This conversation breaks selling down into three elements that actually matter.

Not hacks.
Not pressure.
Not performance.

I talk through clarity, connection, and conversion, and why missing even one of these keeps so many capable entrepreneurs stuck.

Clarity starts with knowing who you’re speaking to and what you’re really offering. Without that, everything else becomes noise. Connection is about resonance, not persuasion. It’s what happens when your message reflects the lived experience of the person listening. And conversion isn’t about manipulation, it’s about removing friction so the right people can say yes with confidence.

I share how these three elements work together, and how storytelling weaves through all of them. Your story isn’t an add-on. It’s the thread that makes your message human, memorable, and trustworthy.

This episode also touches on how I support entrepreneurs inside the Stop Waffling, Start Selling membership, where daily prompts, live calls, and a growing content library help turn insight into consistent action.

If selling has started to feel heavy or disconnected, this episode will bring you back to what works, and why it works.

About Sandra:

Sandra ten Hoope is a Sales & Story Strategist and corporate attorney. Drawing from her own experiences with three challenging relationships, she empowers professional women to rewrite their personal narratives. In her 2020 book, Do Not Try HIM at Home, Sandra reveals the duality of her life—successfully closing multi-million-pound deals while living in fear at home. The book struck a chord with countless women who saw their own struggles reflected in her story, offering them comfort and a sense of community.

Many entrepreneurs among her readers reached out, eager to understand how their personal stories could enhance their business growth. Sandra's answer was clear: personal experiences, no matter how difficult, are invaluable assets. As a Certified Business Strategist and Master Persuader, she created the Stop Waffling, Start Selling podcast, helping business owners harness the power of their unique stories. This storytelling approach personalizes brands and draws in clients, with Sandra advocating for strategic sharing, even in small doses, to make a powerful impact.

This conversation is about the mission behind Stop Waffling, Start Selling and why it has evolved.

When I first started this podcast, the goal was simple: help entrepreneurs find clarity around sales. What I quickly saw was something deeper. Many business owners, especially women at this stage of life, weren’t just confused about selling. They were overwhelmed by myths, rules, and now the added pressure of AI telling them how they should sound, show up, and perform.

This episode explains why the mission has shifted.

Selling doesn’t need to feel forced, loud, or disconnected from who you are. It works best when it’s rooted in your own voice, your lived experience, and the value you actually bring.

I talk about why storytelling isn’t a trend or a tactic, but a practical way to create trust, clarity, and connection in a noisy world. Why your perspective matters more than perfectly generated content. And why relying solely on external strategies often pulls people further away from themselves.

The mission now is simple and deliberate. To give entrepreneurs the tools, language, and confidence to integrate their real experiences into their business in a way that feels honest and effective.

This episode is for anyone who wants selling to feel natural again, and for those ready to build a business that sounds like them.

About Sandra:

Sandra ten Hoope is a Sales & Story Strategist and corporate attorney. Drawing from her own experiences with three challenging relationships, she empowers professional women to rewrite their personal narratives. In her 2020 book, Do Not Try HIM at Home, Sandra reveals the duality of her life—successfully closing multi-million-pound deals while living in fear at home. The book struck a chord with countless women who saw their own struggles reflected in her story, offering them comfort and a sense of community.

Many entrepreneurs among her readers reached out, eager to understand how their personal stories could enhance their business growth. Sandra's answer was clear: personal experiences, no matter how difficult, are invaluable assets. As a Certified Business Strategist and Master Persuader, she created the Stop Waffling, Start Selling podcast, helping business owners harness the power of their unique stories. This storytelling approach personalizes brands and draws in clients, with Sandra advocating for strategic sharing, even in small doses, to make a powerful impact.

This episode is for anyone who keeps circling the same ideas, second-guessing their voice, or feeling like their story should be working harder than it is.

I walk you through what’s inside the Stop Waffling, Start Selling membership and, more importantly, why it exists.

This isn’t about more noise, more tactics, or chasing the next marketing trend. It’s about creating consistency, clarity, and confidence through deliberate action.

