Turning Pain into Power: Overcoming Adversity with Sean Crane

Welcome to the Amberly Lago Show, stories of true grit and grace. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Amberly Lago Show, and I am so excited you're here, especially if you've ever felt stuck or if you've ever felt like your limiting beliefs are holding you in prison, because I have somebody today who's actually been in prison. He has gone from basically Jailhouse to the penthouse. He is thriving in life. And today we're going to talk about mindset, how to get unstuck, as well as how he's become a speaker and speaking all over the world now. So I have Shawn Crane with us today. He is the founder of Unstoppable 365. He's a motivational speaker. He's a bestselling author, among many other things. So Shawn, thank you for being here and welcome to the show.

Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm excited.

Oh my goodness. Thank you for flying in. And it's been a while since I've seen you. And you walked in and I was like, oh my gosh, you're huge.

Thank you.

Like, you were always muscular, but I'm like, how much muscle did you put on? Like, you have just like buffed out and you've got so much going on, especially with your Unstoppable 365. But there are so many people out there that are going to see this, whether they're looking on YouTube or they're listening, and they're going to be like, oh, well, He's just always been that way and everything's easy. And it's like, you've got quite the story to tell. And actually, we met in this studio, I think was maybe 4 years, 3 years ago, 3 years.

Right after COVID or during COVID Yeah. 3 years ago.

Yeah. And I was, I heard your story and you were talking about your book. I think your book had just come out and I was like, oh my goodness. First of all, we have a lot in common. And then I was like, I've got to know that guy. I just felt a connection with you. And you had a couple of your friends in the audience too, and they were awesome. But just so the audience understands, like, you haven't always had it easy. You were in prison and for something that wasn't even your fault. And so a lot of people would make excuses and, and be in prison still. Tell us what— first of all, why did you go to prison?

Yeah, I mean, I went to prison for attempted murder.

Which is crazy.

My mugshot was on the front page of the Santa Barbara News-Press. And when your picture's on the front page of the News-Press and you're in a jumpsuit, immediately people think this guy's guilty. But before that, my whole life, I had a small bit of my childhood that was really good. I had a lot of loving family members. I grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and I just wanted to be a professional athlete. I loved baseball, football, and basketball. And that's what I obsessed over every day. At school, me and my friends would play on the playground. After school, we'd play in the street. And that's all I cared about. But then, as I got older and started to become more aware of my parents and what they were struggling with, I realized my life wasn't as picture-perfect as I thought. My mom and dad were both drug addicts. They were battling addiction to drugs and alcohol.

And in Santa Barbara.

Yeah. I mean, Santa Barbara is one of the most affluent places in the country.

And most beautiful.

It's gorgeous. And so, I got to grow up going to the beaches and being around all these amazing, nice people. And my aunts and uncles were doing really well. I had great friends and their parents were doing well. But I noticed a stark difference between them and my parents.

Really?

Like, it became very obvious.

You could start to tell?

Well, at age 10, I saw my mom overdose.

Oh my God.

Yeah, in front of me and my siblings. And I was terrified. It's one of those moments that you'll never forget, you know, 'cause she was lifeless on the ground and we didn't know what the heck was going on. And that happened 2 or 3 more times between then and the age of 12. So, like around 10, 11, my whole life started changing and I wasn't changing. I was still kind of holding on to like hope or that picture-perfect life that I thought we had, kind of in denial or just too young to understand what's taking place. And then at 14, I came home. This is my first month as a freshman in school. So, I'm a young adolescent. Like, I'm trying to figure out who I am as a young man and what my direction in life is. And my dad was drunk in his bedroom and he had a gun.

Oh my gosh.

And he was like blacked-out drunk. You could tell that he just didn't even know what was going on. And that's scary because he could do something that could kill somebody or take his own life. Who knows what he was going to do? And the cops ended up coming and they had a standoff and he surrendered. So luckily, he didn't do anything with the weapon, but they took him away and he ended up going to prison. And so during those couple—

Now, did he have prior any arrests, outstanding warrants or anything? Or is this like just a California thing where you don't have a gun and they take you to prison?

Yeah, no, my family was pretty notorious. My dad was one of 9 siblings, 7 brothers.

Oh, geez.

And, they were originally from Boston, from back east. So, there was rumors that my grandfather had ties to the Irish mob and he was an alcoholic. They had the mentality. So, growing up, I saw this with my uncles and my dad. They were good men, but they had their demons and they were involved in crime.

