We recently connected with Sarah Sypniewski and have shared our conversation below.
Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
When I’m gone, it’s my hope that I’ve left people with the ability to embrace their own voice and story. I hope that because of knowing me or working with me, they know they are absolutely enough–just the way they are. I hope they know that it’s not always easy to fully embrace our authentic selves, but that it is one hundred percent worth it. I hope they can stand in their own power, aligned within themselves, and radiate their light unapologetically, and see that when they do that, they drop into the world in the way we humans are meant to. I hope they know that their story is the story someone else out there desperately needs to hear, desperately needs to connect with. I hope that they remember that stories are not superfluous, self-indulgent, or silly. They are the way we experience our humanity…they are the way we bring forth our own vulnerability…they are the way forward now and always. Everyone has a story, and it’s worth being told.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ve got my hands in many different industries and endeavors–such as acting and producing–but my writing and editing business, The Empire Expander (https://www.theempireexpander.com), is one of my cornerstones. I am a ghostwriter, editor, and writing coach for creative solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and even companies that have big ideas and need someone to help them convey them effectively.
Drawing upon my psychology degree techniques from the acting world, and a blend of traditional and modern writing conventions, I help my clients identify what’s blocking their writing, access and lean into their authentic voice, and leverage it to build their empires. So many people are out here doing huge things for their businesses–grinding away, making their big visions come to fruition, balancing all of life’s demands–and they need a partner like me to either help with or totally take care of their writing for them while they concentrate on everything else.
I’ve found that even business writing can be a very emotional experience for many people because of early negative experiences or even traumas with writing. An elementary school teacher not taking the time to really teach them reading and writing as a child. Someone making fun of their spelling. Struggling with an undiagnosed learning disability. Not having access to regular schooling at all. So when I think about my life’s mission–the actual reason I’m doing this work– it is first of all, let them know they are not alone in this. I am right here with them, and we are going to go on this journey together. Secondly, my mission is to relieve that pain for my clients so we can share their words with the world. My goal is to help clients release past shame or feelings of not being smart enough to write and giving them tools to and skills to literally rewrite their story. I work with them until they can stand fully in their power as a creative and expressive voice, either alone or with me beside them.
On the more nitty-gritty business side, I work with many high-profile clients who need hard-hitting, results-based copy. I work with business leaders who have big goals and need a writer who can meet them. My writing has earned my clients over $30 million in deals and opportunities in industries like real estate, banking, and financial management.
So many of us spend our days working in isolation or with tunnel-vision or in competition with each other. I am here to break the stigma and generational trauma of rugged individualism in business. I hold space for and extend my clients an opportunity to experience how transformational real collaboration can be to a business–and more importantly, to the human who runs one.
This mission very much reflects how I go to this point myself. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a creative. As a child, I loved books, reading, acting, and music. I used to write little stories, and even won a “Young Authors” competition for a poem I wrote in sixth grade. Although I seemed to have an early knack for writing, I really wanted to perform on stage, in front of audiences. One summer, us kids in the neighborhood formed an informal theatre company called “Kids In Motion”. We wrote our own shows and performed for our parents and neighbors. I was hooked. But I never let on that I held that as my dream. I thought everyone wanted to be on Mickey Mouse Club and Kids Incorporated…and since everyone clearly was not, it meant that dream was reserved for people who weren’t me. I didn’t even think it was possible for me. Although my authentic heart was clear about what it wanted, I did not listen. But it still found ways to remind me.
When I was in college at DePaul University in Chicago, I auditioned into their educative theatre troupe, MileWalkers. We performed original skits designed to educate students in diversity. I was hooked again, but the thought of pursuing it in any real way didn’t even enter my mind as a possibility. However, DePaul is also where I honed my writing, editing, and coaching skills as a Writing Consultant in the Writing Center. I discovered I had a real ability to work with people to make their external writing match their internal vision–and that doing so brought me immense amounts of joy. So did I purse a career in writing after college? No. I went into the non-profit world, where I felt I belonged: working hard for others’ benefit for very low pay. While that type of work is needed and can be effective, I felt out of alignment with it by 2010. And that is when I finally took a leap of blind faith. I gave notice at my secure job as a middle manager in a decent-paying non-profit to “pursue writing.” I had no plan; I simply followed my heart. But wouldn’t you know it–by 2011, I had co-authored my first book, “Dog Photography For Dummies”. The publisher, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, was so pleased with my work that they brought me on as an editor and ghostwriter. I’m still with them today.
Because of all of the work I’ve done with Wiley, I’ve met people from all professions and walks of life. Often, after I finish a Dummies book, the author will reach out and ask me to assist them with other writing projects, which is a key way I’ve built my business. I also tend to nurture relationships and keep in touch with folks from all of my various experiences, and I look for ways to be of service to all of my friends and colleagues–past and present.
Eventually, I embraced my love of acting just as I embraced writing (see my previous feature in VoyageLA for that story), and I continue to balance my work as an actor and producer with my work as The Empire Expander, and I love all of the crossover that comes from working and existing in creative spaces. There is no greater force than that of creative humans collaborating together in flow towards a common goal or vision. It’s a magical feeling of being truly alive, and I am lucky that I get to experience it every day!
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I think the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is that it keeps me on a constant journey of self-discovery and allows me to embrace my love of the human connection and experience. Creatives bring a true curiosity about what happens between people, how people move about the world, how they engage in their lives when they are truly open and willing to be moved and move others. To us creatives, life is about noticing what happens within our own hearts, minds, and souls when we are vulnerable and honest in speaking our truth. Noticing what happens when we offer all of ourselves to the world. Noticing what happens when we hold space for others to be who they truly are.
Being a creative means that I believe that art has the power to heal both the creator and the consumer because it represents and gives voice to the stories that need to be told. Being a creative keeps my heart open–even when I sometimes want to close it. It makes me more connected to my own strengths and allows me to offer them more freely and strongly to the world, which–in turn–helps others do the same. I still can’t really say that I know the meaning of life, but for me, being able to offer my true self and accept others’ is pretty close to it.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think, a lot of times, non-creatives see an answer like my previous one as too “woo woo” or as not having a place in business. But the truth is, if you’re in business, you’re in relationships. And having quality, substantive relationships is at the heart of it all. Chances are, clients can get your service or product anywhere. They get it from you because of YOU. Because of the relationship they have with YOU. Because of how YOU make them feel. Because they feel that they are more than a transaction to you.
So if you aren’t able to be in touch with who you are specifically and offer it up fully…and if you aren’t able to be genuinely curious about people…you may miss not only sales opportunities, but the opportunity for a greater human experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theempireexpander.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah_sypniewski
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahsypniewski/
- Other: Acting website: https://www.sarahsypniewski.com/ Writing Tips for Solopreneurs: https://www.lifestarr.com/podcast/writing-tips-for-solo-entrepreneurs
Image Credits
Michael Roud John Wiley & Sons, Inc Evangeline Chen