Most people walk into a personal development event looking for an answer. A framework, a fix, a clear path forward. What happened at HeartWork Live on March 13th and 14th was something entirely different. In this episode, Sara and Marisa take you inside the weekend, the 13 acres, the art, the movement, the tears, the breakthroughs, and the moment a 60-year-old woman asked herself what she wanted for her life for the very first time. This is not a highlight reel. This is what it actually looks like when people stop outsourcing their direction and start listening to themselves.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why chasing the how before you know the what will land you in the exact same place with a brand new problem
• What happened when a room full of leaders, associates, and team members stopped performing growth and actually went there together
• The moment one breakout session threw out the whole plan because the room needed something more real than the worksheet
• Why people who had been in therapy for three years had more movement in one weekend, and what that says about the kind of space Sara and Marisa hold
• What the HeartWork Collective is, who it is for, and why they are intentionally keeping it small

The inner work is not a detour from building a thriving business and a life you actually love. It is the whole road. If this episode stirred something in you, the HeartWork Collective is where the real work continues. Over six months, you and your team will get monthly group coaching calls, private community access, a growing resource library, and real time support from Sara and Marisa as you navigate the personal and professional work that actually moves the needle. Spots are limited and intentionally so. If you are ready, do not wait. Join us here.

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast

Email: support@theheartworklife.com

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There is a moment most practice owners know well. A seat opens up, the pressure builds, and every instinct you have screams to fill it fast. What nobody tells you is that the urgency you feel is data, and it is worth sitting with before you act on it. In this episode, Sara and Marisa get into the real, unfiltered conversation about what hiring and firing actually looks like as you grow as a leader. Not the polished version, not the version where you always knew what you were doing. The version that includes holding out for eight months, learning to separate your intuition from your anxiety, and recognizing that sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is pause.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why putting a warm body in an empty seat is a short-term fix that often creates a longer-term mess, and what to do in the waiting instead
• How Sara's team spent months simplifying systems and refining culture before making their next hire, and why that season made the eventual yes even clearer
• The difference between hiring out of fear and hiring from a place of quiet, grounded certainty, and how to tell the one from the other
• Why your team is the most honest mirror you have as a leader, and what it means when hiring keeps falling apart
• Marisa's honest look at how timelines she had mapped in her head collided with reality, and what she learned about trusting herself through the uncertainty anyway

The leaders who build teams that last are not the ones who always make the fastest decisions. They are the ones who do the inner work between hires, trust what they have built, and stay grounded enough to let the right people find them.

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast

Email: support@theheartworklife.com

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You opened yourself up. You shared your heart, bought the coffees, said yes to every request, became the kind of boss people loved. And then one day you found yourself fuming over something small, exhausted by everything, quietly resentful of the culture you built. This episode is for every leader who got so busy taking care of everyone else that they forgot to take care of the business, and themselves. Sara and Marisa dig into a real listener question about where vulnerability ends and over-exposure begins, and what it actually looks like to lead with warmth and a spine at the same time.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Sara gets raw about hiring friends, becoming a mother figure to her team, and the slow build of resentment that forced her to finally have the hard conversations
• Why over-giving does not create loyalty, it creates entitlement, and how to recognize that pattern before it derails your culture
• The 10-minute vulnerability practice Sara uses in leadership meetings that creates real connection without blurring the lines of authority
• Marisa on how team turnover can send you into a spiral of "was I enough" and how that spiral quietly poisons your next round of hiring decisions
• The temperature check every leader needs: are you resting, or are you running on empty and calling it dedication?

You can build a team that feels deeply human and still hold a clear line between friendship and leadership. Those two things were never meant to cancel each other out.

