In this candid conversation on the Thrive with Cate Podcast, Cate Stillman sits down with Sara Sherman — founder of Dandelion Family, therapeutic farm operator, equine-assisted coach, and Alex Hormozi Vantage mastermind member — for a real-time look at what it takes to rebuild a wellness business from the ground up using an AI operating system.
Sara opens up about the collapse most wellness pros never see coming: after 5 years of building her Medicaid-funded therapeutic practice in Minnesota from $200K to $1.3M in revenue (540% growth), state policy changes on May 18, 2025 wiped out her entire operating model overnight. She went from a team of 14 to herself, her husband, and a couple of part-time staff — with 21 families cut off from services through no fault of her own.
What she's built in the months since is remarkable: a virtual group coaching offering for parents of children with complex behaviors, powered entirely by an AI operating system Sara built herself using Claude Cowork, Claude Code, and the Terminal — with zero engineering background and a health condition that limits her screen time.
Cate mirrors the parallel arc: rebuilding Yogahealer into Club Thrive and Wellness Pro Academy with a Claude-based AI operating system for her small team. Together, they name the elephant nobody in the wellness world wants to talk about — the AI shaming quietly silencing the conscious voices that should be leading this technology, not abstaining from it.
This is a conversation for every wellness pro, coach, or holistic practitioner watching the AI revolution from the sidelines — and wondering if there's a way to lean in without losing their integrity.
Together, Cate and Sara explore:
- Rebuilding After Collapse: How to move from fee-for-government contracts to direct-to-consumer group coaching when the rules change overnight — and why one clear virtual offer is often the fastest path back to cash flow
- The Command Agent: Sara's daily AI operating prompt that pulls her top three priorities, financial snapshot, funnel status, and Asana updates every morning — and why building "guardrails" is the visionary's superpower
- Living Embodiment of Your Brain: Why Sara's AI operating system revealed her lagging skills more clearly than any coach ever could — and what she chose to build vs. what she chose to strengthen internally
- Terminal, Cowork, and Code for Non-Engineers: How to start when you've never opened a terminal window, don't know what a hard drive is doing, and are terrified of overwriting files (both women share their "oops" moments)
- Slop vs. Integrity: Why hyper-generation with AI destroys quality — and how "systems lord" constraints actually protect your mission
- AI Shaming in the Wellness World: Why conscious, socially-aware wellness pros abstaining from AI is a bigger integrity issue than the environmental critique — and who benefits when the most thoughtful voices stay silent
- Grit and Neuroplasticity: Why AI adoption requires the exact discipline (do hard things in the short term to become stronger in the long term) that the wellness world claims to teach but often avoids
- Upholding Dharma Through Policy: Why Cate had to stop breaking her own membership policies — and how AI is teaching visionary founders to honor the systems they build
- The Isolation of the AI Forward: Why breaking silence in a conscious community that judges AI use is its own act of leadership — and why the impact-multiplier of AI belongs in the hands of the wisest, not the loudest
This episode is an invitation for every conscious wellness pro standing on the sidelines of the AI revolution. If you've been quietly experimenting but afraid to say so — or if you've been convinced abstaining is virtuous — this conversation gives you permission and a map.
Notable Quote: "You can't save the planet by abstaining. The judgment is largely coming from the uninformed. If you use AI effectively for your cause, it could actually make a difference."
Connect with Sara Sherman:
Connect with Cate Stillman:
- Website: wellnesspro.academy
- Podcast: Thrive with Cate
- Books: Body Thrive, Master of You, Primal Habits, Uninflamed
Referenced Resources:
- Alex Hormozi's Vantage Mastermind (on SKOOL)
- Ruben Hasid on Substack (AI newsletter for non-developers)
- Lenny's Newsletter on Substack
- Claude Cowork, Claude Code, Perplexity
- Company of One by Paul Jarvis
- Plaud (voice recorder for verbal processors)
If this episode gave you permission to lean into AI as a conscious wellness pro, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with the practitioner in your life who's been quietly waiting to be told it's okay.