Yeah.

So, as I started getting older, I started realizing this. I'd see my uncle come back from prison. 2 of my uncles were doing life in prison that I'd never see. They'd call home and we'd talk to them on the phone and never have met them in my life. So, it was just kind of a normal thing. And my dad had had priors in the past, but he wasn't a bad person. He wasn't like a bad person, but he had his own demons, his stuff from childhood that happened to him that he never got over. And that's why he turned to drugs and alcohol, like a lot of people do.

That's what my brother did. I mean, my brother's in prison. He's on death row here in Texas. Yeah, I remember you told me that. Yeah. And he was a good— he's a good guy, but had demons that got the best of him. And yeah, went to drugs and alcohol and yeah.

Yeah. And that's why now, like, I'm so passionate about helping people because, you know, we all have good and evil inside of us. And some people can overcome those things. They, whether it's trauma, adversity, like we go through stuff in life and you can either learn and grow from it or you become a victim of circumstance. And good people end up addicted to drugs or making mistakes or doing bad things because they didn't deal with those situations properly. You know, it's like it lingers their whole life and it just corrupts who they could have been. And I saw that happen to my dad. I saw that happen to all my uncles. Like, they were smart, good human beings that never even came close to reaching their potential because they lost that battle.

Yeah.

You know? And so, it's personal to me. Like, how do— that's how I stay motivated and passionate every day to get up and still serve is like I remember—

How did you do that in prison though?

Well, so, So, you know, after— when all that stuff happened at home, for 10 years, I was just lost. You know, I lost my dad to prison. My mom found a new boyfriend, was strung out on drugs, stopped coming home. And that was the hardest thing. You know, like, my dad going to prison broke my heart, but my mom, who's supposed to be there, like, the woman who gave birth to me, like—

Yeah.

When she left us, it really affected me. And I started drinking, taking pills, and smoking marijuana to numb out that pain. So, I stopped playing sports, stopped going to school, and found a group of kids I could hang out with who had similar situations because I could identify with them. I didn't want to hang out with my old friends or even see my cousins anymore because I didn't want them to ask about my parents.

Yeah.

Or, hey, what happened? We heard all this stuff's going on. So, I completely changed during that time and I really lost myself. And, fast forward all throughout my adolescence to a party I was at at 23 where a huge fight broke out. And, I'm there watching and I'm drunk and I'm too close to the fight and I end up getting tackled from behind and I'm wrestling with these guys. Thinking they're trying to jump me. And I'm wrestling with this guy on the ground. Turns out he was stabbed multiple times and his friend was stabbed. And because everyone at the party saw me on the ground wrestling with this guy and they didn't see the initial attack, they told the cops, yeah, we saw Sean on the ground fighting with this guy. And I stood up and I was covered in blood.

Oh, gosh.

So it was like a college party and everyone sees me stand up. I'm dripping blood on my face, on my arms, all over my shirt. And everyone ran. And the one friend I went to the party with is running up the street and he's going, Sean, let's go, let's go. And I followed him. And I wish I would've stayed, but in the moment, I didn't know what to do. Yeah, you didn't know what to do. I panicked. And later that night or the next day, I Googled like fight on the Mesa, 'cause that's where it was, the Mesa in Santa Barbara. And it said 2 men were stabbed, one's in critical condition, he's on life support, and no one thought he was gonna live. So that's like when my whole life changed, you know? And it was a long journey from that point to where I'm at today. You know, I was 23, now I'm 36.

Wow.

Wow.

And you've been helping people. In the prison, was there a turning point where you thought, okay, I've got to make the best of this situation? Do you think that being in prison and— well, I don't know. I guess in prison you can still get drugs and alcohol from what I understand.

Well, I was the first month.

Mm-hmm.

So, the first month, guys were coming in and anytime someone knows they're going to have to do a little time in jail, they'll bring drugs in with them. So, everyone gets all excited when someone they know is coming in because they're like, oh, this guy has something.

Yeah.

And in there, one of my co-defendants came in and one of the guys that was arrested for the crime and he brought in some stuff and we were getting high in there. I was like, wow, this is cool. I wasn't even thinking about what was happening to me.

Yeah.

I was like, if I— I remember having this thought. This is how sick the addiction to drugs and alcohol is. I remember thinking, if I could just stay high this whole time, like, everything's gonna be okay.

Yeah.

