Scott & Danielle Garber's Story

How a 3 a.m. Wake-Up Call Became a Catalyst for Breakthrough

OWNERS | DALLAS LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Scott Garber woke up in the middle of the night . . . again. It wasn’t unusual. As co-owner of a medical supply company, he had been running on fumes for a long time, getting the kind of sleep where your body shuts down but your mind keeps working.

Most nights, it was payroll, vendors or team issues that kept him up. But this time it was something darker.

“I thought, Man, if we lost everything, would that really be the worst?” Scott says.

He knew a question like that only showed up when you’d been carrying too much for too long and didn’t see a way out. What he and his wife, Danielle, did next would challenge everything they thought they knew about leadership—and ultimately change the trajectory of their business.

You don’t have to carry the weight of leadership alone.

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Strong on the Outside

Scott’s parents founded Dallas Life Support Systems in 1992, and Scott joined the business after college. He met and married Danielle, and together they spent nearly two decades learning every part of the company before purchasing it in 2018.

From the outside, it looked like a success story. The company had even been recognized as one of the fastest-growing businesses in their industry. But fast growth came with the financial pressure of mounting debt and a culture that was beginning to crack.

By the time Scott and Danielle took over, they were working 60–80 hours a week to hold things together. And some weeks, the focus of their work came down to one question: Are we still in business this week?

Danielle remembers asking that question more often than she wanted to admit. Their cash-flow problem became super clear one Thursday when, at the eleventh hour, the last $500 they needed to run payroll hit their account.

Scott’s solution? Try harder and hire people just like him—high producers with high intensity. But that created new problems. No one got along and miscommunication spread across the team.

“Any idea that I had . . . it was just not working,” Scott says. “I was just at the end of my rope.”

Pressure That Hit Home

As tension grew, Scott and Danielle found themselves managing drama and “chasing down rumors and rumors of rumors” more than leading.

“Every time somebody walked through my door,” Scott says, “I remember thinking, Oh my God . . . I don’t have the energy to handle this.”

Danielle remembers another gut-check during a vacation. Scott was with her in body, but his mind was spinning nonstop about work. Finally, she said what she’d been holding in: “I’m looking forward to one day when you can take a vacation and actually be here with me.”

Intense stress followed them home, robbing them of joy and rest. Bedtime didn’t bring relief either. Enter the 3 a.m. question Scott couldn’t shake: If we lost everything, would that really be the worst?

Between the sleepless nights and that confession, reality hit hard.

“This is not the way business should feel,” Scott says. Something had to change.

The Real Problem

For years, cash flow had felt like the center of all the chaos.

“I've got to get this much money in the bank by Thursday, and then I’ve got to pay vendors by Monday. So I need money Friday, Saturday and Sunday to make that happen,” Scott explains.

And the more they chased money, the more they started to question whether they were chasing the right problem after all.

“Cash flow felt like the biggest challenge. . . . Some of the issues that we were having were more of a leadership problem. . . . Cash flow was more of a symptom of a bigger problem,” Scott says.

Another tactic wouldn't help them. What they needed was a different way to lead.

Lead your business with more confidence and less chaos.

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When Hope Showed Up

Just as the Garbers began to wrestle with how to get clarity, Scott saw an ad for an EntreLeadership^® small-business event. He and Danielle had never heard of EntreLeadership, but they knew they had to change what they were doing. So they scraped together the funds, and Scott went to the event.

While he sat in a room full of other business leaders, something shifted.

“I remember having some tears roll down my face,” he says.

Scott wasn’t hearing theories from people who’d never struggled to make payroll. He was seeing a different way to lead. And for the first time in a long time, Scott felt hope.

Maybe, just maybe, there was a way forward.

No More Going It Alone

Immediately after the event, Scott and Danielle joined an EntreLeadership Advisory Group—a small group of business owners who meet regularly with a business coach for guidance and accountability. Within a week, they were on a call with people who understood the weight they were carrying.

“I was talking with other business leaders who were maybe 5–10 years ahead of us and listening to their testimony and realizing how close it was to our testimony,” Danielle says.

That mattered more than the couple expected when they acknowledged the isolation they felt on top of everything else.

“One of the biggest symptoms of a small-business owner is you ironically find yourself alone surrounded by people,” Scott says.

In their Advisory Group, the Garbers found friends who wouldn’t let them stay stuck.

The Mindset Shift That Changed the Business

The next big step for the Garbers was owning their mindset and their determination to lead differently.

“When you can step back and say, ‘Okay, this is my fault’ . . . that means that now you can fix it,” says Scott.

For too long, Scott and Danielle’s stress had rolled down into the team, creating an unhealthy culture. But now, Scott was ready to put to rest his “row harder” mentality. He and Danielle focused instead on empowering their team and building trust.

“We have to be a representation of everything we’re wanting of our team,” Danielle says.

So with intention over intensity, they clarified roles and established better hiring processes, monthly leadership trainings, and a zero-tolerance gossip policy. Many of the team members who endured the transition are now key leaders.

"They’ve been here with us through the tough times, and they grew through it, and they learned from it." Danielle says with gratitude. “We have some giants.”

“We have to be a representation of everything we’re wanting of our team.”

— DANIELLE GARBER

From Panic to Peace

The Garbers will tell you plainly that when they stopped obsessing over revenue and profit and started leading with a focus on building people, the tide turned.

Since 2018, they’ve paid off their business debt and the business has doubled in size. And they’ve earned 10 times more net profit in the last four years than in the previous 10.

But the biggest win is leading with purpose.

“It’s a lot more fun to come to work,” Scott says.

Outside of work, life looks different too. The Garbers can take vacations without constantly checking their phones for work texts and emails. They’re more engaged with their kids at home. They’re no longer working 12- to 14-hour days just to keep things afloat. And they’ve even picked up road cycling, logging as many as 100 miles a week together.

The couple is especially grateful for their new identity as “providers of peace” in an industry where payment shifts and regulation changes never let up.

“We’re the happy, peaceful island in a sea of chaos,” Scott adds.

And now their team carries that peace into every interaction with each other and the thousands of patients they serve.

At his lowest, Scott thought losing everything might be a relief. Today, he and Danielle lead a business they thoroughly enjoy. Becoming a better leader made the difference.

If you’ve ever had the thought, There has to be a better way to lead, here’s some good news: There is. And you don’t have to figure it out alone.

EntreLeadership Advisory Groups connect you with business owners and a seasoned coach who understand what you’re carrying and will help you get unstuck.

Discover how an Advisory Group can help you lead with confidence and peace.

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Transform Your Business and Leadership With Coaching

Dreaming of the kind of freedom the Garbers have? It starts with the right people in your corner and a proven framework to help you grow.

Advisory Groups give you both—a clear growth plan for your business and the accountability to become the leader who makes it happen. If Scott and Danielle can do it, so can you.

Fill out the form and see if an Advisory Group is a good fit for you and your business.

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