If you are in a season of rebuilding your leadership from the inside out, we want you at HeartWork Leadership Live on March 13 and 14 in Knoxville. This is the room where that work actually happens. Reserve your spot here: https://theheartworklife.myflodesk.com/rfi6abz6yv

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast

Email: support@theheartworklife.com

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We are living in a world that loves a narrative arc. New year, new era, new identity. And while there is something genuinely beautiful about anchoring to something bigger than yourself, what happens when that external anchor starts doing the work your own self-awareness was always meant to do? This episode is an honest, tender, and sometimes hilarious look at the Fire Horse Lunar Year, what it actually means to embody momentum without losing presence, and why chasing a year's promise might be the very thing keeping you from what is already here.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Sara breaks down what horses actually teach us about power: it's not constant movement, it's knowing when to run and when to graze, and that distinction changes everything
• Why attaching your experiences to external identifiers (the year of the snake, the year of the horse) can quietly rob you of the chance to actually understand yourself
• The patient who couldn't wait for 2025 to end, then decided 2026 was already terrible, and what that pattern reveals about where we are placing our power
• Marisa on the real question worth asking: if something was hard, what were you actually being invited to learn, and does a cosmic calendar get to answer that for you?
• How to take what resonates from collective conversations, astrology, tarot, fire horse energy, all of it, without handing over your ownership of your own story

If you are looking for something outside of yourself to finally explain your life, this episode is going to sit with you. The fire horse is not the point. You are.

If this conversation is landing for you, we want you in the room with us. HeartWork Leadership Live is happening March 13 and 14 in Knoxville, and it is exactly this kind of work, getting clear, getting present, and stepping back into your own power. Grab your spot here: https://theheartworklife.myflodesk.com/rfi6abz6yv

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast

Email: support@theheartworklife.com

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There's this beautiful tension between being able to show up authentically in different rooms and slipping into performance mode without even realizing it. Marisa calls it her gift to "mold and chameleon" into different spaces, but there's a line where connecting becomes performing, where you're trying to prove you're worthy of being in the conversation instead of just being present. And Sara knows this tension intimately. When her business expanded last year, revenue grew but so did expenses. She found herself making the same money, staring at her bank account thinking, "Well crap, I'm not who I said I was." That's where imposter syndrome lives. Not in failure, but in the gap between who you think you should be and what the data shows.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The difference between authentically matching energy in a room versus going into performance to feel worthy
• Sara's raw story of expansion, increased revenue, flat profits, and the identity crisis that followed
• Why you can't just switch a button and muscle your way through imposter syndrome
• How your nervous system stores everything and why healing happens in layers, not quick fixes
• The vibrational frequency you bring into spaces and how it mirrors back what you're extending

Healing isn't about someone telling you to just change your behavior and push through. You have to sit in the tension, understand why you're feeling the way you do, and honor where you actually are. That's where the real power lives.

If you're ready to step into that work, join us for Heartwork Leadership Live on March 13-14 in Knoxville. We're going deeper into the identity work, the nervous system recalibration, and what it means to let your true life fucking glitter. Register here: https://theheartworklife.myflodesk.com/rfi6abz6yv

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast

Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

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You know that feeling when you step into something new and it doesn't quite fit? When the opportunity feels too big, the role feels too heavy, and you're wondering if you'll ever actually grow into it? Sara and Marisa unpack the analogy of the oversized coat: that moment when God gives you something bigger than what you currently fit into, not to overwhelm you, but to invite you to grow. This episode is about the discomfort of the stretch, the fear of the unknown, and what it actually means to trust that you're becoming the person who can fill out the next season of your life.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The oversized coat analogy and why God gives you opportunities that feel too big instead of ones that fit perfectly right now
• Why you need to give yourself 60 to 90 days before making any additional decisions after a big leap, and how to navigate the growing pains without panicking
• What to do when you're stretching into something uncomfortable and you genuinely don't know if you'll ever fit, and why the answer isn't about knowing
• How to stop putting on someone else's coat by comparing your journey to theirs, and why your growth path is uniquely designed for you
• Why the lesson isn't actually about the coat itself, but about who you're becoming as you grow into the capacity to carry what's next
  
  

Don't be afraid of the next coat. The discomfort you feel right now isn't a sign you're in the wrong place. It's proof you're being stretched into someone capable of carrying more than you ever thought possible. The question isn't whether you'll fit. It's who you'll become in the process of trying.

