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Speech Transcript (very little editing so not exact)

Shannon, please, come on, introduce yourself. The Time to Shine today podcast varsity squad. But first, what’s your favorite color and why? Yellow, for sure, it’s just a happy color. It was part of my wedding theme. We had yellow and gray and same. When my first son was born, we made his nursery yellow and gray with yellow giraffes. So yellow is just like kind of something that you wouldn’t know with me wearing black right now. But yeah, yellow because it’s just bright. It’s on my shirt. So I wear your yellow today and it’s in your color wheel. It’s behind you on the picture. Yes, I’ve got some. Absolutely. Let’s get a little bit to the roots, the origins of where you were and living that life. I have friends that went out to La. From the Detroit area and they did pretty good as producing and started off as key gripping and then working their way up and stuff like that. What’s your story with that? So I’ve wanted to be in Hollywood in some way, shape or form since I was probably in first or second grade. I had a California bank that my mom and dad and I made. And every time I get money, I’d put it in there. And then they took me out to La. For the first time as a graduation present from high school. And I was sold. I was like, I’m going to live here. I’m going to work here. And so I went to school for communications and film, graduated and started at MTV in New York City and just started building my career there as a producer, working my way up and then moved to Los Angeles and continued. And it was just my dream job. I was working in entertainment news, reality TV, just kind of all over the place. It’s a very gig economy going from one project to the other, but loved it. Met my husband there. So many of my best friends. And, yeah, it was just fantastic. But La. Is very much a different world, kind of a bubble, in the sense that everyone is very career focused and we were the first ones to have a baby. And so out of my group of friends, we have my son, and all of a sudden we’re just alone, or so it felt. And that’s when the wheels started changing of like, okay, I don’t know if this is the long haul game for me. So from right around there, I got postpartum depression after having him M, and six months later made a very impromptu decision to move back to the East Coast to be near my family. And so we moved. And luckily, my husband is a producer. I was a producer at the time. We started working back in New York City, going back to MTV, my original family. And then a couple of years later, I was pregnant with my second son. And that’s when it all hit. And I said, okay, I need to switch things up. We’re both working. We’re traveling. We had a two hour commute each way into the city from the suburbs. And then when I was on maternity leave, my show got canceled. And I just knew that that was a sign to figure out what I could do that would make me equally as happy, but be able to be that present mom that I wanted to be and not travel and miss big life events. Right. Did you notice? What was your secret sauce then with getting through rejection when you went into this producing? Because that’s the best stories that I get from friends of mine that made that trek out to the West Coast. Two of them. You would know who they were if I told you. And with the rejection, what was your ability to move through that and get your producer credits? I think you just have to keep going. It’s just being I feel like it’s being as friendly as you can to everyone because you never know who’s going to help you get that next project. It’s really the most networking of an industry that I’ve come to learn about. And it was really just the really big projects. Like, the one that sticks to me that I did not get was working for Oprah, for working for Own. And I remember I had an interview and it was like, this is it. This is the big time. Oh my gosh, such a fan. And then I remember just getting told after the interview, oh, we’re going to follow up and possibly send you to Chicago. And I just so happened a few weeks later, I had to go on a shoot in Chicago, and I was like, let me reach out to them. And I reached out to them and I did not hear back. And that was so upsetting because you think, oh my gosh, I’m going to get there. And I think when you land so many jobs, I was very successful. I was very friendly with everyone. So somebody would be like, come work with me, come work with me. So I found it to be a little bit easier. So when those moments didn’t happen, it hit hard. Love that. But you didn’t you use the friendly. And when you were like, we all fail. I love to fail. I try to fail every day. But you didn’t let that discourage you, stayed friendly, and it just opened up doors. But then you went through you said the show cancellation and kind of made the trek back east. And then is that where we kind of get to the part of your journey with regards to the coaching? Yes. So really, then when I when my show was canceled, I did a lot of trying to figure it out alone. I started a master’s program. I