Testimonials

Dale Beaumont

Founder & CEO of Business Blueprint & Bizversity

Our company recently engaged Sarah Valentine to speak at one of our live events, attended by over 320 business owners. I am pleased to say that Sarah’s presentation was extremely well received to the point where I can highly recommend Sarah to others. Her presentation was full of great stories, easy to implement strategies and her delivery was engaging and captivating.


Mark Lawry

Suntax

We originally engaged Sarah’s services to enhance our Accounting team’s ability to read our clients’ needs better. Initially the sessions were around building trust with clients and within the team. We quickly realised that this could be of benefit for all of our staff members and now, one year later, everyone has engaged with Sarah in a coaching role.

The sessions have been conducted both in groups and individually and have enabled Sarah to interact with our entire team. She has gained the trust of everyone involved with many saying they were very much looking forward to their next session with Sarah each month.

Sarah is a delight to have within our organisation. She has become an integral part of our team with Managers and team members alike requesting time with her to help talk through and issue and gain a different perspective. She is fun, open and extremely willing to learn about our organisation so that she can best assist us.

There has been a noticeable change in many team members who have learnt to voice their opinions, listen more openly and gain the respect of those around them. From how to set boundaries to understanding that everyone has a different opinion (and that’s okay) has enabled the team to work more closely together and gain brilliant results.

From a director’s point of view, her integrity and honesty in feedback has been extremely beneficial to myself and the whole team. I would have no problem in recommending Sarah to anyone who wants help building a more successful organisation.


Mark Lawry

Suntax

In 2016 we asked Sarah Valentine to speak at our annual conference. Unlucky for her, we locked her in that 3pm timeslot where everyone is exhausted and has had enough of being ‘talked’ to all day. It only took a few moments to realise that this time of day was no match for Sarah.
Her intro had everyone in stitches, only to follow up with her own inspiring story that had the team laughing one minute and in tears the next.
I cannot count how many staff members have mentioned how much they enjoyed Sarah’s presentation.  It seems that she was able to reach inside everyone and touch a personal part of their heart that they didn’t know was there.  Some even told me that they were still thinking of it days and weeks later and how they could apply some of the things Sarah had spoken about in their everyday lives.
To easily assist in getting a bunch of accountants through a very long day of conferencing shows how wonderful Sarah is and I would highly recommend her as a speaker at your next event.

Deb Ryan

Owner, Complete Kids

We are a family owned Childcare Centre that was about to open a second Centre when I fortunately saw Sarah Valentine present at a Women In Business seminar. She was an inspiring speaker and talked a lot about how different behaviours work with each other and how important communication and team work is. She also spoke about the company Vision & Mission Statement and how they are the core of any business. This is what got me thinking. What is our Mission Statement?

We constantly struggled with communication amongst our team of 60 staff, with messages not being passed on and expectations of leaders and job roles not clearly defined, as well as group dynamics within the work place and how to combat the “niggles” that occur. Sarah started working with our team prior to opening the new Centre in preparation for the growth.

Sarah firstly started working with our Management team to really explore our Company’s purpose and goals which enabled us to develop our Vision and Mission statement that incorporates all aspects of what we do. Sarah helped us present this to the staff team over a series of workshops, including Professional development about difficult conversations and the importance of our values within the workplace.

Sarah worked with our leaders to develop their skills around direction, conflict and team work in preparation for the growth of the new Centre and more staff. The staff have found Sarah to be truly inspirational. She motivates the staff to try harder and “Bring out their best – Our Mission Statement”

Sarah has continued working with the large staff team as well as smaller workshops with our Room leaders as well as one-on-ones with our Managers. Our team has grown to over 100 staff now and so the importance of good leadership /management is even more important to a successful company and culture.  Sarah has had individuals set goals and seek solutions to problems they encounter. We have had all of our leaders’ Behavioural Profiles completed by Sarah which demonstrates the strengths of each person within the business which has helped build relationships within the team and strengthen the professional partnerships of all our leaders.

Sarah has been able to empower our leaders/managers to do their job well. She has encouraged us to look at the big picture and future plan by introducing an Emerging Leader mentoring program so that we have a succession plan when there is a change in leadership roles. The most inspiring and exciting thing about working with Sarah is that all of her advice can be related to your “whole” life, personal and work/business so any staff member, regardless of their position in the business gains knowledge and benefits.

