Purpose + Profit Podcast

Jessica Sato
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Biweekly

Purpose + Profit is a podcast for impact-driven women leaders navigating the real decisions behind meaningful work. Hosted by Jess Sato, strategic advisor and decision architect, the show explores what it actually takes to build businesses and careers that align profit with responsibility, integrity, and long-term impact. Through thoughtful conversations and grounded reflections, each episode invites you to slow the moment down, think clearly, and lead in a way you can stand behind.

  1. 1d ago

    4 Ways To Ensure A Successful Fourth Quarter

    Finish Q4 Strong: Four Steps to Hit Your Financial and Impact Goals Jess Sato reflects on entering Q4 2026 with three months left to hit financial and impact targets.  She warns against either panicking into crisis mode or pausing sales and marketing until the new year, since results lag by about 90 days.  Jess outlines four steps for a strong quarter:  Take stock of the last three quartersBuild a focused 12-week plan Stay visible Maintain weekly CEO time If you need support as you build out your plan for Q4 and beyond, let's talk. I would love to help you. Book a time that works for you!  00:00 Q4 Reality Check 01:08 Avoid Panic Or Pause 02:52 Step One Take Stock 05:54 Find The Root Cause 06:42 Step Two 12 Week Plan 08:43 Focus On High Leverage 09:19 Step Three Stay Visible 11:20 Step Four CEO Time 12:35 Get Help And Wrap Up If you need additional support and a thought partner to navigate big business and leadership transitions, let's talk. Simply schedule a free session by clicking here. Connect with Jess: www.jessicasato.com for all the free resources! Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessicasatocoach Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jess-sato

  2. Sep 29

    When letting go is the hardest… and best thing

    Business at a Crossroads: When It’s Time to Release Jess Sato closes the Business at a Crossroads series by exploring the “release” crossroad and why letting go can be the right move.  She shares how she ended a business partnership in 2021 and closed a version of a business she loved when she and her partner had diverging thoughts on their audiences, values, and direction.  She explains two common release scenarios, offers diagnostic questions for both scenarios, and outlines three readiness areas to explore as you navigate this phase.  Jess emphasizes separating “I love what I built” from “it’s still serving me,” and invites listeners to her Founder's Strategy Intensive. Take the Crossroads Diagnostic. 00:00 Series Finale Setup 00:43 Personal Release Story 03:00 What Release Means 04:01 Diagnostic Quiz Prompt 04:27 Release When Complete 07:47 Signs and Questions 11:09 Release When Misaligned 13:12 Burnout and Market Shifts 15:57 Hard Questions to Ask 18:38 Three Exit Readiness Areas 22:03 Love It vs Serves You 22:31 Wrap Up and Next Steps 23:28 Offer and Farewell If you need additional support and a thought partner to navigate big business and leadership transitions, let's talk. Simply schedule a free session by clicking here. Connect with Jess: www.jessicasato.com for all the free resources! Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessicasatocoach Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jess-sato

  3. Sep 22

    The Business Injury That Comes From Doing Everything Right

    Business at a Crossroads (Part 4): Expand Without Burning Out Jess Sato continues the Business at a Crossroads series with a focus on the “expand” phase, when business is going well, demand is high, but capacity is strained.  Using her half-marathon training mistake and resulting plantar fasciitis as an analogy for unsustainable pace, she outlines four areas to assess when demand outpaces delivery.  She encourages founders to “engineer your actions” by revisiting whether current plans match real capacity and heeding red flags before burnout or degraded service occurs, noting that slowing down briefly can prevent larger failures later.  Take the crossroads diagnostic at www.jessicasato.com/diagnostic. 00:00 Welcome and Diagnostic 00:58 Half Marathon Lesson 02:31 Expand Crossroads Overview 03:49 Team and Leadership 04:45 Quality at Scale 06:51 Founder Bottleneck 07:58 Sales Marketing Momentum 09:17 Engineer Your Actions 11:13 Red Flags and Coaching 13:26 Next Week and Wrap If you need additional support and a thought partner to navigate big business and leadership transitions, let's talk. Simply schedule a free session by clicking here. Connect with Jess: www.jessicasato.com for all the free resources! Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessicasatocoach Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jess-sato