took a nine to five job that was not me and very toxic, and I just was failing, trying to figure out what to do. And suddenly one day I was listening to Marie Forleo’s podcast and just had this AHA moment of, I’m going to produce my own life. I’m going to start a business. And so my kids were three and a little younger, not even one at the time. And I was like, okay, something with children. And I found Snapology, which is a franchise, and just leapt into that and decided to open this business. And it’s based in my community. My kids could come with me to work. It just kind of fit all the boxes. But I had no idea how to grow a business. I never thought that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. But in really doing a lot of self assessment, I realized a lot of my skills from producing could be used to grow a business. I was using marketing skills. I was writing copy like I wrote scripts. I was hobnobbing with people and really introducing myself. And then it grew. And it’s been over six years now. It has provided with my family. I have a brick and mortar center. And it was so many people asking, how did you go from working with celebrities to working with kids? What a drastic change. That started me realizing like, okay, there’s something to this. And then I started having friends in the industry asking me, okay, how can I get out of this industry? And I started helping people. And so a year ago, I got the idea for second act success and doing the coaching and really launching this to help other people figure out their transition so they don’t feel stuck. That’s beautiful. That’s beautiful. So do you coach a lot of people one on one? I do, and I focus on women. But I have a man who’s in my current course, so I’m focusing on mostly women who are thirty s, forty s, fifty s, kind of in that midlife, like, oh, I have kids now. What? That transitional time. Yeah, because so many people just feel like, oh, I’m just going to stay here. Because who am I to make that leap into something else when I’m a mom and a wife and a partner and I have all these other things. But this is the best time to do it. Because if you’re not happy, no one else will be happy. And there are small things you can do to get there. Love it. So when you’re starting to work with a client one on one, if you don’t mind sharing a little bit of your secret sauce to maybe help them find their blank spot, they’re. Sure. Yeah. So I always talk about learning and leaping. Like, everyone always wants to walk in the office, Jerry Maguire style and say, I quit. That’s it. But I feel like a lot of my clients will come to me first off and not have a clue of what they want to change to. They’re working, but they have ten ideas in their head, so we really narrow it down, because if you really focus on each one and spend some time with each one, you can narrow them down, you can cross them out. And learning and leaping comes from the fact that if you do have a paycheck, how great is that, that you can learn and do your research while you’re getting paid so you don’t have to walk in and quit right away. Right. You can start making these small little steps to be sure before you make that leap. That’s beautiful. Maybe you’re in that discovery kind of conversation time. Is there any good question that you wish they would ask you but never do? That’s a really good question, Scott. I think, really, I go back to the why a lot, so I wish they would ask, how does this fit into my life? What is my why? And I always have to bring it up, like, what are your non negotiables? What are your priorities? Like, if you’re going to make this leap, let’s make it good. Don’t leap to something that’s still not going to fit in your life. And a lot of times they’re just so unhappy with where they are that they know they just want something and get it to me quick. Right. I’m sure you deal with that with your clients. Yeah, but it’s like we’ll take a deep breath because any change is big. So let’s figure out what it is that you really are meant to do. Follow what’s in your heart. Don’t just change for the sake of change. Right. Like, right. Let’s make it real. Yeah. Get back to the why. And are you be able to shepherd me there and not, you know, because I’m not a consultant, I’m a coach, because I am blessed to work with probably some of the people you’ve produced. Right. And they forgot more about that work than I will ever care to know, to be honest with you. But I believe that the problem resides inside them or their issue and their why is there and powerful questioning. They can come up with it themselves by what you said, the elimination kind of game of finding out and narrowing it down, and then if they come up with it, they’re going to take off with it. If I tell them, hey, maybe you should do this. We like fergie. You suck. That didn’t work. But if they do it, that’s awesome. So let me ask you something. Have you seen the movie Back to the Future? Obviously one of my favorites, one of my favorite I can’t believe it’s going to be like I’m 50 years old and they came out in 85. Yes. Oh, my gosh. It’s going to be 40 years old pretty