcome to The Creator’s Adventure, where we interview creators from around the world to hear their stories about growing a business. Hey everyone, I’m Bryan McAnulty, the founder of Heights Platform. Let’s get into it.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:01:31]:

Hey Sara, welcome to the show.

SARA PRESS [00:01:33]:

Thanks so much, Bryan. I’m excited to be here.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:01:35]:

Yeah, I’m excited to talk with you today. My first question is, what would you say is the biggest thing either you did or you are doing that has helped you achieve the freedom to do what you enjoy?

SARA PRESS [00:01:45]:

That’s a really good question. I would have to say there are probably two things: building awareness—and I’ll dive into that in a second—and education.

First of all, I would say building awareness around the skills that I’m good at, the skills that I’m not good at, what brings me energy, what drags me down, and the conversations I want to have. Building that awareness takes a lot of work, and it’s something I have to do on a daily basis.

That has been huge for me in understanding which lanes I’ll excel in faster than others and building awareness around what truly brings me joy and what I want to be doing. You’re going to notice much better and different results if you can stay in that lane versus constantly fighting an uphill battle at something that doesn’t bring you energy, joy, or ease. I’d say awareness is a huge piece.

Going off of that, I think education is important. I’ve put a really strong emphasis on education over the last couple of years. I do that through reading business books every day, having conversations on the podcast, and learning from people who have done it before me.

I listen to podcasts every day on different topics that I want to educate myself on. Once you can continue to learn from other people who have done it, or take ideas from people and start applying them to your own life, that also helps build the awareness piece. I find that the trajectory changes completely and it opens up so many more doors once you can build that into your life organically every single day.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:03:29]:

Yep. I think that’s a great answer, and I agree with both of those things being important. On the awareness part, I can think of times myself where I always try to focus on the things that I enjoy. My goal is not making money or something else—just being able to do what I enjoy.

You would think that I’m naturally going to lean into only the things that are really my strength and what I enjoy the most. But I’ve caught myself before realizing that there’s something I know I enjoy and I know I’m relatively good at, but I’m not spending the time that I should on it.

It’s like, well, yeah, I want to spend more time on it, but you should spend more time on it because that is the thing where you can beat everybody. I think there are people out there who might have some level of awareness but can challenge themselves to go to the next level and think about what is that thing that you know you’re good at?

What is that thing that you know you enjoy doing, but you actually aren’t spending as much time on because you see everybody else telling you, “Do this thing, too,” or, “You have to also focus on this thing”?

You’re leaving out the way that you can beat everybody because no one else is saying, “Hey, focus on the thing that you’re really good at.” They’re not good at that thing. I think there’s so much value in getting down to the root of what you’re good at.

You can apply that in different businesses. It doesn’t necessarily have to remain within one channel. For example, I built up a good real estate career for a while, and I felt like I was an accidental success. I thought, “This is working, but I’m not following the exact rules for how I should be marketing my business.”

I put a lot of thought into it and asked myself why I was successful at it. It was because of the way I handled the transaction and the conversations and communication I had with my clients. Once I realized that communication was my superpower, I thought, “That doesn’t necessarily mean I have to funnel it through real estate because that was the modality at the time.”

I could hone in on the fact that if conversations, going to a deeper level, understanding people in a different way, or getting people to open up, be vulnerable, and share stories is my superpower, I can channel that into podcasting or different marketing areas. It doesn’t have to remain in one spot once you know what that root is for you.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:06:04]:

Yeah. You describe yourself as somebody who is big on not thinking small. Where did that come from for you?

SARA PRESS [00:06:13]:

I could tell you so many different stories of where I started seeing this as a common theme in my life. One of my favorite stories is that I was a sophomore in college and home for the holidays. I really wanted to work in TV production, and I was going to school for that.

During Christmas break, I wrote a bunch of letters to different production companies in Chicago because that’s where I lived. I said, “I would love to intern for you this summer.” At the time, I also loved Matt Damon and Ben Affleck because they had Project Greenlight. I loved the projects they were doing and thought it was a really cool space they were creating. I thought, “Why not try to work for them?”

I sent all these letters to companies in Chicago, and I sent one résumé package to their production company in California. The only people who called me back were Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company—not any of the companies in Chicago.

