About Jeff Sands
Founder. Operator.Marine. Author.
Jeff Sands is an entrepreneur, operator, Marine Corps veteran, and author. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Vermont and an M.A. in Political Science from California State University, Fullerton. He's built companies, led Marines in combat, navigated significant personal loss, and come out the other side with a clearer understanding of what it actually takes to lead — not perform leadership, but actually practice it.
His work sits at the intersection of leadership, decision-making, and the harder question underneath both: how do you build, achieve, and carry real responsibility without losing yourself in the process? He meets people where they are — in their business problems, their leadership challenges, their pressure — and helps them see that the real obstacle is almost always internal, not strategic.
The Marine.
Jeff served as a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, deploying to Iraq with the 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion. He entered Baghdad, ran patrols through a city still burning, and came home changed in ways that took years to understand.
The military gave him discipline, accountability, and a mission-focused clarity that he's carried into every room since. It also gave him a set of questions — about meaning, identity, and what he was actually building his life around — that took years to answer honestly.
"I had spent my entire life defending my every action and belief. Once I accepted I wasn't perfect, there was nothing left to defend. Without attachments, I could let go."
Baghdad, Iraq — 2003
The book.
In 2014, Jeff published Letting Go: A Marine's Journey Through War and His Search for Meaning — a memoir that documented not only his experiences as a Marine officer, but the beginning of a much larger internal reckoning. The book explored what happens when a man who has built his identity around achievement, toughness, and forward motion finally stopped and asked whether any of it was actually his.
It isn't a self-help book. It isn't a war memoir. It's something harder to categorize — and more honest than either.
The operator.
After the Marines and a stint in the corporate world, Jeff co-founded Glow Natural Wellness — a wellness company that grew into a nationally recognized brand. Inc. 5000, top 500 fastest-growing private companies in the country, $10.7 million in annual revenue, over fifty employees, multiple acquisitions, and a real estate portfolio built alongside it through Glow Investment Group.
He's also an investor and operator with interests in wellness, telemedicine, and med spa businesses — and an increasing focus on AI-driven operational efficiency and scalable infrastructure. He understands what it takes to build something real: the financial pressure, the team dynamics, the decisions that have no clean answer.
By every external measure, it worked. And for a long time, that felt like success.
The reckoning.
What initially felt like devastating personal loss — the collapse of his marriage and the upheaval that followed — became the catalyst for the most significant shift in Jeff's thinking. Not a breakdown. A clarification.
The armor he'd been wearing for decades — the drive, the performance, the relentless forward motion — became visible to him in a way it hadn't been before. And he had to decide what to do with that visibility. The themes he'd written about in Letting Go came back with greater force and greater clarity: the cost of building your identity around achievement, the difference between ambition and purpose, what it actually means to lead rather than just perform leadership.
The insight he gained wasn't about walking away from ambition or success. It was about understanding what drives it — and whether that driver is actually yours, or something you inherited and never questioned. When you remove the resistance, the noise, the performance — what's left is often clearer and more purposeful than anything you built while running from it.
"In the back of my head an idea kept telling me, this doesn't have to be the rest of my life. This cannot be the rest of my life."
What he's building now.
Jeff shares his thinking regularly — on leadership, decision-making, and the mental frameworks that help men operate more clearly under pressure. He runs a private group for founders, executives, and operators who want to do the real work. And he speaks to organizations and leadership teams who are ready to have honest conversations about what it actually takes to lead.
His second book is in progress — an expansion of the ideas in Letting Go, informed by everything that's happened since. It goes further.
Unlike many voices in the leadership space, Jeff doesn't position himself as a polished guru or a motivational personality. His approach is direct, honest, and grounded in lived experience — including failure, uncertainty, and personal rebuilding. He speaks openly about the tension between ambition and presence, between building companies and not becoming consumed by them, between pursuing excellence and maintaining the clarity to know why you're doing it.
Lieutenant, USMC
2003 Iraq Deployment, Baghdad
Inc. 5000
Top 500 Fastest-Growing Companies
$10.7M
Peak Annual Revenue, Glow Natural Wellness
Published 2014
Letting Go — First Book
What Jeff focuses on
Leadership under pressure
Decision-making in high-stakes environments
AI, automation, and the future of work
The psychology of high-performers
Building companies without losing yourself in them
Identity and the weight of responsibility
Emotional resilience and mental clarity
Purpose beyond external achievement
Common Questions
Frequently Asked
Jeff Sands is a former United States Marine Corps officer who served in combat, a successful entrepreneur who built an eight-figure business, and the author of the memoir 'Letting Go.' His background spans military leadership, high-stakes entrepreneurship, and deep personal transformation.
Jeff Sands served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, leading Marines in combat. His military experience forms the foundation of his philosophy on leadership, decision-making under pressure, and mental clarity.
Jeff Sands built an eight-figure company after leaving the Marine Corps. His entrepreneurial journey — including both its success and the personal cost of that success — is central to the themes in his book 'Letting Go' and his coaching work.
Jeff Sands is known as a Marine veteran, author, speaker, and leadership coach. He is the author of 'Letting Go,' a memoir about war, identity, and personal transformation. He coaches founders and executives on leading with clarity and authenticity under pressure.
Yes. Jeff Sands runs a private leadership group for founders and executives, and publishes a free newsletter on leadership, decision-making, and mental clarity. You can subscribe at jeffreysands.com/newsletter and apply to work with him at jeffreysands.com/work-with-jeff.
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