soon anyways. That’s nuts. Anyways, let’s get that DeLorean with Marty McFly. Let’s go back to the double juice 22 year old Shannon. What kind of knowledge nuggets might you drop on her to maybe help her look? Level up last through or maybe shorten the learning, not change much because your experiences have had to bend the bomb. I mean, just awesome, right? But what might you have did to maybe help her shorten her learning curve just a little bit or said to her, speak up for yourself, because you’re right. I had my dream career. I wouldn’t have changed much. But I look back and I was and this is what I try to work with my clients, too. It’s okay to be really friendly. I’ve talked about using my friendliness to help escalate my career, but sometimes you can sit there and be a little too quiet and a little too shy and not raise your hand and not speak up. And then you watch, at least in my experience, the men getting that position a little bit higher. And there was a friend, a male, that was at the same level as me. We were going up the same route. I took a couple of different changes. He’s now this big exec in and that’s fine and that’s great and I’m great for him, but for me, I was like, oh, I don’t know if I can push. I don’t know if I’m going to push. I’m going to go try something else over here. So looking back, maybe I could have spoken up for myself more. But again, it’s like I feel like with you, you probably feel the same everything you do lead you to where you are. Absolutely. And I love my journey. I wish I showed up in your life. Then I would have had you up there because I had people that were like, listen for you, you have this. And sometimes you just need that little push, right. And that’s what you’re really good at doing. How do you want your dash? Remember then that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life date and your death day? Hopefully it’s a long way down the road. How do you want Shannon’s dash? Remember? Oh, gosh, that she did all the things that she checked all the boxes. I’m really big on that, right? Like, we are not our parents generation where you take one job and you’re there until you retire and blah, blah, blah. I got to do my dream career. So cool. Now I got to open my own business that provided for my family. Really cool. Now I get to help others and continue a life of service and help other women get out of being stuck. So I think to continue to check the boxes and I have other things I want to do, so I’m going to continue to do everything that I can do in this one life that I’m given. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. So what do you think, then people misunderstand the most about you, Shannon? I think that I’m a people pleaser, which I am. Just, I don’t think they realize how much I can make happen. I’m really a lot more confident and more of a go getter than maybe my friends and family things. Until they see it happen, they can kind of so I guess just maybe, like, what I’m capable of. No one really knows what you’re. Absolutely. Like you do. Right. You don’t nobody sometimes blessed to have the people and the coaches and mentors in my life to remind me. Me too. What is maybe one of your failures that you’ve learned the most from? Definitely. I think honestly, it’s when I was when my show was canceled and I was flailing and figuring it out and I joined a master’s program, like, oh, maybe I want to be a teacher. I’m going to work this nine to five job that’s not me. And take a master’s program at night with two kids under four. And I did that just because I thought I needed to do that. Let’s get a degree. A lot of people are like, let’s get a degree. I’ll get a job. And in that mistake that I’m still paying off, it brought me to where I needed to be. Like, I realized, okay, I don’t want to be a teacher, but, hey, I’m going to open this business that I can teach kids but still run the business. So I hate the word failure, but that was something that was a stumble that I made. Fail all right, yes. Fail forward and fail fast. Right. But I learned it brought me here. Every time I see that deposit taken out of my bank account for that master’s degree that I did not finish, it brought me to where I am. But that was a stumble. And that’s what I try to help my clients do now, is don’t just jump into what you think you should be doing. Think about it. Go back to the Y. Really think before you leap. I was just like, okay, I’ll get another degree. Okay, I’ll take this nine to five job. So my husband’s off my back. Just doing all these things that you feel like you need to do without really talking to yourself. Does anything keep you up at night? Growing the business? Like, as an entrepreneur, I have two businesses that I run, so I’m up Right. a lot. Thinking of you. Need both to be running. I have a team running my Snapology business, but you just want everything, all the wheels to turn, all of the things to run smoothly and how to grow. And I’m only less than a year into my coaching and course business. I did a heck of a lot in this year, but now it’s like I’m looking to grow the podcast, looking to expand my