I would highly recommend Sarah Valentine to any business. All businesses need good leadership and clear expectations and Sarah is an excellent presenter who works well with all personalities and behaviours. Sarah gives a very personalised service and demonstrates that she really cares about the company. Sarah started working with Complete Kids in October 2016 and we look forward to every visit which has been on a monthly basis. The staff are buzzing with excitement knowing Sarah is visiting and the moral is always very high after she has attended for the day.


Luke Myall

Director, HiQA Geotechnical

Kerrylee and I first met Sarah in Early 2015. She was a guest speaker at our annual leadership conference. Since then Sarah has worked with HiQA focusing on developing effective teams, turning our managers into leaders and behavioural profiling. Sarah works with all our different team groups throughout the Northern Territory helping us build the trust within each team. Profiling has been exceptionally valuable for HiQA in the areas of hiring, training and identifying improvement areas for our leaders. Overall Sarah contributed significantly to HiQA achieving the top business accolade in the Northern Territory last year by winning the Telstra Northern Territory Business of the Year for 2017.

Sarah is the perfect fit for HiQA as we are a company focused on developing dynamic leaders and productive teams.


Jack and Viv Forrest

Forrest Building Company, Darwin

We engaged Sarah Valentine as our business coach for a period of 12 months. As a family owned and operated business and being a husband and wife team we found her involvement very beneficial. Particularly the behavioural profiling of ourselves and our staff which has improved working relationships and efficiency throughout the whole team by harnessing individual strengths and understanding each other better. Sarah also became a great sounding board for ways to grow and develop our business. We would recommend her services to anyone seeking guidance in growing and developing a business.


Billy Schroeder

Director of Schroeder & Wallis

Sarah is without a doubt the best business coach I have ever had the pleasure of working with, her broad range of knowledge and experience certainly gives her the skill set to help any business owner increase their productivity and profitability.

I would highly recommend Sarah to anyone in business.


Donna Cameron

Body Map wellbeing + style strategies

As President of the Association of Image Consultants International Melbourne Chapter, I want to thank you for a fabulous workshop on Saturday! It was an absolute delight having you facilitate for us.

The feedback from all our members was excellent and from my perspective, you were everything I dared hope for – and I do have high standards! Your intelligent, humorous and empathetic presentation style worked well and kept everyone thoroughly engaged.

The content was well pitched for our group – a good blend of Purpose Passion Vision and communication techniques. As you are clearly knowledgeable about numerous topics and and we all loved you, I think we will have to get you back again for more! Thank you so much.


Paul Dobson

Director, SBG Accountants & Business Advisors

We approached Sarah Valentine to run an event for our business clients to help them in their quest to go from surviving to thriving in their business.

We believe we have a responsibility to help our clients build more efficient, profitable and valuable businesses. We chose to Sarah to help our clients on this journey.

The result was that Sarah ran an awesome event that was entertaining, interactive, thought provoking, and educational. A day whereby every person who attended left the event feeling positive and empowered to get better results in their business.

One thing I liked was the fact that we received brilliant feedback from the event, comments such as “Fantastic seminar Paul, a credit to you. Everyone is pumped. Thanks heaps for a fantastic day”.

It was an absolute pleasure working with Sarah and I’m looking forward to the next event we organise and having her involved once again.

I would highly recommend Sarah Valentine to anyone considering using her services.

 


Megan Vuillermin

President, Southern Business Women’s Network

We were lucky to have Sarah Valentine present to  members of the SBWN for a full day workshop.  Sarah was engaging and knowledgeable; the day passed incredibly quickly and many felt we would have liked it to go for several days.

Sarah gave a wonderful overview of  what it takes to make a business run even better. She reminded us how important it is to understand your ‘Why’ and the importance of great branding, marketing, communication, spending time working ON your business and how to do all of that!

Sarah is clearly very passionate about what she does, how she does it, and making a real difference through contribution.

Thank you Sarah, we look forward to having you back.


George Peat

Director, Wise Group of Company’s, Darwin, NT

WOW, I undertook the Extended DISC profile with Sarah and it totally changed my approach to business. I was blown away at how accurate the report was, but more than that how Sarah interpreted it. Her insight into human behaviour and really nailing what’s going on is second to none. I had felt quite stuck and frustrated prior to the profile, after our short conversation my whole approach changed.

I highly recommend EVERY business owner have their profile done with Sarah.


Brooke Calcagno

Owner Streetwise Driver Training, Gold Coast, QLD

Prior to working with Sarah I was worried that coaching would challenge my status quo and that I would have to invest in myself and this would mean ‘more time’ which overwhelmed me to start with.