Taking that risk and thinking bigger landed me an internship in Los Angeles that turned into a full-time job, and that’s what launched my career in TV. If I had sat there that day and thought small, thinking I had to stay in one specific area, or told myself there was no way somebody at that big production company would open my envelope, the butterfly effect would have been enormous.

Everything in my life would have been completely different. There are so many times when I think people get stuck because of fears of staying small. If you could just think a little bit bigger, put yourself out there a little more, or reach out to that person, it could potentially change your entire career path. It opens up so many more doors than staying in one small mindset. It can completely transform your life.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:08:02]:

Yeah. Other than fear, where do you see business owners accidentally making themselves look smaller than they are?

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:08:10]:

Real quick, Bryan here. You know me as the host of this podcast, but what you might not know is that I’m also the founder of Heights Platform. It’s an all-in-one platform that more than 10,000 creators have used to build their online courses, communities, and digital product businesses.

We recently added some awesome updates to Heights AI to help you turn your idea into a viable business. Heights AI can build entire product offers, review your content, and even coach you on how to grow. You can try it free for 30 days. The link is in the description. Now, back to the podcast.

SARA PRESS [00:08:39]:

That’s a great question. I do think a lot of it roots in fear, and there are different types of fear. Fear of rejection is huge, as is fear of not being accepted. People get really worried about putting themselves out there or sharing their accomplishments, so they play smaller to make the people around them feel more comfortable.

This just happened to me the other day with my podcast. It’s a newer podcast, and I got an alert that I was in the top 10% globally of podcasts. I ended up putting it on my Instagram story. One of my really good friends said, “Why don’t you do this as a whole post? This is amazing.” I said, “I don’t know. I didn’t want to put that out there as something that was going to live longer than 24 hours.”

Immediately, I started telling myself, “This is only because most people drop off after eight episodes. This is only because I’ve been consistent for going on 30 weeks.” You start telling yourself a narrative to bring yourself down a little bit instead of doing the opposite: “That’s actually really awesome. I should celebrate that. Thank you for pointing that out.”

I think so many times we hold ourselves back for reasons that probably don’t even exist. We worry about how other people may perceive us. We worry about not being successful, having an idea of what success looks like, falling short, and what that would do to our ego.

For a lot of people, it’s just about getting rid of that ego piece. The most successful business owners I’ve spoken to were not successful on their first try or their 10th try. They talk about how they went through so many different versions of themselves or their business before they found success.

It’s not something that happens overnight. You do have to try a million different things, myself included, before you find the thing that really sticks and fits you on a complete energetic level. A lot of it is putting your ego aside, knowing that the fears are there, but zooming out and seeing it from a different lens instead of living in it every single day.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:10:47]:

Yeah, that’s great advice. Let’s say somebody is starting something new. How do they know the difference between trying to be realistic and thinking too small?

SARA PRESS [00:11:00]:

One thing I see people do, and that we talk about a lot, is waiting until everything is perfect to have a really big launch. I approach things in phases.

Just get started. Do something every single day to build on it, and you’re going to notice that you’re much more comfortable as you build every day. If you try to say, “I’m going to launch this company in six months, and this is everything I have to do beforehand,” you’re missing out on all the momentum you could have built by putting it out there on day one.

For a podcast, for example, when I released mine, I knew my video wasn’t going to be perfect when I had in-studio guests. I knew my graphics weren’t as good as they would eventually be. That being said, you should always continue to grow and evolve. If you’re worried about it being perfect on day one, six months later you should be changing it and getting better every time.

People tend to hold themselves back because they worry they don’t have enough to offer yet, when they’re probably 10 paces ahead of where they think they are. They might have much more knowledge than they realize.

I see that with some podcast guests. I have a lot of people who pitch to be on the show, but I’ve also reached out to people who say, “I don’t know what I would say on a podcast. That makes me so nervous.” I say, “We have amazing conversations when the camera isn’t rolling. These are the conversations I would love to capture.”

People get inside their heads and worry about the end result being perfect. Sometimes the best content is the messy stuff that happens in between as you’re learning and growing. That’s the most relatable part.

Some of the best Instagram Reels and things I’ve done have shown the mistakes I’ve made in podcasting. I have a video-production background and worked in reality TV. I started this podcast and recorded many episodes with the echo button on my mixer because I didn’t realize it was on. I share that stuff because it’s funny and relatable.

