📍 Hey friends, it's Sarah Beth Herman. Welcome back to week 11 of the Keep Going Series. I cannot believe we are almost to the finish line, 11 weeks of stories I've shared with you. Lessons, discipline, faith, science, heartbreak, rebuilding, conviction, pressure, and most importantly, becoming. And now here we are.

Standing at the edge of the year and at the edge of another layer of who we are becoming. We are just two episodes away from wrapping up this series just a few weeks away from closing out the year. But if you're listening to this in the middle of the year or the beginning of the year, or somewhere on a random Tuesday in March, hear me when I say every single thing I'm about to share, it still applies

because Finishing strong is not a calendar thing, it's a character thing. This week we're talking about the tension between the desire to slow down and the discipline to stay the course. We're talking about finishing what you start. We're talking about preparing your life for the next level by acting today, like the person your future self will think.

I'm gonna talk honestly about how challenging this year has been for me. Not miserable, not not awful, but challenging in ways I didn't actually see coming. Challenging in ways that stretched my leadership, my faith, my capacity to actually stay hopeful and my ability to hold joy in one hand and responsibility in the other.

I wanna talk about setbacks and I'm gonna talk about chargebacks. And I'm gonna talk about boundaries with people I love, and I'm gonna talk about goals and discipline and about business fatigue and CEO loneliness. And I'm gonna talk about my BBB award, and I'm gonna talk about mindset,  the mindset that's carried me through every single season.

So take a deep breath. This episode will be an anchor for you, so let's get into it. This is the time of year when it is so easy to believe the lie that says, slow down. Just take a break. Just check out just coast for a little while. And I love rest. Don't get me wrong, I, I love calm mornings and warm coffee and slow Saturdays, but there is a difference between rest and quitting early.

There is a difference between taking care of yourself and abandoning the momentum that God has been building in you. There were so many days this year when I felt the tug to relax instead of finish when I looked at the list of what I needed to do and I thought, I can just push that to tomorrow, and maybe you've done the same, but every time I've believed that lie, I have always paid for it later.

Because what feels like relief in the moment becomes panic on a Sunday night when everything catches up. And I wanna say this in a very human way. Slowing down will always feel easier in the moment. Discipline will always feel harder, but the gap between who you are and who you want to become is bridged in the moments when you do what future you need.

Not what present you prefers. There was a moment this fall when I had a full plate papers due for my MBA team meetings, client calls, my own podcast, multiple businesses, and a handful of unexpected fires that I absolutely had to be the one to put out. I remember sitting at my desk thinking, just take the day off.

Just separate yourself and breathe for a minute. You need to breathe. My brain was exhausted. My emotions were just flat, but somewhere deep inside me was this voice that said, Sarah Beth, your future self is counting on you. And I knew that if I didn't show up for myself that day, I was going to create a mess that I needed to clean up later.

 That moment reminded me again that finishing Strong isn't about being super human. It's about being willing to make choices that honor who you are becoming, even when the current version of you is really tired. This year stretched me more than most, and I won't say it was a bad year, it was just a challenging year, a year where I had to learn to honor my boundaries with people that I really loved.

A year where I had to face hard business realities a year where I had to accept that my circle needed to be smaller because not everyone can walk with you when you are advancing. I had to learn to love my life, even when seasons felt uncertain. I had to learn to love my business even when hard things were happening behind the scenes, and that's not easy.

It takes maturity to say this is a hard season, but it is still a good life. It takes strength to say, I'm choosing joy even when I feel stretched. And I think it takes wisdom to say, this is temporary and I am building for the long run. You know, there were days when I would sit in my office and I would just feel the weight of decisions I didn't want to make.

Leadership is lonely sometimes. There's no handbook for certain moments that you experience. There's no blueprint for every tough decision, and yet every time I slowed myself down enough to breathe, pray, and just realign for a minute, I felt the quiet reassurance that said, you are not alone in this. Keep going.

That grounded me through staffing issues, client disappointments, family complexities,  personal health issues that I'm going through. And it reminded me that the strongest leaders are the ones who stay compassionate with themselves through the hardest seasons. I'm now in my final weeks of my MBA program, and when I say final, I mean final.

My last few assignments, my last papers, my last discussion boards, my last late night writing sessions. I have sacrificed weekends, evenings, sleep, comfort, and so much free time. I've said no to things that I wanted to do because I knew future me needed this degree. I did not rely on AI to write my papers.

I wrote them myself, thousands and thousands of words, research a p, a, citations, presentations, scripts, all because if I'm going to earn something, I'm going to earn it with integrity. I am tired, but I am so proud and not because someone else told me to be proud. But because I know what this took,  there are so many nights that I've literally sat on my couch in pain because my legs were cramped up next to me, my laptop on my lap, and literally whispering, you can do this, Sarah Beth, just get it done.

And not because like the work was beyond me in some capacity, but because the volume of it would feel overwhelming when paired with running multiple companies, managing teams, creating digital products, recording podcast episodes, staying present as a wife, still trying to take care of myself, and yet I kept reminding myself that my future self would stand on the other side of this and say, thank you for not quitting when you were tired.

I have held that thought close. It has carried me through every assignment, every paper, every long week.

I wanted to talk in this episode about setbacks for a minute. There have been many times that I have opened up the dashboard to our AR system. And I have seen chargebacks, some 10,000, 20,000, $8,000, and those numbers are very big numbers. And something that I've learned in business is that you will connect with people and you will work really hard for them, and you will work really hard with them.