I knew I had to spend more time on my business rather than in it, and it did take me quite some time to enable this however once I did I began to see the changes in my business particularly in terms of streamlining it. Having Sarah take me on a birds eye flight over my business assisted me in adjusting the systems, processes and values to suit my growth and direction.

I love Sarah’s tenacity, honest and holistic approach to her advice, and of course her sense of humour at how it all works, she knows when to hit hard and knows also when to slow down and allow me to take on new information, this guidance is immeasurable!

I didn’t think it would work as well as it did as I thought I knew my business better than anyone and felt that I was doing the best that I could therefore how could anyone help me improve when I’m “working so hard”!

I found that through the process Sarah identified the areas of my business where I wasn’t being as resourceful as I could be. Hence this is where I have found the biggest difference in my approach to my business.  Having a degree, I also thought I was academic enough to understand small business, but this alone was not enough so Sarah was able to show me other common sense approaches to various facets of my business.

I was concerned about being able to afford business coaching, given I didn’t seem to have any spare money, nor able to pay myself a massive salary, but I knew I needed to invest in this in order to make the changes I knew I needed but didn’t know how.

To ensure you make the most of your time with Sarah and are committed to your own outcomes, payment for such a service reaps far greater rewards.

The three biggest benefits I have found from working with Sarah have been learning how to systemise and simplify processes/procedures and HR issues, having her identify my strengths and weaknesses to build upon and learning how to take away the emotion and look at the business more as an entity that needs directing rather than part of my soul!

I would describe Sarah as highly professional and resourceful and informative.  She specialises in working with the person, getting you out of your own way to allow the business to grow. She is highly supportive and objective and calls it how it is.


Elicia Crook

Owner Ocean Grove Remedial Massage Clinic

I have been working with Sarah for  18 months. In this time I have faced many challenges in my business and life that has seen my business grow, hit rock bottom and be rebuilt from the ground up to now include 7 wonderful employees that are a values match to my business.

I am clear on my outcome, I know who I want to work with and who I want to attract to my business.  I had run my business for over 10 years prior to working with Sarah and did not achieve the success that I am now experiencing. I have learned the skills necessary to lead a strong team and make great decisions based on what outcome I am looking for . Sarah has helped me find the courage I needed to do this.

I also invited Sarah to do some staff development training with my team. We have done several of these and each one has been incredibly valuable to the staff who attended.  They are incredibly informative, inspirational and professional. Each one has left us with practical things that we can implement in the business and personally that day!

One of my life long goals has been to lead a team of Health Professionals that want to help others and want to grow themselves.  Sarah has helped my to achieve this goal by teaching me the tools and maturity that I needed.

Thank you Sarah.


Bec Lethbridge

Owner Ivy Creations, Queenscliff

I had heard from a close friend, who like me was a business owner, about Sarah Valentine. My friend told me that I had to meet her and start working with her, I had seen the growth in my friend who had been working with Sarah in a very short time frame and I thought to myself, ‘Oh, I need to meet this lady!’

In my head I knew what I needed help with in the beginning from Sarah – I wanted to be a better leader, grow my business, become more profitable and learn how to better handle my team and clients.

When I started working with Sarah my mind was blown away at how knowledgeable Sarah was, how well she could read me and she was telling me things about myself that I didn’t even know I was doing.

A few months after I began working with Sarah I started setting 90day goals and achieving them and I began educating myself through reading specific business books that she had recommended. I really loved that Sarah was challenging me to think differently, to look at situations with a wider perspective.

In business at times it can be a little lonely, you are the one that is at the top and its nice to have someone in your circle that you can bounce ideas off. Whilst I have been working with Sarah it has been so great to have someone to be accountable to.

For me working with Sarah hasn’t all been just business related- it’s been personal too. In 2012 I was involved in a serious car accident that removed me from my business for 3 months whilst I recovered. During that time my staff ran my business and I had to get myself well enough to return to work and step back into my role as the business owner. I suffered with vertigo, post traumatic stress and other brain related injuries such as memory loss and a lack of concentration. As I got stronger I realised that I really needed help not just as a business owner, but emotionally as well. Sarah provided me with specific NLP sessions during this time, she helped with my post-tramitic stress in teaching me ways to cope and it was extremely successful for me.