Inside the membership, you get early access to podcast episodes, a growing content library filled with case studies, templates, and story prompts, and daily cues to help you create content without overthinking or starting from scratch.

We meet weekly for live calls that include coaching, real questions, and honest conversations. You’ll also hear from guest experts and fellow members who are applying what they learn in real businesses, not just theory.

Members also get free access to quarterly workshops designed to help you go deeper, refine your message, and implement what you’ve been circling for far too long.

This space is for entrepreneurs who are ready to stop wobbling, trust their voice, and use their story with intention, not exposure.

If you’re done collecting information and ready to start applying it, this episode will help you decide whether this is the right place for you.

About Sandra:

Sandra ten Hoope is a Sales & Story Strategist and corporate attorney. Drawing from her own experiences with three challenging relationships, she empowers professional women to rewrite their personal narratives. In her 2020 book, Do Not Try HIM at Home, Sandra reveals the duality of her life—successfully closing multi-million-pound deals while living in fear at home. The book struck a chord with countless women who saw their own struggles reflected in her story, offering them comfort and a sense of community.

Many entrepreneurs among her readers reached out, eager to understand how their personal stories could enhance their business growth. Sandra's answer was clear: personal experiences, no matter how difficult, are invaluable assets. As a Certified Business Strategist and Master Persuader, she created the Stop Waffling, Start Selling podcast, helping business owners harness the power of their unique stories. This storytelling approach personalizes brands and draws in clients, with Sandra advocating for strategic sharing, even in small doses, to make a powerful impact.

I talk about the structure behind the podcast, the pace, and the choices that might feel quieter than what the online world usually pushes. This show isn’t designed to compete with noise or chase trends. It’s designed to support clarity, confidence, and consistency through real storytelling.

I share why personal narrative still matters in a world increasingly filled with AI-generated content, and why your lived experience will always carry more weight than perfectly generated words without meaning behind them.

You’ll hear about the seasonal rhythm of the podcast and how each season reflects a different energy. Summer leans into ease and radiance. Autumn grounds us in ripeness and celebration. Winter slows things down to steady, intentional storytelling. Spring is about gentle emergence and renewed direction.

I also speak openly about stepping away from my day job to dedicate myself fully to this work, and why building a business with calm, self-trust, and clarity matters more to me than speed or scale.

This episode is an invitation into the thinking behind the show. The values shaping it. And the reminder that business doesn’t have to be loud or relentless to be effective.

If you’re drawn to a slower, steadier way of building something meaningful, this will resonate.

About Sandra:

Sandra ten Hoope is a Sales & Story Strategist and corporate attorney. Drawing from her own experiences with three challenging relationships, she empowers professional women to rewrite their personal narratives. In her 2020 book, Do Not Try HIM at Home, Sandra reveals the duality of her life—successfully closing multi-million-pound deals while living in fear at home. The book struck a chord with countless women who saw their own struggles reflected in her story, offering them comfort and a sense of community.

Many entrepreneurs among her readers reached out, eager to understand how their personal stories could enhance their business growth. Sandra's answer was clear: personal experiences, no matter how difficult, are invaluable assets. As a Certified Business Strategist and Master Persuader, she created the Stop Waffling, Start Selling podcast, helping business owners harness the power of their unique stories. This storytelling approach personalizes brands and draws in clients, with Sandra advocating for strategic sharing, even in small doses, to make a powerful impact.

This episode is about the book, but it’s also about everything that led to it.

I share the story behind Do Not Try HIM at Home and why this book needed to exist. Not as a memoir for entertainment, but as a lifeline for women who recognise pieces of themselves in my story.

I talk about growing up between cultures, early family dynamics, and the insecurities that quietly shaped my choices long before I understood them. How success in my professional life ran parallel to confusion and harm in my personal one. And how repeated patterns don’t come from weakness, but from unexamined conditioning.

I reflect on the relationships that broke me, the near-death experience that forced me to stop pretending I was fine, and the long, unglamorous process of rebuilding myself from the inside out.

