100 episodes

It's not the things that happen in your life that define you, that create your identity. It's how you talk about those things.

That’s the theme behind this podcast. Research shows that the stories you tell have a major influence in how you see yourself and in how others perceive you, so it’s important to be intentional about which stories you share and how you share them.

Guests on the podcast share the pivotal moments in their lives and careers, offering keen insights and “ah ha” moments to listeners, while triggering related memories of listeners, opening up opportunities to uncover their own patterns and discover better ways to share their stories.

During this podcast, I’m asking you to listen to consider your related stories, and to listen to consider which stories in your life might have impacted you in a similar way.
---
Sarah works with executives who know that story sharing makes them more compelling as speakers and leaders, and who want to improve how they connect with audiences, by uncovering the right stories and learning how to share them effectively so they can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision.

Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will Sarah Elkins

    • Society & Culture

It's not the things that happen in your life that define you, that create your identity. It's how you talk about those things.

That’s the theme behind this podcast. Research shows that the stories you tell have a major influence in how you see yourself and in how others perceive you, so it’s important to be intentional about which stories you share and how you share them.

Guests on the podcast share the pivotal moments in their lives and careers, offering keen insights and “ah ha” moments to listeners, while triggering related memories of listeners, opening up opportunities to uncover their own patterns and discover better ways to share their stories.

During this podcast, I’m asking you to listen to consider your related stories, and to listen to consider which stories in your life might have impacted you in a similar way.
---
Sarah works with executives who know that story sharing makes them more compelling as speakers and leaders, and who want to improve how they connect with audiences, by uncovering the right stories and learning how to share them effectively so they can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision.

    324 Facets of Value

    324 Facets of Value

    324 Facets of Value
     
    Valuing every facet of where you work, especially if you work with other people, is vital to the survival and prosperity of any company. From treating your customers with integrity and respect, to rewarding the hard work and dedication of loyal and valuable employees, in order to thrive in the world as a business you must value every facet of that business.
    In this episode Sarah Elkins and Blake Hutchison discuss the importance of appreciating the skills and abilities of everyone in a company, while also giving the absolute best to customers and the public.
     
    Highlights
    How are others receiving your story? Why are you sharing particular stories?
    Discovering your identity and learning new experiences through travel.
    You learn a lot about individuals through time observing their behaviors and attributes.
    You never know how helpful, loyal, and incredibly valuable an individual can be unless you give them a chance.
    You never know how many opportunities you can have if you show care for your job and how you present yourself.
    The first interaction a customer should have with your company should be with someone who cares.



    Quotes
    “You change as a person when you go and you travel.”
    “You develop an empathy for customers because you are so close to them through the retail and hospitality context.”
    “It was a function of, first I’ll think about how much time I’ve put in versus what that customer needs from me right now. And that little bit of extra care and empathy ends up giving you a bit more willingness and want to help a customer too, and that can be missing sometimes but when it’s there it’s really powerful.”
    “I think the difference is related to whether you put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, or you only ever walk in your own. Walking in your own creates for a very narrow minded approach to doing work or living a fulfilled life, and walking in other people’s shoes gives you agility and flexibility and understanding and ultimately gives you empathy. And so part of it is do you work for yourself, do you work for the team, do you work for the company, or do you work for the customer?”



    Dear Listeners it is now your turn,
    What did you take from this conversation? Was it something about wanting to travel, do you have the travel bug again? Was it something about a new business or an idea you have that maybe you need to make that next step because thinking about it isn’t going to start it. And who are you going to surround yourself with, because if you are a thinker and not necessarily a doer, you need some doers in your circle.
    And, as always, thank you for listening. 
     
    About Blake
    BLAKE HUTCHISON - CEO OF FLIPPA
    Blake Hutchison is the CEO of Flippa, the world's largest marketplace to buy & sell online businesses. Blake leads the team as they build out a product empowering exit and ownership for business owners and entrepreneurs globally. Prior to running Flippa, Blake held leadership roles across multiple fast-growth tech businesses across E-commerce and SaaS.
    Be sure to check out Blake’s LinkedIn as well as Flippa, Flippa’s Referral Program, and Flippa’s Online Business Valuation! 



    About Sarah
    "Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."
    In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.
    My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to

    • 52 min
    323 Authentic Connections

    323 Authentic Connections

    323 Authentic Connections
     
    Authentic connections can be difficult to find, whether it be from not being taught the skills to form these connections or simply losing touch with former acquaintances, it can be difficult but not impossible and with the proper tools and a heartfelt message, authentic connections can be found anywhere. 
    In today’s episode Sarah Elkins and Amy Daughters discuss the importance of authentic connections and how having meaningful conversations with individuals can lead to long term relationships.
     
