Powerful Women Rising - A Business Podcast for Female Entrepreneurs
Welcome to Powerful Women Rising, the no-nonsense, laugh-out-loud podcast for heart-centered female entrepreneurs ready to make an impact (and a profit) while staying true to themselves!
Forget cookie-cutter, one size fits all advice. Each episode provides customizable advice and strategies to help you grow and scale your business - from leveraging authentic connections to mastering the art of marketing without feeling like a salesy weirdo. Plus, you'll hear insightful interviews with experts who shed light on those sneaky blind spots in your businessand dish out practical, no-BS advice for making more money in a way that feels good.
Tune in and transform the way you do business – because when women rise together, the sky's the limit!
Powerful Women Rising - A Business Podcast for Female Entrepreneurs
Top Tips for Navigating Networking Events Sober w/ Sarah Dice
There are many networking events that revolve around alcohol and I'm convinced some people who "love networking" actually just love Happy Hour.
If you're someone who doesn't drink, you know how awkward it can get in these types of social settings. Or maybe you're just considering cutting alcohol out but aren't sure where to start or how to do it?
In today's episode, I interview Sarah Dice, a Life "in Soberland" Coach, who shares her transformative journey of quitting drinking and reclaiming her social life.
Sarah talks about some of the most common challenges we face when trying to navigate networking events or other social occasions without drinking and gives examples from her own life of how she overcame them.
We also discuss ways to redefine your approach to networking and socializing, so you can embrace these events with confidence, even when you're sober.
Whether you're alcohol-free or just considering cutting back, this episode will equip you with some of the tools you need to be successful.
---
Get our free list of the Top Virtual Networking Events for Female Entreprenuers Here! https://powerfulwomenrising.com/
Learn more about becoming a member of the Powerful Women Rising Community here: https://powerfulwomenrising.com/community/
--
To connect with Sarah and learn more about how she can help you:
https://www.sarahdice.com
https://www.instagram.com/life.and.dice
Welcome to Powerful Women Rising, the podcast where we ditch the rulebook and build businesses with authenticity, integrity and a whole lot of fun. Join host Melissa Snow, business relationship strategist and founder of the Powerful Women Rising community, as she interviews top experts and shares candid insights on business strategy, marketing, mindset and more. Let's get real, get inspired and rise together. This is Powerful Women Rising.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Powerful Women Rising podcast. I'm your host, melissa Snow. I think we've got that intro better right. It's faster, not so echoey and weird. And yeah, we're. Listen, man, entrepreneurship is a learning curve all the way from zero figures to six figures and beyond. We are always figuring it out. Speaking of things, we're figuring out how about navigating social situations and networking events without drinking? Ever tried to figure that out? I am super excited for today's interview.
Speaker 2:I found Sarah on a one of those directories for podcast guests who are looking for opportunities to be guests on other people's podcasts and initially I thought, well, that's a weird topic for an entrepreneurship podcast. But then I thought this is something actually that I think a lot of people struggle with. There is a lot of drinking that happens at networking events and networking meetings and cocktail hours and happy hours and oh, come meet my friends for wine or whatever. It is right. You know, I always say networking is anywhere that you can connect with other people, and there's often alcohol involved in that.
Speaker 2:So I am really excited for you to hear this interview with Sarah Dice. She is a 45-year-old teacher and life coach who is passionate about helping women embrace their sober selves and realize that more things are possible than impossible. You'll hear a little bit about her story, but she quit drinking four years ago after a long, drawn-out struggle with alcoholism. She's since navigated all the emotions and experiences without alcohol, and her path led her to become a life coach for other women who are navigating life without drinking. So, without further ado, here is my interview with Sarah. Hello, sarah, welcome to the podcast. Hi, thanks for having me. Yeah, so I'm really excited for you to share with the people that are listening what it is that you do.
