We recently connected with Sarah Estes and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The more we talk about good leadership the more we think good leadership practices will spread and so we’d love for you to tell us a story about the best boss you’ve had and what they were like or what they did that was so great?

I’ve been fortunate enough to have had several amazing bosses, mentors, and leaders in my life, but the one that made the most impact on my life was Lanny Lancarte, owner of Joe T. Garcia’s. I waited tables at Joe T.’s while I was in college and doing internships. Lanny, who has one of the strongest work ethics I’ve ever seen, has a unique strategic approach to managing and incentivizing his staff. When you consistently showed up ready to work and put forth your best self, your name was towards the top of the handwritten schedule indicating you would work in the ‘A team’ sections for the busiest shifts. When you called in last minute, came to work hungover, had just clearly rolled out of bed, or received valid complaints from customers, your name would shift down on the schedule while your sections and shifts reflected what he chose not to say verbally – your attitude and effort are slacking. This approach was one of the reasons that Lanny is at the top of my list as an amazing boss. Aside from this lesson, he gets credit for connecting me with my husband, a bartender named Brett, who as we got to know each other would schedule us to work close to one another. He was fueling a relationship that would drive me towards being my best self and change it for the better. Lanny leads by example and to this day, you can find him consistently pounding the pavement at Joe T’s greeting all who walk through the doors with a friendly smile no matter their social status, age, gender, or race.

Sarah , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a former ad agency brat who evolved into a freelancing mompreneur, which turned into a strong obsession to scale businesses with creative marketing solutions. After almost two years of success with my solo consulting company Estes Digital, I grew tired of only having my dog to brainstorm with and decided to partner with my professional soulmate and creative guru, Jon Chapman.

Together, we formed Preuve and launched it in April 2020, at the height of the pandemic. We specialize in helping brands stand out in the digital space and built a team that is remotely based, allowing us to work with clients on a national and global scale. Our clients are most likely to come to us because they are ready for growth. They stay with us because we’re committed to growing with them.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Not even my deep sense of pride can keep me from sharing the lessons I’ve learned in hopes that someone else can learn from my mistake before making their own. So, YES, I still have what feels like near-death moments from the professional and the personal aspects as a direct result of the stressors of business ownership.

One that stands out is when I went against my gut reaction, taking on a client who brought big paychecks to the table but was someone I didn’t trust. As soon as our partnership showed the slightest need for close collaboration and open communications, things hit the fan and it was I who was expected to show up with the big paycheck. The guy invoiced us for the time that he felt was wasted in the excess of $500,000. As I walked out of his office with my held head high knowing that I showed up to do hard work to the best of my ability, I vowed to learn from this mistake.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

Jon the Man Chapman and I met while waiting for the microwave to ding in our community kitchen at a local advertising agency in 2014. I’ll never forget being the new girl and being intimindated by unfamiliar face, but Jon was welcoming and authentic from the get-go. There was something about him that brought a fun and fresh prospective to the work place. Jon and I spent many water cooler moments exploring random cocktail combinations and dreaming of what the future would hold. Jon had a deliciously different design aesthetic and at one point, I asked him to help me make a custom sign for my son’s first birthday party TC Fest. Shortly thereafter, he asked me if I would audit his freelancer website to see if I had any ideas on how to make it more effecitve. Coincidentally, the notes that I wrote are written it would later become the Preuve red and we’d become a dynamic duo a few years later.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://preuve.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_preuve_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PreuveDigital
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/preuve/
• Other: https://dribbble.com/Preuve_Digital

Image Credits
Grant Daniels