This book was written for professional, capable women who cannot reconcile how they ended up in situations that eroded their confidence, safety, or sense of self. Women who are outwardly successful and inwardly struggling. Women who feel ashamed of stories that were never their fault.

We talk about why storytelling matters. Why naming your experience changes it. And how rewriting your internal script is not about reinvention, but about returning to yourself with clarity and compassion.

This episode is an invitation to understand the intention behind the pages. And to remind you that no matter how entrenched a pattern feels, it can be interrupted.

Your story is not over. And it was never meant to stay hidden.

About Sandra:

Sandra ten Hoope is a Sales & Story Strategist and corporate attorney. Drawing from her own experiences with three challenging relationships, she empowers professional women to rewrite their personal narratives. In her 2020 book, Do Not Try HIM at Home, Sandra reveals the duality of her life—successfully closing multi-million-pound deals while living in fear at home. The book struck a chord with countless women who saw their own struggles reflected in her story, offering them comfort and a sense of community.

Many entrepreneurs among her readers reached out, eager to understand how their personal stories could enhance their business growth. Sandra's answer was clear: personal experiences, no matter how difficult, are invaluable assets. As a Certified Business Strategist and Master Persuader, she created the Stop Waffling, Start Selling podcast, helping business owners harness the power of their unique stories. This storytelling approach personalizes brands and draws in clients, with Sandra advocating for strategic sharing, even in small doses, to make a powerful impact.

This moves into territory where discomfort quietly crosses into danger.

I share what unfolded in a relationship built on misplaced trust and long-standing familiarity. A man who had been part of my life since childhood. Someone who knew my history, my vulnerabilities, and how to present himself as safe.

What followed was manipulation that hid in plain sight. Lies that unravelled slowly. Financial deceit. Boundary violations that escalated into stalking. And the disorientating experience of realising that the person causing harm was doing so deliberately and repeatedly.

I talk about how trust can be exploited when it’s earned early and never re-examined. How patterns repeat, not because we’re naïve, but because we’re conditioned to minimise discomfort until it becomes something far more serious.

This episode also explores the strange aftermath. Conversations with people who came after me. Stories that mirrored my own. And the unexpected moment of closure that arrived years later in the form of an apology I never anticipated, but deeply needed.

This isn’t about blame or shock value. It’s about recognising the line between something feeling wrong and something being dangerous. About understanding how manipulation works. And about reclaiming your narrative once the truth is finally clear.

For entrepreneurs, creatives, and leaders, I also reflect on why personal stories, when shared with intention, can become powerful assets rather than private burdens.

This is the part where survival turns into understanding.

About Sandra:

Sandra ten Hoope is a Sales & Story Strategist and corporate attorney. Drawing from her own experiences with three challenging relationships, she empowers professional women to rewrite their personal narratives. In her 2020 book, Do Not Try HIM at Home, Sandra reveals the duality of her life—successfully closing multi-million-pound deals while living in fear at home. The book struck a chord with countless women who saw their own struggles reflected in her story, offering them comfort and a sense of community.

Many entrepreneurs among her readers reached out, eager to understand how their personal stories could enhance their business growth. Sandra's answer was clear: personal experiences, no matter how difficult, are invaluable assets. As a Certified Business Strategist and Master Persuader, she created the Stop Waffling, Start Selling podcast, helping business owners harness the power of their unique stories. This storytelling approach personalizes brands and draws in clients, with Sandra advocating for strategic sharing, even in small doses, to make a powerful impact.

I sat down with Cindy Hunting for a conversation about building a business that works in the real world, not just on paper.

Cindy started her career as an assistant and went on to found her own company in the compliance sector five years ago. Today, she works closely with both candidates and companies, providing compliance and intermediary services that go far beyond matching profiles to roles.

What stood out in this conversation was Cindy’s deep respect for the human side of her work. She talked openly about why relationships matter more than checklists, and how understanding people properly leads to better outcomes for everyone involved.

We also spoke about the realities of balancing business growth with family life, and how that juggle shapes the way you lead, decide, and prioritise. Cindy shared her perspective on the rise of AI in recruitment and compliance, where it helps, where it falls short, and why it can never replace human judgement and trust.