You don’t have to have everything figured out to get started, but you do need to do something every day, learn from it, grow, and constantly ask what you can do better.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:13:29]:

Yeah, I completely agree. If you wait until everything is perfect—which it will never be—you’re stopping yourself from ever getting there, even close to it, because you don’t get the feedback and experience of actually doing the thing.

I’ve always tried to challenge myself to put something out there earlier, even though I know it isn’t quite ready. Earlier in my business, I worked with web-design clients, and they always wanted to wait until the site was exactly ready before putting it on the internet.

We would try to tell customers that they probably wanted to get it up a little bit ahead of time because we wanted it to get indexed in Google. Then, when they actually launched, people could already find the site the right way. But people were always nervous.

My thinking was that if somebody happened to end up on the site before it was ready and had a bad experience—something was clearly broken—if their experience was so bad that they had to tell you your site was broken, you just got feedback about something somebody noticed and cared enough to tell you about so you could improve it.

SARA PRESS [00:14:49]:

Yes. So true.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:14:50]:

Even bad feedback is so much better than not having anything out there at all.

SARA PRESS [00:14:56]:

Right. This reminds me of a conversation I just had. A guy named Alex came on the podcast, and he’s starting a spice company. He said, “I’m launching in July to friends and family because I know things are going to go wrong, but I have to do it and put myself out there. I need to know how long it takes me to put orders together, and I need to know how my website is going to work.”

If you wait until you think everything is perfect, you’re never going to get started.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:15:22]:

Yep. Today, your company creates podcast miniseries for professionals who want long-form content without the pressure of running a full podcast. What made you think this thing needed to exist?

SARA PRESS [00:15:37]:

This is something I’m so excited about and can talk about all day long. Before starting my own podcast, I was helping two local therapists with their podcast. They had started it and stopped it, so I approached them and said, “Your podcast was so good. Why did you stop after eight episodes?”

They said it was too much work. They own a practice, so their podcast isn’t necessarily what feeds their business. It might be one small marketing channel, but they have several locations and a lot of therapists. They’re very busy. Their practice is the main part of their business.

We did some episodes, and it was great. Fast-forward to when I started my podcast. My husband and I own an optometry practice, and doing social-media content with the doctors can be really difficult because of the way their brains work for the most part. I don’t want to generalize, but they’re worried about providing the best care for their patients. They don’t necessarily want to do a silly dancing video just to put something on Instagram.

Their value comes from their education and what they can do. While doing the marketing for our practice, I thought it would make my job so much easier if I had long-form content for the doctors. We could film it in one day, and I wouldn’t have to keep bothering them every week for content.

Now I can take one episode and use it in so many ways. Our podcast for Parker Vision is three episodes total, with each doctor having an episode about their specialty care. I have 25 minutes of content that we can cut into short-form clips and use throughout the entire year. They’re educational, informative, and provide value for listeners while linking back to the full episode.

We’re also putting the episodes in newsletters and sending them to referral doctors. There’s so much we can use from that one day of filming.

What was really cool was that the day after we published those three episodes for the practice, a patient called to cancel an appointment because they thought the specialty care they needed had to be provided by an ophthalmologist, not an optometrist. Our receptionist was able to say, “Actually, one of our doctors specializes in that. Here’s a 25-minute episode of them explaining the knowledge behind it, their patient-care process, and the different options you can use as a patient.”

That one patient interaction made the entire podcast worthwhile. Getting long-form content and being able to clip it in many different ways to provide value for patients or referral doctors is huge.

I find that professionals who don’t want to create content constantly have a great option in this. It makes them feel comfortable and confident sharing their knowledge without having as much nervousness about being on camera, speaking constantly, or coming up with different content.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:18:53]:

Yeah, it’s a good point. So many businesses focus on short-form content, and I would personally agree that short-form is harder to create for a lot of reasons than long-form content. Are there other reasons you would say long-form content can do something short-form can’t?

SARA PRESS [00:19:12]:

The biggest one is the trust factor and the humanization it provides. In different businesses, when you have many options or you’re trying to figure out which doctor will provide the best care for what you’re looking for, if you can hear their specific voice and tone, how they carry themselves, what their values are, and learn more about them in a 25-minute or 45-minute episode, that’s going to go much farther than somebody going on Google and seeing your photo and a short bio that basically looks exactly like everyone else’s.