  4. Sep 15

    The Hum That Cost Me A Refrigerator

    Reinvent: Don’t Under-React to the Hum in Your Business Jess Sato opens the third Business at a Crossroads episode by urging listeners to take the five-question Crossroads Diagnostic, then uses her refrigerator failing after months of ignored warning signs as a metaphor for low-grade business issues that escalate when unattended.  She emphasizes that in the “reinvent” phase founders shouldn’t under-react, and she acknowledges the guilt, shame, and external factors that can accelerate problems. She suggests starting with three questions to get a rough look at where the heart of the challenge lies in this crossroads. Jess then outlines three reinvention priorities:  Positioning and messaging clarityOffer alignment with current client needs (including AI impacts)Founder alignmentPlus she urges founders to review their marketing and sales gaps using the 5C’s of client attraction. She advises not fixing everything at once and offers the Founder's Strategy Intensive as resource to help founders get the outside perspective, support, and accountability they need to move forward precisely and quickly.   00:00 Welcome and Diagnostic 00:43 Refrigerator Warning Signs 01:53 Reinvent Not Underreact 03:01 Drop Guilt and Blame 04:08 External Volatility Reality 06:14 Three Reinvent Questions 09:34 Positioning and Messaging 12:32 Offer Alignment Check 14:25 Founder Alignment Shift 17:07 Marketing Gaps Five Cs 18:45 Get Outside Support 20:13 Diagnostic and Intensive 21:34 Next Week Expand 21:54 Final Sendoff Resources Mentioned Take the Business Crossroads Diagnostic Book Your Founder's Strategy Intensive Help! Why is my business so clunky? -- REFINE What I learned about conviction from Wicked What is a big idea? How to rearchitect your business without burning it down Why I don't start with identity work The 5Cs of Client Attraction Client Attraction Scorecard If you need additional support and a thought partner to navigate big business and leadership transitions, let's talk. Simply schedule a free session by clicking here. Connect with Jess: www.jessicasato.com for all the free resources! Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessicasatocoach Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jess-sato

  5. Sep 8

    Help! Why is my business so clunky?

    Business at a Crossroads: Refine vs. Reinvent and finding the real friction points in your business Jess Sato continues the Business at a Crossroads series by clarifying how established founders can identify when they need to refine rather than reinvent their business.  Using stories from her family’s auto repair work and a recent car diagnostic that missed faulty spark plugs, she explains that many business slowdowns come from subtle, fixable pain points—not full-system overhauls—and warns against spiraling into unnecessary changes.  She shares common refine scenarios, including processes that now need “babysitting,” team roles that have outgrown capacity, outdated automations, business models strained by growth, and messaging attracting the wrong clients.  Jess recommends revisiting business design to find the true source of friction and invites listeners to take her five-question diagnostic at www.jessicasato.com/diagnostic. 00:00 Series Setup and Buckets 00:51 Auto Shop Origin Story 02:39 Business Friction Signals 03:52 Refine vs Rebuild 05:23 Refine Scenario One 06:08 Team Role Overload 07:25 Automation Gone Stale 08:40 Capacity Strained Model 09:48 Messaging Attracts Wrong Leads 11:19 Avoid the Reinvent Spiral 12:44 Spark Plug Diagnostic Lesson 15:32 Find Root Cause First 16:30 Revisit Business Design 17:08 Questions to Realign 19:22 Get Fresh Outside Eyes 20:59 Next Week Reinvent and Diagnostic 22:04 Closing Encouragement If you know you need support, let's go all in together in the Founder's Strategy Intensive. If you need additional support and a thought partner to navigate big business and leadership transitions, let's talk. Simply schedule a free session by clicking here. Connect with Jess: www.jessicasato.com for all the free resources! Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessicasatocoach Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jess-sato

  6. Sep 1

    What do you do when your business feels broken?