Speaker 3:Yes, it is such an important topic and I feel like it doesn't get talked about enough. So I do life coaching, and how that came about is because I quit drinking about four years ago, in May, and specifically talking to this topic of social situations and drinking, I was fortunate enough to quit drinking right at COVID, so I didn't miss out on anything. I didn't have to be like, oh my gosh, everybody's out. This is so hard. Nobody was out. But then, once COVID started lifting, I was sort of like I miss drinking. And then I had to think about it and I was like do I, though? Do I? And then came to the conclusion no, I don't miss the drinking, I miss the socializing, meeting people, the getting out.
Speaker 3:So I did a deep dive into that was really strategic started going out, started doing these things little by little, and I just and I loved it eventually and was totally at ease with it. And that was one of the factors where I was like I want to help other people be happy and sober, because you know it's a brave choice and you're a badass for doing it, and I just felt like I was in a place to help other people. So that's when I got my life coaching certificate and kind of did a deep dive into things around surrounding confidence. So it's been a fabulous self-growth journey and even if I never coach another client, I've grown exponentially, so it's just been fabulous.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I am excited to talk about it. Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I think this is such a great topic for us to talk about. When I was preparing for the interview, I thought are people going to think this is like a very random topic, like why are we all of a sudden talking about not drinking on a podcast that is supposed to be for female entrepreneurs? But one of the things that I talk about the most is networking and building your relationships with people. Right, networking happens anywhere, not just at networking events, but anywhere that you're creating and building relationships with people. And I talk a lot about how, like there's different types of networking events and some of them are more like structured and we're doing an activity and here's the thing to talk about with these five people. But a lot of them are just like hey, there's a happy hour tonight from five to eight. Come join us and it's just, we just mingle and we drink and we have snacks and we talk to whoever. And I really love what you talk about, because you talk a lot about the link between confidence and drinking, or confidence and not drinking, and I see that a lot in networking for people who feel really nervous about networking, or people like me who are uncomfortable at those kinds of events, like I'm not the kind of person that's just going to walk up to a random group of people and be like hi, I'm Melissa, but if I've had a few glasses of wine I probably will, and so it's really interesting the work that you do around the link between those two things, and I want to make it clear that what we're talking about today and a lot of the work that you do, it's not.
Speaker 2:We're not talking about alcoholics. We're not talking about people with problem drinking behaviors, necessarily. We're talking about people who just choose not to drink, and maybe they choose not to drink in certain situations, maybe they choose not to drink ever, but, for whatever reason, they're choosing not to drink when they're out at these events or in these social situations, and I think a lot more people are making this choice nowadays. We see a lot more people are making this choice nowadays. We see a lot more people. We see a lot more like bars and social places that are upping their mocktail assortments. It's not just like okay, well, I'm either drinking or I guess I'll have some lemon in my water to be fancy. So do you feel like that's something that is happening more and more? You think people not drinking, especially out in social situations?
Speaker 3:It's 100% happening more and just out of curiosity. Before we met, I was thinking to myself I wonder how many people don't drink, because it does seem to be rising rapidly, and so the statistic I found was in 2023, 28% of Americans 21 and older don't drink. I thought that was a lot higher than.
Speaker 3:I would have. I mean, I know in my city, minneapolis, we have two complete NA stores. If you walked in you would think it was a liquor store, but it's all NA options. So it is definitely rising popularity and I think that makes it easier when I think a big thing people worry about and stress about is what happens when people say why don't you drink? Like what are you supposed to say and what's your answer.
Speaker 3:And that was a huge one for me and I know for other people, which I highly recommend practicing that beforehand, so you don't get caught off guard and all of a sudden you're spilling your life story and you're like, why did I do that? But it is a rising trend. So now when people ask that, you know it used to be basically, if you quit you had a problem, but it's not like that anymore. So I think that's a good reminder when people are stressing out about thinking that they are different or sticking out from the crowd and and people don't care as much anymore. I have found people don't care if you drink or not. I thought they would, but they don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think most of the time for me, when people ask why I don't drink, it's more out of curiosity than it is judgment. And I'm not sure which is more awkward, like when people ask why don't you drink? Or when people don't ask cause they just assume that you have a problem with alcohol and now they're like weird or like well, is it okay that I'm drinking? Like I'm like do whatever you want, I'm just here with my own choice.