You’re picking out of a bucket. But if somebody can hear or see you and know how you speak, know that you understand what you’re talking about, and see that you’re relatable, you’re going to have a much better experience—whether it’s in the exam room or hiring someone for marketing. You feel like you get to know the person on a different level than just a very basic, surface-level interaction.

Here’s my photo, this is what I do, and these are the services I offer. That’s why I think long-form content is huge. If you can get somebody to listen to what you’re saying for more than 30 seconds, that is such a huge rate of conversion as opposed to quick little TikToks where you think, “That was funny,” and then move on.

If you can hear somebody talk on a podcast and really resonate with what they’re saying, you’re going to build a much stronger relationship with that person in the long term.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:20:43]:

Yep. I completely agree. It’s not the number of views you get, but the time spent with your audience that matters.

It feels like such a low-hanging fruit for somebody running a private practice or that kind of business. It’s one thing to say, “We’re in the entrepreneur space, and everyone says we should make a podcast.” But for a small business where none of your competitors give potential customers a way to learn what it’s like to work with them, it seems almost obvious.

SARA PRESS [00:21:18]:

It really does. Podcasts have been around for a while, but they’re definitely having their moment right now, and I think they’re going to continue to do so.

People look at it and say, “I don’t have time to add a podcast every week or every other week. I’m running my business, and we’re super busy.” I want to flip that thinking. It doesn’t need to be something you do every week unless the podcast is your foundation.

For my podcast, Nothing Small About Business, I do need to publish every week because that’s how I’m going to build and grow that podcast. But small businesses can think of these projects as Netflix miniseries. They can do one-off series here and there because they aren’t worried about building a specific podcast platform. It’s more about taking the content, breaking it up, and using it throughout the year.

A lot of it is evergreen information that you’ll be able to use over and over again in many different situations. It’s important not to look at it as something you have to add to your schedule every week. Think of it as, “I’m going to film this once, and it’s going to live as three to six episodes total. That’s all I’m committing to do. Let’s see how it goes and whether it provides the value we think it will.”

If it does, great. Maybe next year you add a couple more episodes if you’re bringing in different products. For different types of businesses or practices, there’s often an education piece. If you can provide that education by speaking to somebody on a podcast for 20 minutes, it will resonate with people on a completely different level than a flyer in their mailbox.

The amount of effort businesses need to put into podcasting can look very different from the traditional way podcasts are done.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:23:16]:

Definitely. For people who haven’t done a podcast—or even people who have started one—a lot of times, especially in a service-based business, they tell themselves, “I don’t have stories to tell.” What kinds of stories do you feel entrepreneurs and business owners have that they might not realize are worth telling?

SARA PRESS [00:23:51]:

I think it’s much more important to share a story as opposed to telling people what to do. For example, if I tell people that I think it’s important to find mentors in the space they’re in, that will only go so far. But I could share a true story.

Years ago, I had a purse company, and I really wanted to go on Shark Tank. That was my goal. I reached out to T. Drew Mitchell, who has a company called Rent Like a Champion and had been on Shark Tank. I found out he was from a city about 30 minutes away from me, so I reached out and said, “My dream is to go on Shark Tank. I’m going to the open casting call in a couple of weeks. Would you be able to meet me for coffee? I would love to pick your brain about how you got on the show.”

He immediately said, “Yes, of course. I would love to.” People love sharing their experiences, and they love helping people. It just takes you taking the first step and asking them.

We met for coffee, and he shared all his knowledge about how he got through each stage of the interview and what he thought the producers were looking for. We gained so much value from that.

Relating that back to my point, if I simply tell you that mentorship is important, that lands in one place. If I share an actual story that happened to me about mentorship, it lands at a much higher level. You understand it more deeply and say, “I get that now. I understand how I can apply this in my life.”

Sharing stories about how you got to where you are is really helpful for audience members.

I’m also starting to see the same business owners go on a lot of different podcasts with their shtick down too well. It sounds so rehearsed that I think, “You could probably tell that story in your sleep, and now I can feel that from you.” It feels like a performance, not a genuine conversation.

When you’re sharing your story, don’t read it from a script. Have different experiences from your own life that you can use to share your stories. Don’t always repeat the same thing, because people pick up on energy. It comes across completely differently when you’re having a genuine connection and conversation with someone instead of saying, “I rehearsed all night for these questions, and this is exactly how I’m going to answer.”