    What to Do When Your Business Feels Broken? Jess Sato introduces a series on what to do when your business feels “broken,” inspired by networking conversations with owners facing revenue declines, payroll stress, or rapid growth that systems can’t support.  Conventional advice and “spaghetti throwing” creates confusion. Progress comes from getting under the hood, using data, and isolating the dominant factor driving results.  Jess outlines four crossroads every business reaches:  Refine (clunky processes, outdated systems, misaligned team, or strained business model)Reinvent (outgrown alignment or shifting market/message with multiple issues)Expand (growth outpacing capacity and the founder becoming the bottleneck)Release (the business has run its course, no longer fits life, or needs sale/transition/closure). Take the five-question diagnostic at https://www.jessicasato.com/diagnostic  00:00 Welcome and Setup 00:20 When Business Feels Broken 03:05 Stop Spaghetti Strategies 06:18 Four Business Crossroads 07:20 Refine the Clunky Parts 09:02 Reinvent for Alignment 10:35 Expand Without Breaking 11:57 Release and Let Go 14:48 Take the Diagnostic 17:29 State of Affairs Review -- S.T.R.A.T.E.G.Y. Method 19:16 Outside Perspective Matters 21:49 Next Steps and Wrap Up If you need additional support and a thought partner to navigate big business and leadership transitions, let's talk. Simply schedule a free session by clicking here. Connect with Jess: www.jessicasato.com for all the free resources! Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessicasatocoach Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jess-sato

  7. Aug 25

    Why I'm on an AI Detox

    An AI Detox, Travel Pivots, and Doing the Foundational Work Before a Crisis Jess Sato returns after a gap to share why her content felt “flat” and why she kept thinking, “I have nothing to say,” realizing that relying on ChatGPT and Claude for ideation and drafting reduced the deep thinking she normally does through writing.  After hearing Brene Brown and Adam Grant discuss how writing helps people know what they think, she began an AI detox, paused her subscriptions, and recommitted to ideating, drafting, and editing on her own, citing research showing lower brain engagement with AI-based writing.  She reflects on recent travel (six weeks on the road, including Egypt, plus Italy and the Netherlands), highlighting lessons from canceled trains about agility, adaptability, and the value of community, and from a Verizon roaming outage in The Hague about doing foundational work before pressure hits.  She emphasizes strategic planning without waiting for a crisis and the power of human-to-human ideation and objective perspective, inviting listeners to schedule a call if they’re navigating a pivot. 00:00 Welcome Back Update 01:05 Creative Block Hits 02:35 AI Writing Realization 05:04 Starting an AI Detox 06:22 Best Uses for AI 07:31 Travel Season Lessons 08:05 Canceled Trains Pivots 10:25 Community and Adaptability 12:09 Roaming Outage in Hague 14:04 Do the Groundwork Early 14:55 Strategic Planning Before Crisis 16:09 Human Ideation Support 17:42 Closing and Next Ideas Resources Get strategy support to get unstuck! MIT Study on AI The Curiosity Shop - Brene Brown and Adam Grant If you need additional support and a thought partner to navigate big business and leadership transitions, let's talk. Simply schedule a free session by clicking here. Connect with Jess: www.jessicasato.com for all the free resources! Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessicasatocoach Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jess-sato

  8. Jun 16

    The Sunshine Slowdown

    Navigating the Sunshine Slowdown in Business Jess Sato uses the metaphor of driving into blinding sunlight to describe how accomplished women can feel stuck when the path forward in their business becomes unclear.  Lack of clarity often leads them to wait in ways that look like productivity but is actually inaction. She argues that waiting for clarity, the right time, or readiness is still a choice and often costs momentum, attracts misaligned clients, and widens the gap between current reality and desired goals.  Jess shares a consultant’s story as a way to illustrate what inaction looks like, the power of creating an actual plan, and having the support to move forward. 00:00 Welcome Back 00:30 Sunshine Slowdown Story 02:03 Expert Yet Unclear 03:14 The Cost of Waiting 05:46 Consultant Case Study 07:58 Finding Clarity Together 09:18 Building the Plan 10:16 Thought Partner Role 12:06 Clarity Comes From Action 13:15 Work With Me 14:30 Final Sendoff If you're navigating the "sunshine slowdown" in your business, let's talk. If you need additional support and a thought partner to navigate big business and leadership transitions, let's talk. Simply schedule a free session by clicking here. Connect with Jess: www.jessicasato.com for all the free resources! Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessicasatocoach Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jess-sato

See All (88)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Purpose + Profit is a podcast for impact-driven women leaders navigating the real decisions behind meaningful work. Hosted by Jess Sato, strategic advisor and decision architect, the show explores what it actually takes to build businesses and careers that align profit with responsibility, integrity, and long-term impact. Through thoughtful conversations and grounded reflections, each episode invites you to slow the moment down, think clearly, and lead in a way you can stand behind.

Information

  • Creator
    Jessica Sato
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    88
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Purpose + Profit Podcast
  • Show Website
    Purpose + Profit Podcast

You Might Also Like