This episode is a reminder that even in highly regulated, process-driven industries, connection still matters. Listening still matters. And building a business that feels human is not a weakness, it’s a strength.

If you care about doing work well, treating people properly, and navigating change without losing yourself in the process, this conversation will resonate.

About Cindy:

A positive and always cheerful personality, Cindy Hunting, after 21+ years of experience, decided to take the plunge and do what she's good at and what she enjoys: providing high-quality legal advice and connecting people.

She discovered her entrepreneurial qualities while working tirelessly for her employers and career. Her ever-curious and positive attitude allowed her to regularly engage in substantive, but above all, practical, discussions with managers and/or management. The goal was always: how could things be improved for everyone within the company, but also for the company itself? This means she always manages to find a suitable solution not only as a Compliance Professional but also as a mediator. For her former employers, she has also always been a valuable resource and utilized her network to fill vacancies or assign advisors to clients, for example.

As an ambitious young person, she began her career in retail. There, she quickly demonstrated initiative and perseverance. After more than five years, she also applied these qualities to financial and legal services. Her work experience with various small and large companies, diverse sectors, and positions, along with her higher professional education (HBO) law degree, has allowed her to further develop her skills and personality. This allows her to seamlessly handle situations and provide advice. Throughout her career, she has seen and learned a g

About Sandra:

Sandra ten Hoope is a Sales & Story Strategist and corporate attorney. Drawing from her own experiences with three challenging relationships, she empowers professional women to rewrite their personal narratives. In her 2020 book, Do Not Try HIM at Home, Sandra reveals the duality of her life—successfully closing multi-million-pound deals while living in fear at home. The book struck a chord with countless women who saw their own struggles reflected in her story, offering them comfort and a sense of community.

Many entrepreneurs among her readers reached out, eager to understand how their personal stories could enhance their business growth. Sandra's answer was clear: personal experiences, no matter how difficult, are invaluable assets. As a Certified Business Strategist and Master Persuader, she created the Stop Waffling, Start Selling podcast, helping business owners harness the power of their unique stories. This storytelling approach personalizes brands and draws in clients, with Sandra advocating for strategic sharing, even in small doses, to make a powerful impact.

The comments brushed off as harmless.
The behaviour explained by sympathy.
The quiet voice inside that knows something is wrong, long before the evidence appears.

In this episode, I share what unfolded as my relationship began to bleed into friendships, family dynamics, and my sense of self. How dishonesty didn’t arrive loudly, but drip by drip. How betrayal rarely looks dramatic at first. And how trust, once fractured, is often repaired by denial rather than truth.

I talk about the times I ignored my own instincts. The times I chose belief over evidence. And the moment everything unravelled when I walked into my own home and found the truth waiting there.

This is not a story about blame.
It’s a story about conditioning.
About how capable, intelligent women are taught to doubt themselves before they doubt others.

This episode is for anyone who has ever minimised their own discomfort, defended behaviour that didn’t sit right, or stayed longer than they should have because leaving felt harder than enduring.

It’s about learning to recognise when empathy becomes self-abandonment. And why rebuilding trust starts with turning it back towards yourself.

This is about the cost of not listening when your body already knows!

About Sandra:

Sandra ten Hoope is a Sales & Story Strategist and corporate attorney. Drawing from her own experiences with three challenging relationships, she empowers professional women to rewrite their personal narratives. In her 2020 book, Do Not Try HIM at Home, Sandra reveals the duality of her life—successfully closing multi-million-pound deals while living in fear at home. The book struck a chord with countless women who saw their own struggles reflected in her story, offering them comfort and a sense of community.

Many entrepreneurs among her readers reached out, eager to understand how their personal stories could enhance their business growth. Sandra's answer was clear: personal experiences, no matter how difficult, are invaluable assets. As a Certified Business Strategist and Master Persuader, she created the Stop Waffling, Start Selling podcast, helping business owners harness the power of their unique stories. This storytelling approach personalizes brands and draws in clients, with Sandra advocating for strategic sharing, even in small doses, to make a powerful impact.