Then you sound like a robot and you’re performing. From an authenticity standpoint, the audience will feel that you’re performing for them or reading from a script. Even if they don’t realize it consciously, they realize it subconsciously.

Lean on your personal experiences to share genuine stories about ways you found success or whatever message you’re trying to communicate. Also, be open and vulnerable when you share your story. Those are probably my two biggest tips based on what I see most often when I’m interviewing people.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:27:00]:

I think that’s great advice. It helps people who are listening understand the concept and relate to it better. It helps them connect with you and feel that you’re more authentic, but it also makes what you say more shareable.

No one is going to go to a friend and say, “Somebody told me that you should find mentors.” But they can say, “I was listening to Sara, and she told me the story about trying to get on Shark Tank. She did this, and now…” Then they have something they can spread and talk to other people about, including you.

SARA PRESS [00:27:40]:

Exactly. We’re all human, and we live and operate in this world by understanding shared experiences. I love thinking about how people share their stories on different podcasts.

People don’t necessarily care about that specific person. They want to know, “What value can I get out of this? How does this relate to me? How can I apply this in my life, or how can I look at something differently?” That comes across when somebody shares their story in the most authentic way they can.

I can almost spot it right away when somebody is robotic and says, “Let me tell you about a time.” I think, “You’ve probably told this story a thousand times. Tell me something you did last week that was in the same realm.” Keep it interesting.

If people are going to continue to go on podcasts to share their stories, which is important, I think they should approach every conversation or podcast with a completely open mind. Don’t go in thinking, “I could do this in my sleep. Here’s my messaging.” Have a back-and-forth conversation.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:28:49]:

Yeah, I completely agree. As a podcast host, you can tell when someone is thinking, “Here we go. They’re saying all these things.” You try to help them because it’s not only going to make the conversation more enjoyable for you and the guest; it’s also what will help the guest in the long run when people are paying attention to the episode.

SARA PRESS [00:29:18]:

Yeah. I think what tends to happen is that if you go in knowing all the questions, you’re operating in a different part of your brain. You’re almost rehearsed, and that’s not how we have normal conversations.

Some of the best podcasts are conversations that go off into tangents and different areas where you think, “Wow, that was really interesting.” I’ve had conversations with people on my show where we get to a place and say, “How did we even get there?” It’s because it’s not a rehearsed, step-by-step situation. It’s two people having a conversation that happens to be recorded, and now people get an inside scoop and become a fly on the wall for a conversation they might not have been able to hear otherwise.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:30:05]:

Exactly. It’s one thing I think I’m doing right with this podcast. I have questions here, but I didn’t come up with them. A producer on my team helped me research them.

My actual practice is that 10 minutes before the episode, I sit down and figure out who I’m talking to and what we’re talking about. That way, I get to know you right here instead of feeling like I already know exactly who this person is and having everything feel preplanned and rehearsed.

SARA PRESS [00:30:42]:

Yeah, it provides a very different result.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:30:45]:

Definitely. Now I want to get into a quick lightning round. I’m looking for a 10-second answer or a quick take on each question.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:30:50]:

Awesome. All right, let’s hear it.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:30:58]:

What is a small-thinking habit that keeps business owners invisible?

SARA PRESS [00:31:05]:

I think people have a limit on where they think their success can be. If they take that limit and double it—if they really shoot for something bigger—it’s incredible how easy that can be.

Whether it’s having a specific guest on your show or getting a certain promotion, you have to ask for it. If you don’t ask for it, it’s not going to happen. Whatever you’re thinking, double it and start there as your baseline.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:31:34]:

That sounds great. Why do you think so many smart business owners are afraid to tell bigger stories?

SARA PRESS [00:31:41]:

I think it comes down to the awareness piece. They don’t think they have bigger stories, and they don’t understand what their story is. They haven’t taken the time to understand themselves, build that awareness, and understand the value they can provide to people.

Sometimes people get stuck thinking, “Everyone knows this. Everyone knows how to do this.” I’m like, “No, they don’t. That’s your specialty. That’s not the norm for most people. They don’t know that.” They need to be told that over and over again.

When you’re immersed in something, zoom out and ask, “What value can I bring here that I think is so normal that other people might not think that way?”

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:32:25]:

What’s your hottest take on short-form content right now?

SARA PRESS [00:32:30]:

I don’t love short-form content because, first of all, coming up with something creative every single day can be tough. I think building short-form content from long-form content is a much easier route and provides more value.