Bonus: If you're in a season of stretch right now and need the space to do the inner work that actually supports your growth, join us March 13 and 14 in Knoxville for our Heartwork Leadership Live event. This is where we go deeper into becoming the leader your next season requires. Save your spot HERE!

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast

Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

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You hired them because you saw potential. You trained them because you believed they could step into what you needed. But somewhere between the vision and the reality, a gap opened up. They're not moving as fast as you hoped. They're not thinking the way you do. And suddenly, you're questioning everything: Did I hire the wrong person? Am I a bad leader? Why can't they just get it? Here's what Sara and Marisa know after years of building teams and training associates: sometimes the problem isn't the person. It's the expectation. This episode is a raw, real conversation about what it actually takes to lead someone into their potential without breaking them or yourself in the process.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The difference between hiring an adjusting horse versus a future partner, and why role clarity from day one changes everything about retention and performance
• Why placing unrealistic expectations on team members sets everyone up for disappointment, and how to get honest about what someone can actually deliver
• How to discern whether someone needs the full recipe with step by step instructions or just the ingredients, and why forcing your learning style onto theirs creates friction
• The evolution from wanting to be liked by everyone to becoming firm with expectations while staying kind, and why that muscle only develops through experience
• What it actually looks like to train someone up while trying to step back from your business, and why pouring your essence into a new team member now saves you time later

Leadership isn't about finding people who think like you. It's about creating the conditions for different humans to thrive within your vision. And that requires a level of self awareness and flexibility that most business advice doesn't prepare you for.

Bonus: If you're in the thick of training a team, struggling with expectations, or trying to build leadership capacity in your business, our Heartwork Leadership Live event on March 13 and 14 in Knoxville is where we're going deeper into all of this. This isn't a typical leadership workshop. It's heart work meets implementation strategy, and we're keeping it intimate so we can actually go there together. Grab your spot HERE!

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast

Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

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Sydney Kaye Hagel was sitting in her corporate cubicle, successful by every external measure, and her nervous system was screaming. She had a stable job, benefits, and a wedding to pay for. She'd already built The Wealthy Circle, a community for women she truly cared about. And yet every day she showed up to her corporate role feeling more misaligned, more disconnected from the vision she held for her life. She knew she was meant for more. She just didn't know if she had the guts to choose it. The turning point came when mentors she admired asked her a question that stopped her cold: "Do you think you deserve to be in the room?" That question unlocked everything. Sydney left her corporate job, launched The Cozy Agency, and stepped fully into the identity she'd been holding back for years. This conversation is about what it actually takes to close the gap between who you were and who you're becoming, the hidden cost of people-pleasing, and how to build a brand and a life from authentic identity instead of someone else's blueprint.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The crossroads moment when Sydney realized she had outgrown her corporate identity and what it took to finally walk away, even when it felt financially reckless and emotionally terrifying
• Why your nervous system is your most accurate compass for misalignment and how to use it as a decision-making tool instead of ignoring the signals until you're burned out
• How to build a brand from your actual story and senses instead of copying what everyone else is doing, including the five-sense audit that transforms customer experience
• The shift from people-pleasing to boundary-setting and why communicating real feedback makes you a better leader, not a colder one
• What Sydney learned about hiring for grit and charisma over skill alone, and the one thing candidates do that makes her say yes immediately

This conversation disrupts the idea that choosing yourself is selfish. It reveals the truth: dimming your light to keep others comfortable is the real betrayal. When you step into alignment, you don't just change your own life. You give everyone around you permission to do the same.

Mark Your Calendar:
We're hosting another in-person HeartWork Leadership event March 13th and 14th in Knoxville, TN. If this conversation stirred something in you about stepping fully into your leadership, embodying your truth, and building something that actually feels like yours, this event is where that work happens. Sign up here.

Connect with Sydney Kaye Hagel:
Website: https://www.getcozy.co
Instagram: @wellsaidsyd @the.cozy.agency @wellthycircle

Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/well-said-with-syd/id1533334441

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast

Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

Support the show