Join us today as we have Sarah Fuentes of Savvy Sarah Therapies delve into entrepreneurship, mental health, and the transformative power of resilience in business growth. Sarah, the founder of Savvy Sarah’s Skin and Healing Therapies, shares her journey and future plans, while she emphasizes the importance of self-help and mindfulness. Discover actionable insights on holistic wellness, personal growth, and the benefits of incorporating spirituality into your professional life.

Listen to the podcast episode here!

Today we sat down with Sarah Fuentes aka the Savvy Sarah. Sarah is the founder of Savvy Sarah Skin and Healing Therapies in Dunedin. Sarah has an incredible story, an incredible journey, and an incredible energy that she brings with her every single day, she has excelled and grown at each step of her path. 

She has some big goals for her business. And I’m excited for you guys to get to meet her and learn more about Sarah. So in this episode, we talk about how Sarah got her start in entrepreneurship, the importance of mental health as an entrepreneur, and how she has grown her business by helping you feel and look at your best every single day. Now, I would love for you guys to leave us a review, leave a comment. 

But I know that’s not going to happen because you’re driving, walking, running, whatever it is, if you feel that you need to and that brings value to do then great, we would love that. But if not, most importantly, I would love it if you enjoyed this episode that you listen to take a screenshot and tag us so that we know what it is that you’re enjoying. 

So we can bring more of that. , I’m always trying to improve the podcast, bring on guests that you’re interested in have conversations that you’re interested in learning more about. And that’s a way that can help us grow and bring more value to you as a listener. 

So, screenshot the episode you’re listening to leave us a tag and keep on listening. Have a great day. Welcome to the podcast, Sarah.

Thank you. Thank you for having me. ,

I’m excited.

I’m really happy. Thank you. Honestly, it’s truly an honour to be here. And I heard that you just made the top 10 of the Florida Business Podcast.

Thanks for the shout-out. That was pretty cool to kind of get that and I don’t know how they put the list together, whatever. 

But, it’s cool to be recognized for the work that a lot of great interviews. I’ve done listening to your podcast. The most recent one, I think his name was Mike. I want to say with Nick, it was Nick Price. 

Yes.

I loved his about real estate. Allison. And then my thick I got the Mighty Mighty. Oh my gosh, those are all good, all great episodes.

It’s cool. I think as I’ve progressed with the podcast, I’ve kind of won this skill set,  you get better at having conversations and then finding the people to, you’re attracting the people that you want to interview and talk to, and that sort of stuff? 

So you kind of niche that down a little bit. And it becomes more fun and more engaging for myself and for the listeners.  You’re three years now on the journey, and just all the things that you learned as, business owners, entrepreneurs or just people chasing your purpose, sometimes you just throw yourself into these things. 

You learn as you go, you don’t know what to expect, necessarily. You just have this burning desire, I’m going to do this, I want to do this. 

It’s interesting, Greg, I think that’s what got me into real estate,  I was at a point in my life where it was kind of, okay, what’s the next step? 

I need something to latch on to. And so doing much research, and then I got to a point where it’s, okay, I have to, I have to give this a try. What were you doing before real estate, I have a degree in biology. So I was working towards physical therapy or physician’s assistant and started a master’s program. 

I’m done with school, I need something to do. And I had bounced around trying to figure out what I wanted to do in my career in life, and for quite a few years, and then I kind of settled on in real estate, and then just kind of, led me to here, but congratulations on all your success.

Thank you. So let’s start with your story. And going back to the beginning,  have you always wanted to own a business? 

I just grew up hustler background, for me, it was kind of just, do or die sometimes my father was a hustler. And he would always, find things on the side of the road, fix them up, sell them I mean, me and my brother, when we were little kids, we would hold doors open for people and try to get some change for, the gumball machine or in high school selling body jewelry trying to, flip that money. 

And then I would say after I got my grooming certification was when I was,  what, I’m just I’m gonna go in business for myself. That’s when my entrepreneurial journey truly began. I ended up being fired from the pet care facility where I was working. 

And that very next day, I went into the library and I was, Nope, I’m making a business. I made my business cards and I just went out there and started advertising myself on Craigslist and I was a business owner overnight. Crazy.

That’s interesting. Have you thought about that before? or is it just, was it an overnight decision? 

I just lost my job. What am I going to do?  