    Highlights
    You’ll never know how profound a connection can be unless you reach out.
    It only takes a thoughtful act to change not just the person receiving, but the person giving.
    In the age of social media it’s more important than ever to treat people like individuals with their own stories and burdens they carry.
    Act with love in your heart, and encourage others to do the same. 
     
    Quotes
    “It’s generally accepted that if you write me and tell me that you care about me and value me, that I’m the one that walks away the person most changed. But the reality, and I learned this 580 times, You’re the person who’s the most changed. The person who is releasing that thank you, that congratulations. Because I went from saying “What am I going to even say in these letters?” to once I looked at their profile and once I realized who they were to me, all of a sudden I had so much stuff to say; Thank you, I’m sorry, Congratulations, I support you. And I started to see all these things that were going on in people’s lives that I couldn’t see in the news feed that I had to treat people one person at a time.”
    “The handwriting is somebody’s personality but it’s also the physical manifestation of how somebody feels about you and how it made you feel.” 
    “I think what we try do is we try to put everyone else in our own little box, you know whatever it is that you feel like you’re inspired to do. I was inspired to do that, but everyone is inspired to do something, they have a moment in their heart where they’re like, “Oh that’s what I want to do.” We got to encourage each other to do that.”
     
    Dear Listeners it is now your turn,
    Remember that title; Your Stories Don’t Define You But How You Tell Them Will. What are the stories that people can tell about you based on what you take from this conversation? Think about the stories people are telling about Dana and Parker, and about Amy, that they’ll never know and yet continue to create this ripple effect of connecting beyond the keyboard. Connecting authentically in a way that makes people feel seen and heard. What will you do? What is your next step? 
    And, as always, thank you for listening. 
     
    About Amy
    Amy Weinland Daughters, Award-Winning Author and Keynote Speaker, believes in a world where what makes us different is the very thing that connects us, instead of separates us. She brings that world to life by helping people reconnect to each other through the power of hand-written letters. She brings her wit, humor, and having written 580 handwritten letters to every single one of her Facebook friends, to show you how you can find deep connections in some of the most unexpected places.
    Be sure to check out Amy’s LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram!



    About Sarah
    "Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."
    In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.
    My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to

    • 51 min
    322 Give Yourself Grace

    322 Give Yourself Grace

    322 Give Yourself Grace
     
    To give yourself grace for mistakes you’ve made or for expectations that seem unattainable is something that can be more daunting than many of us want to admit. As difficult as it can be to be gracious with ourselves in order for us to grow and thrive as human beings, it is vital that we do be patient with ourselves and own our mistakes or failed expectations so that we can grow.
    In this episode Sarah Elkins and Nikki Campbell discuss the importance of resilience, growth, and grace with ourselves because everything we do starts with us and if we aren’t at our best we cannot give our best. Nikki Campbell brings warmth, understanding, and resilience to the discussion, telling many stories from her own life and how through her own strength and the love of those around her she was able to grow into who she is today.
     
    Highlights
    We can’t always explain why certain things in our past happen, but what we can do is use these things to give us the strength to follow our dreams.
    “You can either let it dissolve you or you can let it evolve you.”
    Our experiences are all relative.
    Parts of your story may not be so happy, but that doesn’t make you who you are. It is how you reframe your thoughts and choose a sustainable way of life that determines the rest of your story.
    You’re not living if you don’t have gremlins, or a similarly named thing trying to stop you from achieving your goals.
     
    Quotes
    “After sustaining any sort of type of trauma, whether it’s; psychological, physical, whatever. There are things that you can have as a secondary characteristic, maybe it’s some anxiety, maybe it’s memories that trigger you, or things of that nature, and you can either let it dissolve you or you can let it evolve you.”
    “It’s through her very gentle yet, I’ll say firm, way of speaking my thoughts back to me. It wasn’t until I had a therapist who did that did I realize; wow that’s not true. It’s the thought of like, if someone were to say to you what you say to yourself, what would your reaction be?”
    “I’m not going to apologize for how I am or who I am because it got me to where I am today.”
    “You need to have grace with yourself and know that you’re not always going to do things right. It took me a long time to do that for myself is to give myself grace. That, “Okay I said that, I did that, I got to give myself a break but I also need to learn how to move forward. Instead of sitting in it.”.”
     