Having Sarah as my business coach has shaped me, stretch me outside my comfort zone and assisted my journey in ways I didn’t even think was possible. Recently I re-branded and renovated my business Ivy Creations, I never thought that I would re-brand my logo and step out to change what we have had for the past five years. Sarah was the one that recognised that the business was ready to go to the next level and having Sarah along side me through the process was amazing. Her honestly is what I love the most, she calls it like it is and always offers her advise or recommends a different alternative. I highly recommend Sarah to any business owner or individual who is prepared to work hard and design a life you love and are happy with.


Elise Perillo & Kelly Rossmann

Diabetes Australia–Vic, Type 1 & Community Programs Team

Thank you Sarah, not only was your presentation exciting, engaging and informative, you were able to direct it specifically to the target audience and members of the diabetes community. I feel that our peer support leaders walked away feeling empowered and motivated equipped with the tools to continue running their support groups to the best of their ability in 2015. It was extremely relevant to their day to day roles as peer support leaders in the community and we have had an overwhelmingly positive response from all who attended. We would love to have you as a guest speaker again!


Kyle

Rip Curl Australia

“Sarah’s ability to challenge the leadership thought process was every impressive. Identifying some of the most simple and effective personal changes to make to become a better leader was great. Great vibe, lots of laughs and plenty of food for thought.”


Carly Booth

Liquid Ink Melbourne

Liquid Ink began seeing Sarah when our business felt as if it was at a stand still. Sarah helped us re-structure our small business quickly and efficiently and kept us on track with our main goal insight. Sarah was clear and concise with her methods making her very easy to work with. I liked that she challenged us, getting us out of our comfort zone at times which in turn helped us grow rapidly in a short amount of time. Sarah is dedicated to assisting our specific needs; whether it be our personal goals, managing staff, creating a positive & safe working environment – she has been an integral part of Liquid Ink and where we are now. I would definitely recommend engaging Sarah as your business coach if you are serious about expanding and exceeding your business.


Chris Carnaby

Looking Smart, Ocean Grove, VIC

Over the last 10 years of running my business I had sought, looked and asked for help but not much was resonating and getting me profitable sales. I was feeling quite lost, frustrated and stupid for starting a business. Then I met Sarah. After listening to Sarah for 12 months I realised she had something different to offer me. I only had hope and anticipation I would learn and gain something to improve my business. I was very excited and passionate about doing more with Sarah, as I was beginning to awaken lots in me that had shut down for years.

Sarah’s frankness, honesty, no bullshit style, tell it as it is approach is refreshing. I think differently, my positivity came back and I now have clarity, purpose and vision that I apply to anything I do. My business is systemised, we are in the black and I am on the pathway to significantly reducing my hours in the business yet still making a profit.

I recommend a one on one private session with Sarah first, for many of my contacts, when they ask about how I am going business wise.  This type of session was the most valuable to unlock the blockages that were hindering me moving to a better way of thinking, and a better way to move towards a profitable business.


Alicia Hutton

Australian Gold Canyon Distributor, Woolongong, NSW

Our team has been working with Sarah for the past 6 months. Sarah’s energy, knowledge and passion of leadership has provided instrumental change in our business.  Her coaching style helps to clarify and achieve goals whilst constantly driving you to succeed.


Kylie Hall

Founder and Director, Kylie Hall Bookkeeping

Sarah’s open, ‘no bullshit’ approach and use of real words rather than buzz words is refreshing. Her honesty, openness, ability to be flexible regarding the tone/attitude of the attendees is unsurpassable. Sarah’s workshops are always personally challenging and insightful. I always come away with new information and information on how I can evolve my business to the next level. After being around Sarah for more than 3 years, I can look back proudly and see how far Sarah has helped me grow my business.


Brendan Sanders

Industry Development and Finance Officer, Tourism Greater Geelong and the Bellarine

We at Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine have had the pleasure of knowing Sarah for several years through her time as a valued Bellarine Tourism board member and active supporter of the local tourism industry.

Sarah is a true professional and valued asset to our extensive industry development calendar.  Both our industry partners and ourselves have equally benefited from Sarah’s motivational, real and engaging workshops.  As the training events organiser, the key goal for me is to always ensure attendees leave at the end of each session inspired and equipped to make some real differences both personally and professionally.  There is no question Sarah exceeds these expectations.  One of the great benefits Sarah provides attendees is not necessarily the workshop itself but the building blocks everyone leaves with.

We will continue to utilise Sarah and her knowledge in the future to further benefit our industry partners and help drive them to achieve success, not only for themselves and their businesses but also for the tourism industry as a whole.