Sabrina Hebeler

I would attribute my success to really good people in my life, but also to my inability to give up. I've had great mentors along the way who didn't seem like mentors at the time, but they have definitely changed my life for the better. I've failed countless times when I thought I had it right, but the key is being able to just stand back up and realize that failure is the opportunity to grow. I've hit rock bottom and built from zero multiple times because I've failed in business, and that act of going to ground zero and having to get back up again is incredibly challenging every time, but I keep going.

You don't know it until you know it. For those of us who have master's in business, you kind of come out of there and you're like, I know what I'm doing, but you don't know how to build a business until you build a business. And that is the truest and the most real thing I've ever heard. I still learn every day that I don't know how to do something until I do it, and so it's influenced me to just roll my sleeves up and get my hands dirty. We have to accept reality, and I think it's really easy to intellectualize things and make it conceptual, but the reality is, until you actually do something, you don't know.

Remember that when people give you advice, it's for your benefit, even when it sucks. I think females can be highly sensitive to feedback in ways that prevent us from moving forward, and I think we need to remember that the people who have gone before us are telling us because they wish they would have had someone that told them. So if someone who's gone before you is telling you something, listen, because it will change your life. Also, remember that failure is an opportunity to grow - I've failed countless times when I thought I had it right, but the key is being able to just stand back up and realize that the failure is the opportunity to grow.

The biggest challenge is learning to let things or people go. When you work with people, you can often see what they need to do, but you can't convince them to do it. The most challenging thing for me is watching someone and knowing the answer, and being able to tell them till you're blue in the face, but knowing that it doesn't matter until they make that decision. Other challenges include remembering that you can only do one day's worth of work in a day - getting caught in the future sometimes slows us down, and being present is crucial because when we're present, we're able to do what's necessary, not just what seems good. I've also hit rock bottom and built from zero multiple times because I've failed, and that act of going to ground zero and having to get back up again is incredibly challenging every time. In terms of opportunities, entrepreneurs have incredible opportunities right now to get creative with how we staff and resource things. Gone are the days where we solely just build teams of our own - outsourcing, contracting, agency models, and using AI to actually build teams are all real opportunities. Being a solopreneur is a real thing in entrepreneurship, and we're seeing that grow each day. There are people who can literally do what they need to do and cover their costs and be successful just by using artificial intelligence every day. The direct-to-consumer world, especially in such a consumeristic era, has incredible opportunity to still capture.

No is a complete sentence - saying no is honestly the best thing for everyone, so my value there is to always be honest and transparent, even when it's uncomfortable. Humor brings a lot to both my personal and professional lives. If we can't laugh at ourselves, we're taking ourselves far too seriously in this world. Kindness is also crucial - clear is kind. Clarity is a big thing for me. If you can be clear about who you are, what you're doing, and where you are, it's kind for everyone, so that everyone can move forward in the way they need to.