    Dear Listeners it is now your turn,
    Were you sitting here in the living room with us and drinking some hot tea or coffee? When you think about the things you need to give yourself grace for? What are the gremlins you can shoo from your consciousness? Which are the gremlins that are really stopping you from moving forward? And how can you manage when you do do something wrong, manage that so that it doesn’t occur again. What lessons can you learn from it? And who do you know that you contribute to, to their learning and their growth as a result of claiming your own?
    And, as always, thank you for listening. 
     
    About Nikki
    Nikki Campbell
    MS, NASM-CPT, BCS, CNC, ACSM-CIFT
    Nikki is a long-standing fitness and wellness professional with 15+ years of industry experience: She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Behavior Change Specialist, and Nutrition Coach through the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and a Certified Inclusive Fitness Trainer through the American College of Sports Medicine. Nikki holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Recreation Therapy and a Master’s Degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotion with an emphasis on Sports Performance and Injury Prevention. She has seven years of experience working as a Wellness Coach at Mayo Clinic, and has held various programmatic positions within the disabled sports industry. Nikki’s passion for assisting in the improvement of one’s physical and mental health has spanned throughout he

    • 54 min
    321 Your Innate Worth

    321 Your Innate Worth

    321 Your Innate Worth
     
    Throughout life we are told from an early age what to do, what jobs would be best for us, and what society expects of us. Quite often this leaves us in a job that doesn’t bring us fulfillment, so we end up looking for that fulfillment and sense of worth by exploring other career paths as well as life paths, and exploring what makes us feel our innate worth. 
    In this episode Sarah Elkins and Corree Roofener discuss how labels impact us and our skill sets from an early age, and how through hard work and dedication to one’s self you often find yourself in a fulfilling position in life.  
     
    Highlights
    Are you labeling someone despite seeing them through only one lens?
    What labels were you given that you still think about? Do you define yourself or do others?
    What is your natural skill that you do exceptionally well and what can you do to nurture that skill?
    Asking for help is one of the first steps in growth. Bringing in others with different skills who can help you, can make you thrive. 
    Build a diverse board of personal directors.
     
    Quotes
    “You learn about people as you are exposed, like you said having connection. Whether that be in a live event or just having a written connection like you said on LinkedIn. Someone responds to something you say and there’s this immediate conversation happening, or almost immediate conversation happening, and that feels so different.”
    “I think, I don’t think I actually know, I feel that when we begin to kind of unravel or open up those petals of that flower, we come back to what we innately know about ourselves, and we know it we just put it aside, because it’s, One: Not comfortable. Two: Not Successful. Three: Not a career. It can be a hundred different things, but what we do is we walk away from what we innately do so well or we cover it up. When we can start to own that, take value in that, we begin to find that “This is what I’m supposed to be doing.” but in that, what do we have to do? We have to ask for help. Which is so hard.”
    “And just connecting with that fact that, those side hustles, we’re gonna go right back to the beginning, typically are going back to who we are innately. We crave that as humans, we crave what we were created to do innately and we tend to change what that looks like because “Success says you should do X, Y, and Z.” Or, “Mom said I should do this.” Or, “Dad said I was good at this.” and so we stop and we don’t go back to that thing. One of the things for me that I had to really own, I’ve always been good with numbers but keeping synced “Oh I’m living that!” But what I had to realize is that my worth, my value as a mother was the message that had to be shared.”
    “It’s just so scary because again you’re speaking this dream out loud to the universe, to your peers, whoever it is, and you have no idea what it’s going to look like. And we so adamantly connect the word failure if it looks different than how we originally envisioned.”
     
    Dear Listeners it is now your turn,
    What is that side hustle you’ve been considering? What could you go back to from your younger days when you had an idea of what you were really good at. That you don’t necessarily need to make income at it, but you would like to explore again. Jot it down in the comments, share it with me privately, I am your audience for that.
    And, as always, thank you for listening. 
     
    About Corree
    Corree Roofener; teaching resilience, compassion, and the strength of the human spirit through actions and support. Corree is a living embodiment of the adage that life begins at the end of one's comfort zone. Her remarkable journey is a testament to the extraordinary achievements that are possible when one chooses to live life with curiosity and courage. With every role she takes on, Corree continues to make a positive impact, helping individuals discover their inner strength and unlock thei

    • 47 min
    320 Anchored in Time

    320 Anchored in Time

    320 Anchored in Time
     
    Labels and judgment are an unfortunate symptom of society, more often than not people will be framed in a particular light without any chance to defend themselves or for a full explanation to be given. Because of one person saying something, one bad interaction, or one misinterpretation a person can be frozen in time under whatever label was given to them.
    In today’s episode Sarah Elkins ruminates on enlightening experiences that have recently occurred that have helped continue to shape her perspective on the damage of labels and unfair judgment. 
     