It was just, well, I knew. So when I was working at that pet store, I was actually kind of in the retail on the sales floor. And some of the people from the grooming department were, Hey, you should try to, you be good at this you can make your own money, you don’t have to rely on the hourly wage. 

And I said, okay that they, they put that idea in my head, and I just, I took it and ran with it. I wasn’t expecting to leave the company. But when I did, I mean, I didn’t hesitate. I was just you have to bet on yourself. And I knew at that point, I think, at that time, I must have been about 23. And I knew at that point that I was going to be successful, no matter what I put my mind to. And I believe in myself and I am truly where it starts.

Where does that belief come from?

Man, where does that belief come from just to support the support of my family and the love that’s always been surrounding me my mother and my father, and we’re good at just reminding me that they loved me and that they were supportive of me. So I felt that I could take chances, I could take risks and I just felt confident and what I could do that’s a huge part of being an entrepreneur,  have that confidence, that belief in myself when nobody else does. 

Absolutely,

My daughter. She’s an entrepreneur now, too. She’s six. Crazy.

Yes. So she’s following in your footsteps? 

She has a lemonade stand. It’s called namaste lemonade. And we’re not just a lemonade stand. So we saw holistic plant-based lemonade. It’s keto-friendly. We’re going to be partnering tomorrow with NAMI Walks Nami, Pinellas to raise funds for mental health awareness. 

And I was Park so cool. So we’re making waves, we’re doing things and she’s learning how to be an entrepreneur. So, she’s doing her best for six years old, she’s has to learn to speak in front of people, just give her a little 32nd elevator speech, that age.

And it’s such a great skill set to develop. And in practice, I think even at an early age whether they go into be whether she’s going to be an entrepreneur or not, or run her own business it just having that confidence and, and belief in herself to do that.

Absolutely. You have to, you have to support it I try to support her and anything she wants to do, and just exploring her creativity. I feel, that, in my business, when I am centred on my femininity, that’s when my creativity just flows. And when I have that strong sense of creativity, my business is flowing to part for me of regulate regulating My business is regulating my nervous system, and truly honing in on that, that creative space or that flow state, for things to just open up for sure. 

So let’s go back a little bit to, your first year in the grooming business when you you started your own business. , what was that first year for you learning and growing? And all that kind of stuff? Oh, wow. 

Well, it was a lot easier than I thought, interesting. I was working out of my home at the time. And I got on Craigslist, I just started putting up ads almost every day, and I had a referral program, which is amazing. It just brought in so many clients. 

For me, I think part of it also was, there’s something that I mean, I feel my true purpose is to just love and bring love and light into, anyone any room that I’m in and one of the things that I was doing in that company in my business.

I’m sorry, was just loving, loving on the dogs living on the owners and just bringing that high vibe, loving energy in and people just naturally come to you, and they want to say there were so many times when, while I was learning how to groom dogs, maybe I made a little mistake or things weren’t perfect, but the fact that I had those soft skills your soft skills are so much more important than your hard skills. 

So that’s really what resonated with people. But it wasn’t that hard. It wasn’t hard, but it did make it a lot easier when I started my skin business.

And so when did you start your skin business? How long has that been now?

Oh, so big. It’s been almost four years. Okay, almost four years. I started it after COVID. So 2021 was interesting because I kind of just took a chance again and I knew that I would be successful because I was good at what I did. Before I started that skincare business. I was working at a dermatologist’s office medical assisting. And just to backtrack a little bit I moved to Florida. So let’s go back a little bit.

Let’s go step by this. There’s so much  I’m telling you, this episode is gonna be so juicy. There’s so much to cover, oh my goodness, let me not get ahead of myself. So, after my grooming business, I decided that I wanted to break into the beauty business. So I was grooming dogs for a while. And 2014 was kinda around the time when the age of the influencer started happening. And people were on YouTube doing their makeup tutorials and just kind of, really owning their sovereignty and stepping into that. 

I was watching and I said I’m going to teach myself how to be a makeup artist, and I want to work in the makeup industry. And that’s what I did. And I taught myself and I mean, I was they were a pen and paper taking notes off YouTube University. And I taught myself enough to ace an interview. And I used to interview at this big beauty company. 