Speaker 2:So what are some of the biggest challenges that you find people face in social settings when they're not drinking?
Speaker 3:I think the lead up and getting out of our own heads and thinking that people care more than they do. Not being prepared, I would say the first few times, don't wing it, prepare your answer about. When people say why don't you drink, you can just say it's just not in my best interest anymore, it's just I didn't want it to be a part of my life, or I decided in these settings I'm not going to, and then follow up with the questions. So there's not like the weird awkward silence, no-transcript, little barrier. And so the first couple times I was like, oh my gosh, this is exhausting.
Speaker 3:Going out without drinking is exhausting. And then I realized it's. You know, people are elevated, people are down, people are all this and you're attuned to it because you're not drinking. And so I've made a conscious effort to put up an energy shield. When I go out, I protect my energy. And if I need to take a break and step away to recalibrate, if I need to leave a little early, that's fine. You just have to listen to yourself and and as you go, if you are exhausted the first couple of times, you do it. Eventually you're not. Eventually it's like okay, this is just so I live my life.
Speaker 2:It's great, yeah. Yeah, I think in the beginning I often left before anyone else because it's like when people are on their first one or two drinks it's like, okay, this is tolerable. Once we get into drinks like three, four and five, like the gap between the person not drinking and the person who's on drink five has just become so big that it's like this is not even fun anymore for me. Yeah, I think it's helpful to in the beginning. One of the things that I did I always. My line now is like it's just not my thing. Like when people are like, why, why don't you drink, why aren't you drinking, I'm like it's just not my thing.
Speaker 2:But in the beginning I would go with another friend who wasn't drinking very often and that made it a little bit easier just because it wasn't like. I didn't feel like I was the one weirdo at the table who wasn't drinking. But also my friend knew like this is what we're doing, and so it was helpful when somebody was like, well, why not? Well, don't you blah and aren't you blah, blah. When somebody was like, well, why not? Well, don't you blah and aren't you all? A lot to my for my friend to be like okay, let's talk about something else. You know, like I feel like there's always power in numbers and those kinds of situations.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that is very comforting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And even if you go with someone, that if you can't find someone that doesn't drink, you go with a friend that is specifically there to support you in and maybe even have a little signal like, or they can be attuned to if someone's asking you too many questions, they interject.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's really interesting what you said about picking up on other people's energy. I never noticed that before, but now that you're saying it it's totally true. Like you, it's like they're all going into this like cave together, but you're like not going in the cave, like it looks really different out here y'all. So you talk a lot about this confidence toolbox. We talked about in this in the beginning the link between confidence and drinking or not drinking. What are some of the tools that you recommend people have in their confidence toolbox If they're going to go out into these social settings and not drink?
Speaker 3:I think the biggest thing is preparation. One thing I do that deflates my sort of nervous. I hate saying anxiety, because when I say anxiety it makes me feel like it's out of my control. But if I say nervousness or excitement, then I'm like okay, I can deal with that situation. You know, sometimes we think of potential situations that probably will never happen. I just cut it and you just say to yourself I'm nervous about going into this without drinking. And then you say so, okay, so what am I going to do about it? And then it just stops everything in its tracks and it feels like it's more of a problem that you can address and solve and not something that's out of your control. So I start with that and then I always start.
Speaker 3:I always set my intention. Well, what is my intention going into this? Am I trying to make everyone my best friend? No, my intention is to.