    Highlights
    Art imitates life and more often than not, not for the better.
    Labels and keeping someone frozen in time can warp our perceptions of others and ourselves. 
    Work on strategies to help yourself avoid judging another and labeling them unjustly.
     
    Quotes
    “Their spouses, families, and friends are all shocked of course, and they say things like “My whole life with you is a lie!” I desperately wanted to ask those family and friends, Did you feel loved and cared for all those years you were together? Are you going to ignore all that you know to be true about this person because of something they did over twenty years ago?! I want to shake them!”
    “Labels are a form of judgment and no one likes to be judged, especially from someone else’s limited information about us.”
     
    Dear Listeners it is now your turn,
    Do you have cringey moments you look back on, times that when you do look back on them realize they weren’t too great? When have you been labeled and judged unfairly? Are their stories about people in your past that maybe it’s time to reconsider before sharing? 
    And, as always, thank you for listening. 



    About Sarah
    "Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."
    In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.
    My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.
    The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!
    Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.
    Be sure to check out the Storytelling For Professionals Course as well to make sure you nail that next interview!

    • 9 min
    319 Cultures, Conversations, and Community

    319 Cultures, Conversations, and Community

    319 Cultures, Conversations, and Community
     
    The beauty of humanity is that we all share different cultures, from the differences in our food to whether we take our shoes off in the house, culture shapes how we interact with our community and our career which is why it is vital we have conversations about culture, so that we may find our community, teach others, and learn about another person’s beliefs and values, in doing so we will all be stronger together as a community.
    In this episode Sarah Elkins and Kevin Hamm discuss the importance of community, culture, and the conversations that need to happen in order for us all to have a better understanding and respect for one another. Kevin offers valuable insight, intelligent conversation, and a healthy dose of humor, approaching this difficult topic with humanity and dignity. 
     
    Highlights
    A love for new and exciting things starts early and fosters growth and admiration for other cultures and ideas.
    What memories from your past impact your decisions to this day?
    Everyone sees the world through different lenses, be sure to encourage the growth and curiosity to see outside of your current lens. 
    Being yourself is vital to your survival and to being able to thrive as a human being.
    Fostering community through compassion and pride. Making sure the whole world knows you and your community exist. 
    Understand the cultural differences between yourself and other places, and understand that these differences can foster growth and connection between yourself and those of a different culture. 
    What access to other cultures do you have in your own community that you can explore right now.
    Ask questions! There is no harm in wanting to know more.
     
    Quotes
    “At the time Governor Schwinden- I think it was Governor Schwinden, God I hope it was Governor Schwinden. Had just started the Sister State program with Kumamoto in Japan and so I joined a choir and discovered my love of sushi because we ended up going to Japan when I was a kid. And it’s really fun to think about being an ambassador for the state of Montana going over when you’re 12 years old or 11 years old, however old I was. Going over and being in front of the aristocracy, the Imperial Family, and all that in Japan, you know performing and being a soloist and homestays and meeting all these people, and having this incredibly intense, delightful introduction to how vast and different our world is, how diverse things are. When you’re a kid and finding out some of those things that are common in other cultures we never even hear of, like at the time we didn’t have a sushi restaurant in the state of Montana.”
    “The truth of the matter is I found a thriving and robust queer community up there as well and it was really interesting to see that this community that I knew existed in major metropolitan areas because Portland and Phoenix had given me that, also exists in these little tiny towns where people on a regular basis are like, “I’m going to move to the big city because I can’t be here!” and then they move away. But there were some that were still there and wanted to live there and really loved it, and that was part of the realization that I was like, “Oh my community, the queer community, crosses every other boundary, whether it’s racial or societal or economic, we’re everywhere. And because we are everywhere we have community everywhere.” And that took me a little bit to figure out, but once I figured it out I was like “Oh I can move back to Montana because my community exists!”.”
    “It’s not only that you don’t want to be insulting in a lot of cases. I don't know that it would be insulting. They would just look at you like, “Oh you’re not trying to be like us.” And I want to try to be like them. When I’m on their lands, in their place, in their house, I want to fit in, I want to belong, I don’t just want to be there.”
    “The one thing I wo

    • 1 hr

Top Podcasts In Society & Culture

Miss Me?
BBC Sounds
The Louis Theroux Podcast
Spotify Studios
The Stand with Eamon Dunphy
The Stand
Spencer & Vogue
Global
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment
Documentary on One Podcast
RTÉ Documentary on One

You Might Also Like