And not everybody has the same integrity as you. And sometimes I can spot things a mile away. And sometimes it just comes outta nowhere and I'm blindsided by someone's dishonesty. I will never claim that I have run the most perfect companies in the world, and I don't think that a perfect company exists.

I think that every small business struggles. I think that there are stresses all of us face that we don't talk about and that we do talk about. And I think that sometimes we work with people that. Make decisions because maybe they're going through something I don't quite understand. But as a small business owner, a chargeback is one of the hardest things to deal with because you know, you did the right thing.

You know, you hired your team, you know your team worked really hard. You know, you provided results because you have a system and a process in place that tracks results. You know you've done the right thing. And then someone request, they file a chargeback. This particular day that I'm talking about, I had a chargeback for $8,000.

And in that moment I remember my chest tightening the tense stress, and my neck, and my shoulders just kind of creeping up. My thoughts started to spiral and I was just thinking, are you kidding me right now? Like, really? After everything we've done for you, when I have these moments, I've had to learn that.

Instead of panicking, I just sit down and I gather documentation. I compose myself, and I submit my evidence with integrity. And knock on wood, I've never lost a single chargeback, not one, because at all of my companies, we do things right. We run an honest business. We show our work. We stay ethical even when no one is watching.

But the part that feels supernatural is that every time I've had a chargeback, something else is added back to me. Sometimes within hours, sometimes to the exact penny. A new client. A surprise, revenue increase, an unexpected opportunity. That is not coincidence. That is covering, that is protection. That is God saying, I saw it and I will replace it.   📍 There was a day not long ago where I lost nearly $5,000 at 8:00 AM and by 1:00 PM I gained a client contract for almost the exact amount every month.

I remember laughing out loud because it felt like God was reminding me. See, this is why you don't fall apart. This is why you stay steady. This is why you keep going. Studies in cognitive reframing show that people who choose purposeful responses during setbacks recover emotionally 60% faster and create solutions up to 40% faster.

I can attest to that. Choosing steadiness is not denial. It's a strategy for me This year, I also won my Better Business Bureau Award. It was the torture award for ethics. And I still feel emotional when I think about it. I mean, it was just a couple weeks ago, that award was 20 plus years.

In this industry. It was two years of long days and research and staff changes. Two years of client wins and clients losses. Two years at the BBB. Looking at how we build systems. Two years of making hard decisions. Two years of growth. I didn't always see in the moment. You see, for two years we were vetted out for that award, competing against some of the largest companies.

Companies I didn't even know I had the right to compete against.  And what most people do not realize is that those two years were messy. Behind the scenes, I had upset clients. I had triumphs, I had failures, I had to fire people. I had to promote people. I had to carry things I didn't wanna carry. I had to navigate seasons.

That felt unfair and overwhelming. And yet that award showed me that none of it was wasted. If you haven't listened to that story yet, it's episode 96, the full press releases in the show notes.  I'll never forget standing in that room, hearing my company's name. I felt this wave of realization, nothing I went through.

And all of the 20 plus years in business were random. Not one tier, not one late night, not one employee misstep, not one setback, not one moment of doubt. All of it added up to a moment that confirmed. Yet again, that discipline outlives disappointment. You never know what is being built behind the scenes when you stay faithful to the work.

This week, as we stare down the final days of this series and the final days of this year. I want to tell you something that has carried me through every season of life, not finishing costs. More than finishing, not closing the loop costs more than the discomfort of doing it now. Not showing up for yourself today becomes the regret you carry tomorrow and you deserve to live without regret.

You can finish strong and not because you are invincible, not committed, and you are becoming. There are still so many things I do not have figured out. There are still days when I question myself. There are still moments where I wonder if I am doing enough or if I am doing the right thing, but the difference now is that I am rooted in who I am and I know that showing up today creates tomorrow.

 I know that small steps still count, and I know that the version of me I'm becoming is worth the work. This week is not a digital download week. This is a you and me assignment before this year ends or before the season ends.

If you're listening in a different month, I want you to write a finish list. Three columns, three commitments. S column one. What I will finish before this month ends column two, how I will finish it, and column three, how I'll know it's fully complete. Stick it in the Notes app of your iPhone. Email it to me.

If you want accountability, you can email that to hey@sarahbethherman.com. Your future self is already thanking you.  As I do in every episode, this is the point where I talk about our, that's good moment  and what I want you to carry with you today. Hard seasons are not punishment.

Setbacks are not stop signs. They are instructions to keep going. Rest is good, but quitting early is not. Excellence is never wasted. Your future self is shaped by what you finished today. You are so much stronger than the year you just walked through and you deserve to finish this season with pride, strength, and clarity.

We are almost there. I am proud of you. And I hope that you are proud of yourself too. Next week is the final episode of the Keep Going Series. We will close out this chapter together and step into the next season with purpose, strategy, faith, and Momentum. And if this series has changed something in you, if it has studied you, or encouraged you, or shifted your perspective in any way, please recommend it to someone you care about.

Finish Strong. Finish with intention. Finish like a leader who knows what they carry. I am cheering for you. I am praying for you, and I'm walking with you and together we will keep going. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of No Silver Spoons That Keep Going series. I'm Sarah Beth Herman and I'll catch  📍 you on the next episode.