By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 17 You have a story behind everything you do. The moment it clicked. The experience that made you choose this work over everything else you could have done. The thing that happened — in a small way or catastrophically — that pointed you in the direction you have been moving in ever since. And there is a good chance you are not telling

By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 16 There is a specific kind of moment every leader experiences at least once in their career. The numbers stop adding up. The revenue you projected did not come in on schedule. The vendor invoice was not what you agreed to. The launch underperformed. A larger than expected bill arrived. The EIDL loan ran out and the monthly expenses still have not. However

By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 15 You have been to both. You know the difference the moment you walk in — or log on. One feels like you are showing up and checking the boxes. The other feels like something is happening for you. The first kind has an agenda, a start time, and a room. The second kind has intention behind every decision — the space, the

By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 14 You posted something this week. It did well. People liked it, shared it, commented on it, maybe even sent you a message saying how much it resonated. And then you looked at your revenue — and nothing moved. If that is a familiar experience, you are not alone. And you are not failing at social media. You are succeeding at the wrong

By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 13 There is a version of “being professional” that gets handed to every leader at some point. The right headshot. The right tonee right language for your industry. The carefully managed personal brand that checks every box on the list of what a credible, serious, trustworthy expert is supposed to look like. And for a lot of leaders, following that list produces results

By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 12 There is not one leader who gets through this unscathed. Not one. You can be surrounded by people — your team, your clients, your community, your family — and still feel it. That specific weight that settles into your bones at the end of a long day of giving, deciding, holding things together, and showing up for everyone else. The feeling that

By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 11 You know the one. You registered because the topic was genuinely interesting and you showed up ready to learn. And then somewhere around the third presenter, you realized the entire day was structured around getting you to buy something. Every session was a setup. Every speaker had an offer. By the end, the room felt suffocated — and you made a silent

By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 10 Bootstrapping has a good reputation. Work with what you have, keep costs low, figure it out on your own, push through. That approach has real merit — especially at the start. But there is a point in every leader’s growth where the bootstrap stops being resourcefulness and starts being a ceiling. And if you have been in business for any length of

By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 9 You have a vision for what your organization could look like. The events, the reach, the programs, the team. And then you look at what you have in the bank – and the gap between those two things feels like it has no bottom. You may be inclined to shrink the vision. Make it more manageable. Scale it back to something the

By Nettie Owens, CPO-CD · The Sappari Group Originally explored on Wake Up Women Leaders — Episode 8 You are in the middle of something hard. The plan hit a wall. The timeline shifted. The thing you counted on did not come through. And now you are standing in front of an obstacle — the kind of obstacles in leadership that do not care how prepared you were or how much you needed this to work. What you do next