clientele, really just how to keep it all moving. What’s the weakness? You have? Time management, probably. And I don’t know if you want yeah. And I love my work, but I’m working these two jobs so that I’m not commuting and traveling and missing my birthday parties. So when the kids come, come up to my home office and they say, why don’t you hang out with me? I have to take that moment to be. Like, well, I’m here, but I’m working so that I can be here. And that’s when I shut the laptop down and I go play a game because I talk about this all the time, but I have to do it more myself, is get the time together and spend the time with the people who matter the most. That’s beautiful. That’s my kids. I love that you do that. When you just said shut your laptop, you became mom of the year to me. That’s beautiful. It’s a hard thing to do, right? Otherwise, if you love what you do, you’re going to work all day and night. So it’s just fine trying to figure out exactly you want those memories of the kids saying, hey, I remember my mom shut her laptop and come play Candy Land or whatever the kids play these days, right? Exactly. I love it. In the past year, they’ll say $100, $100 or less investment you’ve made in yourself that’s leveled you up in the last year. $100 or less. Really? It comes down to courses. I don’t know if they were exactly under $100, but I joined a course to help me launch the podcast. Which one did you join? You can say I joined Melissa Gullers. There you go. Course. You know Melissa Guller? Yeah. And honestly, it was because I was running the other business, but I knew I needed to do this, that course. And I don’t know how much it was, but it really helped me launch it in this time frame, I set a goal and I did it, and it’s been the best thing I’ve done. And as you know, too, probably just talking with you now, I feel like we’re friends, right. We’re going to support each other. And the people I’ve met through the podcast have become great friends and great advocates and people you can reach out to. It got me. I’ve had over 30 speaking engagements from my podcast. I’m flying out this afternoon to Connecticut to somebody that I interviewed for. You have to come speak to my company or whatnot? I love our tribe here. So what is Shannon’s definition of a life well lived? Checking the boxes, like, really doing it all? Yeah. I mean, it’s everything. It’s like, for me, I’m like, I’ve always wanted to write. And I just had a former guest of my podcast. I wrote something on my social about wanting to write, and she’s like, do it this year. And I was like, you know, why wouldn’t I do this? Yeah, let’s add something else to the plate and let’s like, oh, why not? You don’t want to have any regrets when you interview the people like, I’m writing a book, and you interview people like Bob Berg, who are the Go Giver, or John David Mann, who is part of the Go Giver series, too. They’re like, oh, you know what? You interviewed me. Let me just see what you have. And just launched me. It’s beautiful. What the tribe mentality? Like you just said, your vibe attracts your tribe. Right? That cliche. So true. And squad, we’re going to take my good friend Shannon also here through our leveling up lightning round just as soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors and affiliates. Time to shine. Today podcast varsity squad. This is Scott Ferguson. We are back with my good friend Shannon Russell from second act success. And Shannon, you and I will probably run into each other someday and maybe enjoy a meal or something and found some of these questions I’m about to ask you. Maybe probably talk. 1520 minutes in each question, but with our Leveling Up lightning round, you got 5 seconds with no explanations. You ready to level up? Ready. Let’s do it. Shannon, what is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received? Keep going. Yes. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to success. Journaling. Me too. Yeah. We are like sister from a different mister over there. Love it. So you see me walking down the street or just into an event or somewhere and you’re like, man, fergie looks like he’s in his doldrums a little bit after giving me a hug. What book might you hand me to level me up? Finish. I just finished. Finish? Yes. Love it. What’s your most commonly used emoji when you text? Smiley face with a heart. If you could stay one age for the rest of your life, physically keep the knowledge you’ve garnered and continue to gain wisdom, what age physically would you stay for the rest of your life? 26. Me too. Thank you for putting a two on the front. I love it. I love it. Nicknames growing up? Russell. Love it. Chess. Checker is a monopoly. Monopoly. Nice. Go to ice cream flavor. Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate. So there’s a sandwich called the Second Act. Russ, build that sandwich for me. What’s on it? Turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato. Oh, you added man candy. We are besties man bacon. I love it. So if you could take a time machine to any moment in the past and still come back to today or just for one day, any moment in the past or 20 years in the future, which way would you take it? Past. Past. Awesome. That’s beautiful. There’s a kegger in 1989 that I went to that I would love to just go back to that one. I want to go with you. Favorite charity and or organization. Like to give your time or money to Autism Speaks. Thank you. That’s beautiful. This one, you can elaborate a little bit. It’s our last question, but what’s the best decade of music? Sixty s. Seventy s. Eighty s or ninety s? Eighty s. Thank you. Big hair, don’t care. Love it. Obviously, so much happened in the 80s, right? So much. You had the invasions from, like, Duran Duran or YouTube, but then you had Glam rock, you had Metal Run DMC, Beastie Boys. You had all that just makes our first concerts. That was like the first concerts we went to, right? And it’s funny, like, there are songs today and I said. This in every podcast, but there are songs today that have the hook from the 80s. Like Pipple in two of his songs uses AHA’s, Take On Me, you know, in the background. Or how about, like, flow riders? You spin me round. That’s from dead in the lives. It’s like the eighties, was it? Now, if I’m journaling or even editing a podcast, I have the seventies on just because I like the stories that they tell with like Jim Crochee or the Eagles or something like that. But if I’m just chilling, I love the 80s. So, man, we were like right on the same page. So, Shannon, how did we find you? Secondexess Co, that is my website and you have links to my podcast, which is Second Act Success. My newsletter, blogs, career advice, my course and my coaching. It’s all there at second actsuccess. Co, tell us a little bit about the second act accelerator that is coming out in end of January 23. Yes, we had the first run was this past fall. I just wrapped up with my students and then the next one starts in a few weeks, January 30. And it’s basically a six week blueprint. So we narrow down what it is you want to do for your career change or you’re starting a business, whatever it might be. And within six weeks you have a blueprint of how to get you there with one on one coaching group, coaching community, all of that. Love it. I love it. And that can be all found on your website. Yes. That’s two Ndxesscourse. And again, that’s Co. And that will be in our show notes as well. Shane, if you could do me one last solid and leave us with one last knowledge nugget we can take with us internalize and take action on. Think of something that you’ve been longing to do. Think about your why and just make those small steps to get there. Just little baby steps, whether it’s write a book, start a business, whatever it might be, run a mile, just start slow, write it down and then start slow to move towards it and bring it into fruition. The brand new year. Love it. And my good friend Shannon here, she’s literally planting trees she’s never going to sit in the shade of. Her journey is awesome. I really got squad from Shannon. She kind of foresighted her life where she had a California penny bank. Where did she end up in being successful at California? She’s planning those seeds way early in life and it’s awesome to have parents that actually supported that. She believes you’re going to fail and as long as you do fail forward. But one thing that really picked up is be as friendly as you can to everyone because you never know where that next opportunity project is going to come from. She said something that blew my mind. Decide to produce your own life. And doing that, find the help to help you make that learning before you leap. And I love what she did. A lot of people out there, a lot of people say you work your nine to five to make a living. You work your five years. Denied to make a life. And I like this. What I was told is work your day job, but mind your own business. And I love that. That’s what my good friend Shannon has did to grow second act success while she was still raising a family and still work in Snapology. It’s just fantastic. She’s me remembered as someone that checked all the boxes and made the most out of her life through the service that she provided to people, provides to people. She wants you to remember to speak up for yourself. Be friendly while you’re doing it. Don’t be the douchebag that just says whatever. Be friendly while you’re doing it, but know your worth. And if you’ve been longing to do something and like my mentors say, and I have my coaching clients inch by inch, it’s a cinch by the yard. It’s hard. Do just little things, little it at a time. And it will build up through Brenda berchard’s compounding effect. Everything adds up. And my good friend Shannon, she levels up her health. She levels up her wealth. She’s humble. Yes, she’s hungry. I cannot wait to collaborate with my sister from a different mistake in the future. Thank you so much for coming on. You’ve earned your varsity squad letter here. It’s time to shine today. Absolutely. Love your guts. Thank you so much. This was fantastic. I can’t wait to get a beer with you and try some more soon. Bye now. Thanks. Talk soon.

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