I see a lot of people creating videos that have no reason behind them. They might be funny or cool, but you just scroll to the next one. You’re not actually following that person or investing in them or their business.

The smartest people can blend the two. Their short-form content can relate to their long-form content and convert people into customers or patients. My long-form content is my podcast, but my short-form content might be a video of me saying, “These are the top three things I’ve learned from the last 30 episodes.” I’m pulling from my long-form content instead of asking, “What silly video can I post today?”

Sometimes that stuff is fun if you want to be creative, but unless there’s a longer strategy involved, you can waste so much time trying to go viral for no reason. There’s nothing on the back end that it brings people to.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:33:51]:

Even if that kind of post goes viral, it generally won’t reach the audience that’s going to buy something from you. You end up with all these views, but what was it for? Nobody joined your email list, and nobody bought your product.

SARA PRESS [00:34:08]:

I had a video go viral of my grandmother and me dancing to a trend. It was a super-fun video and easy to record. I’m glad I did it, and it went viral, but it brought in followers who probably went to my page and thought, “Wait, she has a business podcast? I just watched her dance with her grandmother.”

Sometimes it’s important to sprinkle in your personality and not be so strict about only talking about business on Instagram. I do share things here and there because that humanization and personality piece matters. But a lot of it can be a waste of time if there’s no strategy behind it.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:34:51]:

One more quick one. What is one thing business owners should stop saying in their content?

SARA PRESS [00:34:59]:

That’s a good one. What should they stop saying?

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:35:06]:

You’re stumping me on that one. The first thing that comes to mind is that they should stop saying things like, “Hey, buy my thing.” Maybe that’s why you didn’t think of an answer, because you would never do that.

SARA PRESS [00:35:22]:

I would never do that, right? I think telling people what to do is a good one. Whether it’s “Buy my thing,” “Follow me,” “Do this,” or “Do that,” I think it’s better to create a community of collaboration instead of always being the authority figure and pretending you know everything and telling people what they need to do.

You sparked something in me. There’s one creator who comes to mind. She’s doing the Yap Challenge, and I don’t know if you’ve heard of her. She’s having an incredible launch, and a lot of it is because she’s so relatable and vulnerable. She doesn’t say she has all the answers. She says, “This is how I’ve done it. These are the things I’ve learned, what worked, and what didn’t work.” She’s much more about collaboration and community.

I think that’s where people are winning the most right now. Years ago, people were more likely to say, “I’m the authority figure, and I’m going to shove all this information down your throat.” I think that’s shifting a little bit.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:36:35]:

Yeah, I agree. On this show, I like to have every guest ask a question of our audience. If you could ask our audience anything—whether it’s something you’re curious about or something you want to get everybody thinking about—what would that be?

SARA PRESS [00:36:42]:

I would tell people to start thinking about what the root is of what’s holding them back and keeping them small. It’s usually not the first thing you think of. You have to go about five layers deep.

Once you uncover the first thing—“Why am I uncomfortable posting about a success I’ve had?”—maybe the answer is, “I don’t want people to think this or that.” But what is beyond that? What is beyond that? Go several layers down to see what the root is, because all of this lives inside our own heads.

Once we can get out of our own way and open up the doors, it sounds cliché, but the sky really is the limit because the only thing holding us back is ourselves. We don’t know what those barriers are until we figure out what the root is.

When the pattern comes up, we can say, “Wait a minute. I know this is a pattern I have. I know I talk myself out of this. That’s funny, but we’re not going to engage in it anymore. We’re going to stick with the plan over here.” Figure out what your patterns are and what root is holding you back.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:37:45]:

Yeah, great question. Sara, I know you have a podcast, and I’m going to be on it later today. So, anyone watching or listening to this should definitely go check that out. Where else can people find you online?

SARA PRESS [00:37:53]:

My favorite hangout is Instagram. My handle is @withsarapress—no H in Sara. I’m trying to be a little more active on LinkedIn, and I love connecting with people there. I’m just getting my feet wet, so I’d love to connect on LinkedIn.

My website is launching in the next day or so, and that’s press-edit.com.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:38:18]:

All right, great. Thanks so much, Sara.

SARA PRESS [00:38:18]:

Awesome. Thank you, Bryan.

BRYAN MCANULTY [00:38:22]:

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