Speaker 3:If it's strictly professional, my intention is to get my information out and learn from other people. We sort of get into our own world, but we learn from every situation from all these other people. We sort of get into our own world, but we learn from every situation from all these different people. So my intention is to learn and to share my information, or, if it's more of a social setting, my intention is to just have fun and conversate and learn about other people. So when you set your intention, if you start to veer off during, just remind yourself well, my intention is just to have fun and learn about other people and then definitely practice, just practice, because the big thing that can throw you off is that. So why don't you drink? And then afterwards always re-evaluating how did it go? What made you feel comfortable? What made you feel uncomfortable? What do you feel like you handled really well? What do you feel? You know that maybe you didn't do so well that you could next time. Yeah, and I know it's getting easier and easier every time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure that is true. One of the things that I tell people a lot when it comes to networking events in general is like find the ones that work for you. Find the ones that have the people or the format or the place or whatever. It is that like when you leave there, you're like, oh my gosh, that was so good. And notice when you go to the ones that you leave there and you're like that was miserable, or like my energy is completely drained, like what was it about that environment that made you feel that way? So, for example, like when you go to co-ed networking events, do you feel like you not drinking is more of a thing than when you go to all female events? Do you feel like you not drinking is more of a thing than when you go to all female events? Do you feel like it's more of a thing when you're going to like?
Speaker 2:For me, I think it is a lot more common of a question when I'm going to an event that's in the evening or at night than when I'm going to like a networking meeting that meets for breakfast or like an afternoon tea, right, like nobody's, like hey, why aren't you drinking that tea? And also the setup, like. Some of them are very structured, where it's like okay, you're going to go to this table and talk to these five people about this topic for five minutes. Others are more just like let's go and mingle, and sometimes when you're going and mingling, it's harder to not drink either, because you're nervous, because people are noticing more, because you're meeting more people, because of the environment, whatever it is. So like pay attention to the structures and the people and the setups that feel the best for you, where you feel the most relaxed and like you can be the most yourself without drinking, and find more of those things.
Speaker 3:Yes, 100%. And when you first start doing it might look different than a year, maybe a year from now, you don't care, you'll go to whatever. But in the beginning I think that's being strategic is so important because it can be defeating. If you go to one that really is uncomfortable and you walk away feeling like it wasn't your jam, you might think, oh my gosh, I can't do any of it. I can't do any of it without drinking. So really I love that idea Just picking the ones that speak to you, especially in the beginning.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of my first life coaches used to tell me, like you have two choices here. You can either stay in the same circumstance and work on your thoughts, like change your thoughts so you feel differently and you have a different experience, or you can just not be in that circumstance anymore, and that is also a great choice, right? Like we don't have to keep going to these evening cocktail hours where everyone is drinking and all the men are like hey, why don't you smile more? You should have a drink. That was like every frat party I ever went to. You don't have to keep going to those and be like no, I'm white knuckling till. This is comfortable. Like, why find one that's more comfortable? Go there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and when it aligns with you, you're more your authentic self, and so I feel like more connections will be made anyways.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yep, you're speaking my language, so if people want to learn more about what you do, if they're interested in figuring out how to navigate some of these social situations without drinking, what's the best way for them to connect with you?
Speaker 3:I have a website, sarahdicecom.
Speaker 2:Awesome. I will put the link for your website in the show notes before we wrap up. Is there any thing else that I haven't asked you? Any words of wisdom that you have for people who might be listening, who are considering not drinking, or who are trying to do it either successfully or very challengingly?
Speaker 3:I just remind yourself, if you're in navigating life, or thinking about navigating life, without drinking, that is one of the most bad, most badass things you can do and you're brave for even thinking about it and it's doable, and it's fun and it's fabulous.
Speaker 2:You're in great company with Sarah and I and there's lots of support out there. Sarah can help you. She's got all the resources. She's been through it herself, so definitely connect with her. Thank you so much, sarah. This has been great. All right, thank you, it was fun.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Powerful Women Rising. We hope today's episode inspired you to keep rising. If you love the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review. It's like giving us a virtual hug and helps more awesome women like you find the show. Click the link in the show notes to get your free list of top virtual networking events for female entrepreneurs. It's time to make real connections and grow your business with integrity and authenticity. Until next time, keep rising and stay powerful.