And they I mean, they didn’t know this was my first gig? Maybe the manager with my resume, but with the other workers there, I ended up being hired. And they said, Oh, do you work for Mack, who did you work for before this and I was, this is my first my first gig. From there, I met an esthetician. I was already in love with biochemistry, anatomy physiology, I already had some of that background. And when I was in college, I started to pick her brain. 

And when I found out just how much biochemistry and science goes into it. I was, Oh my gosh, I love this. I want to do this one day. This is great. And it just planted a little seed. And I was doing the makeup artistry thing for a few years. I was doing well. And then I became pregnant. And when I became pregnant, I was, Okay, I don’t want to I don’t want to do this retail thing anymore.

Oh, my goodness, I’m ready to really for my next level up. So I was six weeks, six weeks before I had my daughter, I moved to Florida because things weren’t going the greatest for me where I was, at the time, I was living in Delaware. And I was convinced to move to Florida where my mother my sister and I had a support system. 

A couple of days after I moved here, I signed up for the clinical skincare program in Clearwater at the American Institute of Beauty. And then 12 weeks after I had my baby, I started school and just hit the ground running. 

I didn’t let anything stop me there because I was going through such a hard time. , I mean, at this point, I had already been homeless. And I found my way back I had been through such a dark period. But no matter what, there was this glimmer of hope, this light that just wouldn’t let me quit. I became so focused on my healing and the bettering of myself that I knew I needed to pass that down to my child, I knew that if I was going to bring another life into this world, this child needed to be better than me.  

I wanted to give my child the best chance at thriving, not just surviving, because that’s all I knew how to do. All my life was survival.

Where does that where does that instinct come from? to be the thet version of yourself? Is it because of your daughter? 

Or was it something before that triggered that I was ready to get out of my own way man I was in,  I said, a very dark place. I mean, I was having suicidal thoughts before and during my pregnancy. I was just so tired of being in such dark places. And I knew that I was made for more. I knew that there was a greater purpose for me. 

So what I started doing was studying the law of attraction. I started just the same way I did YouTube University with my makeup artistry. I did it for self-help. And I started learning how to recreate your thoughts and control your mind’s law of attraction. I picked up this book called The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. 

And that book was pivotal. Oh my gosh, and I studied that book. I’ve read it several times, I took notes on it. And the chapter that stuck out with me the most is the last. It’s called the law of dharma. And Dharma is a Sanskrit term, for your purpose, your life’s purpose. And I remember when I was a little girl, my sister was in the car with me, and she said.

What do you what do you think your life’s purpose is? 

Everyone has a purpose. She’s your older sister. My oldest sister, I have to Okay. And I was, I don’t know. And that’s stuck with me for the rest of my life. How old were you then?

Oh, my gosh, I was probably, six. Isn’t that crazy?  Something so minor in that moment? 

Unbelievable. And having a six-year-old daughter now, I think, what are the things that I say? Or is that just my drop that seed good or bad? We do things consciously or subconsciously. And so I try to be aware of that because we’re impressionable at that age. So when I read that purpose, the law of Dharma asked about what is what is I want to know what my purpose is. But I didn’t make it a point to just figure it out.  

I needed to know to write that in there. I allowed it to flow. , I just kept chasing whatever felt good to me at the time. And that’s how I, how I go about my business. Now, just what feels good. 

What makes me feel great? What fires me up, what lights my soul? Do you have you? Do you have your purpose to find now are you still kind of?

I believe my purpose is just to bring light, love and healing, just with my story alone, I feel that I’ve inspired a lot of people. And I’m going to continue through that paint again turning it turning what’s happened in my past and to triumph and just being authentic, showing up in the most authentic way you can. We try even in this podcast interview, we try to come in and we we want to be perfect. We want to say all the things, but just existing is good in itself.

I feel that. That idea that thought is coming through more on social media now of, just just being authentic. It doesn’t have to be perfect or whatever. And people appreciate that? 

They want that. Then the people start to awaken to uncovering the veil.  it’s happening everywhere you look without getting too deep into it. But everywhere you look, people are starting to question and they’re starting to seek truth. And I think part of my purpose is just being authentic and showing up in that loving vibration.  

Is that a challenge? Is that a challenge for you, in business too,  you mentioned just going in the flow with, what feels what fires you up. I see a lot of business owners are just I can see the struggle of, okay, I need to put food on the table. 

I need to get clients how do I do that? But also, how do I balance? What fires you up?

