Risk is often the price of a meaningful life. Welcome to That Sounds Risky with Sara Emmerson, a life, business, and executive coach who helps capable people move from overthinking to action. This is the show about the decisions that stretch us, the fears that hold us back, and the courage it takes to build a life you're really proud of. Each week, Sara shares honest stories from her own journey, leaving a career, starting a business from scratch, taking risks that didn't make sense on paper but changed everything, plus practical coaching tools and mindset shifts to help you take the next right step. Whether you're considering a career change, building something new, healing from disappointment, or just feeling that nudge that there's more for you, you're in the right place. Start here, then dive into Episode 1. New episodes weekly. Learn more at saraemmersoncoaching.com.

Readiness isn't a feeling. It's a decision. In the very first full episode of That Sounds Risky, life and executive coach Sara Emmerson shares why she almost didn't start this podcast, every excuse, every "what if I fail publicly", and what it really takes to begin something before you feel ready. Through honest and often funny stories (a childhood turtle named E.T., a painfully awkward high-school audition, an American Idol tryout at Soldier Field in front of 20,000 people, and a six-week leap that moved her across the country at 23), Sara unpacks why confidence comes after action, not before, and why the greatest risk is usually spending your life wondering "what if?" If you've been waiting to feel confident, prepared, or certain before you start the business, make the career change, or pursue the dream, consider this your permission to begin. Work with Sara at saraemmersoncoaching.com.

Fear rarely shows up looking like fear. It shows up sounding reasonable. "I just need more time." "I need more clarity first." "Now's not the right season." If you've been saying the same line for months, this episode is for you.

In Episode 2 of That Sounds Risky, Sara Emmerson breaks down how to tell a real reason from a fear wearing a disguise, and what changes once you can see it. She walks through the RISK test, a simple way to check whether the thing you keep saying is information or fear: Repeated (how long have you been saying it?), Isolate (what's the fear underneath?), Sacrifice (what's it costing you to wait?), Keep moving (one small action in the next 24 hours).

She also makes the case that staying stuck is its own kind of work, that readiness was never a feeling you wait for, and that confidence shows up after you move, not before.

In this episode:

1. How to tell a real reason from an excuse (the RISK test)
2. Why "I need more clarity" is often a courage problem, not a clarity problem
3. The hidden cost of staying exactly where you are
4. Why every version of your life requires work, so choose the work that's worth it
5. How to take the next brave step before you feel ready

"Readiness isn't a feeling. It's a decision."

Sara Emmerson is a certified life, business, and executive coach (ICF PCC) who helps capable people stop overthinking and make the brave move they've been putting off.

Learn more and work with Sara at saraemmersoncoaching.com. New episodes weekly, so follow along.

Most people who feel stuck don't have a strategy problem. They have a belief problem. In this episode of That Sounds Risky, life and executive coach Sara Emmerson answers the questions she was asked as a guest on another show, and the answers turn into a masterclass on leadership, mindset, sales, and doing the scary thing anyway.

Fresh off a podcast interview with a host in London, Sara brings the best questions back to her own listeners: What does leadership actually mean? How important is mindset in success? What does sales really mean? Who does she coach, and why does this podcast exist at all? Her answers hold whether you're an executive, a business owner, an entrepreneur, or a creative who knows you're capable of more.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why leadership is creating clarity in uncertainty, and why it starts with leading yourself first
• The difference between a strategy problem and a belief problem, and which one is actually keeping you stuck
• Why confidence doesn't come before action, it comes from taking action
• How fear, self-doubt, perfectionism, and other people's opinions keep high performers plateaued
• Why sales is service: helping someone see the gap between where they are and where they want to be
• The two kinds of regret, and why "I wish I'd tried" is the one you can't fix

Gareth Pon said yes to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro before he Googled what it actually was. That one naive yes turned out to be the blueprint for his whole life.

In this episode of That Sounds Risky, Sara Emmerson sits down with Gareth Pon, an award-winning photographer, filmmaker, and creative director who pioneered Instagram in South Africa, moved across the world on the strength of a single social-media message, and now leads social-first creative for some of the biggest brands on the planet. His path was never a straight line. It was a string of small, slightly terrifying yeses that compounded into a remarkable career and an even more remarkable life.

Gareth and Sara talk about why risk is a muscle you build one rep at a time, why comfort is the killer of creativity, and why everyone needs one ridiculous dream. His is going to space, which is why there is a hidden rocket in every photo he posts. It is an honest, funny, faith-filled conversation about betting on yourself before you feel ready.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why saying yes before you feel ready is how brave people actually build a life
• How small risks train the muscle that makes the big leaps feel possible
• Why comfort kills creativity, and how to keep reinventing yourself
• How relationships and generosity, not talent alone, open the biggest doors
• Why you need one ridiculous dream, and what happens the moment you believe it could come true
• How faith and letting go of control can free you to take bigger risks

"You need to have a ridiculous dream, because the moment you believe that dream can come true, everything else in your life becomes possible."

Follow Gareth's work (and hunt for the hidden rocket) at @garethpon.

Sara Emmerson is a certified life, business, and executive coach (ICF PCC) who helps capable people stop overthinking and make the brave move they've been putting off. Learn more and work with Sara at saraemmersoncoaching.com. New episodes weekly, so follow along.

Sara's own coach of six years takes the guest chair. Amy Donovan, MCC, one of the first 150 coaches in the world, co-founder of PRIME Coaching Academy, and co-author of Who's the Boss?, has spent 25+ years coaching leaders through the decisions that scare them. In this conversation: the $5.5 million collapse that cost her nearly everything and the walk in the woods that started the rebuild, why courage always comes before confidence, how to borrow belief when yours runs out, the regret people actually carry at the end of their lives, and the t-shirt Amy had made that says it all: just say yes to the whole catastrophe. If you are standing at a crossroads, a part of you has already decided. This episode is about trusting it. Learn more about Amy at primecoachingacademy.com. Ready for your own next step? Visit saraemmersoncoaching.com and book a coaching consultation.

This week the guest chair belongs to the person who taught Sara to take risks in the first place: her dad. Stan Endicott is a musician and producer who spent decades making records in Los Angeles, the co-founder of Slingshot Group (one of the country's top coaching and staffing teams), an author, and the creator of the IMPROVLeadership model.

In this conversation: why we stop taking risks as we grow up and how to get the playfulness back, why grit can be terrible advice, the truth about the 10,000-hour rule, the one question to ask your boss instead of asking for a raise, the day he moved across the country with no job waiting, and the time he became one of the first outsiders to hear "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" before the world did.

Warm, funny, and full of the kind of wisdom you only get from a life of saying yes.

Learn more about Stan's work at slingshotgroup.org. Ready for your own next step? Visit saraemmersoncoaching.com and book a coaching consultation.

What if resilience isn't just about mindset — what if it's rooted in your biology? This week Sara sits down with Jessica Maren: speaker, writer, and resilience educator who blends science-backed strategy with honest storytelling to help people stop spiraling and recover from setbacks. In this conversation: why your brain goes looking for a problem when life is finally calm, how chronic stress quietly rewires you to scan for the next fire, why failure feels so personal (and what to do about it), the difference between bouncing back and bouncing forward, and how a former elite athlete learned to regulate her nervous system on the biggest stages — including the private ones at home. Practical, refreshing, and a little bit science class. Follow Jessica @jessica.maren. Ready for your own next step? Visit saraemmersoncoaching.com and book a coaching consultation.