So that was a struggle of mine for a while. I went through another dark period, just a couple of years ago. And I took such a step back from my business. I mean, it was really hard to I wasn’t networking. I wasn’t, I was barely doing anything just trying to survive. And it was through this nonprofit organization called Empowerment. I’m now my Brandon Brandon ambassador for them because I just love them. They helped me get back on my feet. 

They gifted me free counseling sessions. And from there, I was able to kind of clear out some space and, and make more room for my business. Through that healing journey, I was able to start to show up for my business in a more intentional way. 

So I struggled with creating content and putting my authenticity out there and community is so important. That’s what helps me and that’s what continues to help me when I’m struggling with my business, also learning how to take a step back. As entrepreneurs, mothers even single mothers we have a lot on our plate, and we’re constantly trying to, manage the moving parts. 

But I’ve learned when to take a step back when to regulate my nervous system when I start to feel, oh, I have to do this, otherwise, this isn’t going to happen, or, or I’m not going to be able to pay rent, I take a step back, and I come back to myself, I ground myself in nature, I spend time with my daughter.

I do things that fire me up, hook put that light back in my furnace in my soul and from there, everything else flows, I don’t have to worry because I’m attracting, we are already abundant.  So when I tap into that frequency, I allow it to come to me, I don’t chase it, I attract it. That’s wonderful. 

When you mentioned grounding yourself in nature, or the things to, ground yourself, how did you discover those boom?

So, back to the law of attraction, and you kind of go down that rabbit hole of spirituality, and I just meditation, meditation, breathing breathwork I just and I actually, I went to a retreat, my very first retreat was in Sedona. 

And not that was my second retreat, my very first retreat was in Vail Rico. My second retreat was in Sedona, and I’ve just been following that path of learning how to surrender and how to connect to everything that’s around me. 

So now what it looks for me is if I’m starting to feel a little burnt out, or, fatigued, I just go to the park, and I play the Native American flute, by the way. I’ve picked that up along my spiritual journey. So, I go into the woods. 

That’s the next episode. You gotta save it. I can’t give you everything. Well, I want to come on this is too juicy. But that’s what it looks like to me now,  just spending some time outdoors soaking up the sun and just talking to God’s Source Creator and, and, and letting the Insight come to me.

I love that. Being outside and being in nature is something that helps me too. And, and,  just being able to put the phone away, get get away from the electronics and stuff. And just just sit there and your thoughts and let them just come through.

Sometimes it’s part of, my visualization practice just picture your thoughts, people walking, walking by you,  you’re sitting on a park bench, and people are just walking past you. And those are your thoughts. And you could just let them go acknowledgeable I see a person I see a thought, I mean, just let it go. Instead of holding on to it or trying to dig deeper into it just surrender to the flow. 

Do you use any visualization techniques for your future goals, or your dreams or future?

Oh, that’s huge. Visualization is huge. So this is something I struggle I, I haven’t probably committed to it long enough. Maybe to figure it out. Maybe that’s part of the problem. But, that’s difficult. 

Is that a skill set?

There’s no wrong way. It’s a practice, meditation is a practice yoga is a practice. Spirituality is a practice. It’s not something you get perfect. It’s not something that you it’s different for everybody. So it might be it might look different for you than it does for me we learn along the way is it’s okay.  

I started barely able to feel I mean, I was constantly thinking, my brain is always working so we have to come back to our breath. And that’s part of why I’ve learned to, why I’m learning to regulate my nervous system through breathing. 

Because we catch ourselves doing these things. , you just come back to your breath. I breathe in for a count to three, breathe out for a count of three, and just make it a more rhythmic flow.

Let’s talk about your business Savvy Sara’s Skin and Healing Therapies a little bit. My first question is, your vision for your brand and what you’re doing with that 

Do you where that comes from? Or how early on did you have this vision for this business? 

Well, I was getting ready to go into business for myself, and then COVID happened,  I was buying, the machinery, I was buying the products and I was just kind of collecting everything while I was working part-time as an esthetician, and then I was working full time as a medical assistant at the dermatologists’ office, and COVID happened and everything shut down. Luckily, the dermatologist’s office was still open for surgeries and things that. 

So I still had a job. But here I am sitting on 1000s of dollars worth of equipment and products. And I’m, what, what am I going to do? After a year, when Florida started to kind of relax a little bit more. And things started opening up. I was, I’m just taking this chance. And I’m doing it. And from there. I just, I flowed, I just was trying to find the next thing to do. 

I’ve rented out a spot and Largo and then my goal was to get into this nice swanky spot and didn’t need it. And I was, Man, when I can afford that I’m there. And I gave myself a year goal. Back to visualization. , because I saw myself there, I would, I would make that my goal to be in this space and create this atmosphere that was loving and b. 

And just luxurious. And it just made you feel really good. And my purpose for my business now is to just when you walk into my treatment room, I want you to feel your overall well-being is being cleansed and healed. And when I rebranded I was I went from skin-savvy Sarah to savvy Sarah skin and healing therapies. 

After a few years on my transformation and awakening journey, I wanted to find a way to merge my spirituality with my healing gifts in the treatment room. And that’s why I changed the name and I started incorporating crystal healing. So I have a chakra-balancing facial, which is neat. I do some things with Smoky Quartz and Rose Quartz as well, in the treatment room. 

My clients have just reported just sort of overall heightening of well-being and just releasing that tension, and it makes me feel so good to be able to provide that type of care and love to other people.

That’s cool. Where do you see it? Where do you see the future of your business? What do you see with that?

I’ve visualized, and I’ve seen myself on stage several times, just telling my story and teaching. And I want to teach other estheticians I want to inspire young entrepreneurs, people like my daughter and around her age group as well. I just want to make a positive impact on the community. The community has helped me come such a long way.  

I want to give back in any way that I can. And just again, just bringing that love and that light to wherever I go, or whatever I do. And we’ll just see where the journey takes me.  I want to create courses think there are so many different things in the works, so stay tuned.

I feel that’s an entrepreneur. There are always things that are in the works and some things pan out the way that you planned and envisioned and some don’t. The wheels are always turning, we’re always, as entrepreneurs, if we just have this burning desire to go and to do and to create and to evolve we’re not complacent.

Part of that is the balance of growing what you have created, I think? Instead of just a called squirrel syndrome. I would put in my skincare business. What I love to do is work with acne clients, hyperpigmentation and clients. That’s what I’m I suffer from severe acne. And after I had my daughter, I mean, it was terrible. 

And mind you I had my esthetician license. It was also embarrassing, here I am. I’m top in the district. But yet I have all these breakouts on my face. And I’m, luckily these people trusted me. , cuz I knew my stuff. I was highly educated, but I had to work out their hormones, 

That’s part of why I work holistically in my practice now because you can’t just slap skincare on and expect things to change.  deeper underlying conditions are going on and healing the gut is number one. And that even ties into healing your nervous system regulating your nervous system your gut is part of your brain. 

That’s the gut-brain access? So everything ties in together you want to look at things a hole.

I think a lot a lot more people are trying to do that now, which is which is good. And finding solutions to those deeper, underlying issues.  

And I’ve been studying Ayurveda, which is, it’s a Hindu science. Okay, so Indian science, I’m sorry. And it’s part of looking at the body as a whole, your health as a whole in western medicine, where it’s you’re not feeling well take this pill we’re looking at overall well being from start to finish. And I  to bring that into my treatment room, too. Awesome. 

This is part of the reason why also, it’s all about your overall well, being now just calming down slowing down, and allowing your body to relax.

Where’s your office located?  

I am in Dunedin, inside of Denise in common.

Is this the spot that you wanted to be? 

Oh, yes.

So I made that one-year goal. I did it within that timeframe, which is great. And I love my place. I’m suite 114 and Image Studios. It’s off of Patricia Ave. Going towards Virginia Ave, in Indonesian. And it’s I just moved into Palm Harbor recently. And it’s  up the street from my house,

That’s nice. No long drives

Not a lot of traffic. It’s easy. Easy peasy.

That’s cool. And we’ll have your links for your website and socials in the description below. For anybody interested. Thank you for hanging out with Sarah, but thanks for being here. 

Oh, thank you for having me. This is great. We could talk all day. We got things to do.

CONNECT WITH SARAH:

• Website: www.savvysarahtherapies.com
• Facebook: @Savvy Sarah Skin & Healing Therapies

CONNECT WITH DONNIE: 

• Follow Donnie: @donnie.hathaway
• Follow Palm Harbor Local: @PalmHarborLocal
• For more real estate information – www.thehathaway.group

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