But that's such denial. That's such escapism, you know? And then I got— we got in a fight in that area of the jail. A bunch of guys got in a fight that I was involved in because in there you start having to be involved in things that you don't necessarily want to do. And then I got put back into a part of the jail where you're in isolation. And I was coming off of all these drugs and feeling like shit, and I wasn't eating. And I remember just waking up one day, or like, I don't know if I woke up or if I just got up to look in the mirror. And in there, the mirror's all scratched out. You could barely see, but I just saw like my reflection in the mirror and I could just see— I was like, man, who is that guy? Like, what? How'd you get to this point, Sean? This isn't who you're supposed to be. And you're doing the same stuff in here as you were doing out there.

Yeah.

Like, I wasn't out robbing people. I didn't stab that guy, but I wasn't a great person. I wasn't being my best self.

Yeah.

I wasn't sober. I would get in fights. I was just a waste of space, honestly. Like, I had so much potential. The kid that I knew I at heart, who wanted to be a professional athlete, like, I knew I could go out and achieve that.

Yeah.

And I lost that person. I lost that person for 10 years. And so, it was this moment of awakening for me where I realized this is not who I want to be. This is not the person I'm supposed to be. And I made a commitment right there. I told myself, no matter how long I end up being in the cell or being in prison, I'm going to change for the better. I'm going to be sober for the rest of my life, and I'm going to be my best and my truest self. Like, I had been a— I had become a character. I had worn masks. I had done things to try to appease other people, but it was never my true self.

Yeah.

You know? And in that moment, I committed to being my true self and giving my all to life from there on out. And that was the beginning of my transformation. It was an internal transformation. I had to see myself in a different light, you know, before I could change my behavior or my self-talk or all the stuff we talk about now as coaches or when we speak on stage. It was this internal transformation, like, at the deepest level. And, and from that moment forward, I started to change.

Well, I think that's so— like everything that you just said, the first part was you really had to look yourself in, in the mirror, like, and see yourself. And I think a lot of people don't want to see themselves. They don't want to look in the mirror. They don't want to accept things that they're not doing that maybe aren't the best for them. And that takes courage to do that. But you were kind of forced to, like, see yourself and But then you made a commitment. Do you know who Damon West is?

Yeah.

Yeah, he's—

Yeah, he wrote Coffee Bean. Coffee Bean, yeah.

And he's—

I've actually spoke to him before.

Yeah, his story is similar. He's an amazing person, amazing speaker. And so we were just in an event, at an event together, and same thing, he decided that he was changing his life in prison. And so me being sober as well, We, uh, we were at this event. We didn't have a recovery meeting anywhere, so we just did our own recovery meeting together. Went to Starbucks, had a recovery meeting in the car. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

It was awesome. And, um, and so my question to you is like, do you still have moments where you have— you feel that demon coming up? Like you have like a little devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, and you feel a demon coming up and If so, how do you battle that?

Yeah, that's a good question because I truly believe we do have those 2 versions of ourselves. I've invested so many hours and through so much action and so many decisions to become the good version of myself, the best version. I don't hear that other voice anymore. I mean, it's been 12 years and literally—

That's amazing.

I've walked that line every moment, every day since. And I knew I had no room for error. Like, I couldn't make one wrong decision, not just because I want to change my life, but because Now I had 3 strikes and they didn't strike me out. In California, if you get 3 strikes, you could do life in prison. They changed that law. But I knew that like in jail or prison, if I got in a fight and I hit someone and they fell wrong, or I was accused of like an assault or whatever, I might never get out. So I wanted to come home and see my family. I wanted to come home and seek redemption. And that just kept me in line. But no—

How long did you spend in prison?

5 and a half years.

5 and a half years.

So I ended up being sentenced to 7. I was supposed to do 6. I got out 6 months early.

Yeah.

Because I got college degrees in prison. So, when I finally got to prison, I had about a year of personal development, sobriety, working out every day, reading books in jail. So, I was already building these new habits. And then, I just continued to build upon that in prison. And you have more freedom in there. You can get more books. You can go to different vocational classes they have. You can move about a little more and interact with people.

Yeah.

And that's when I started mentoring other guys in jail too or in prison. They saw how regimented and disciplined I was. I mean, I'd be up in the morning and it was still dark out before breakfast doing pushups and squats in the corner while everyone slept. And I had a routine. I'd do 1,000 pushups and 1,000 squats in under an hour before breakfast. And that would like start my day, you know?

Yeah.

And I would do that all the time. Or they'd see me on my rack reading a book and they were intrigued by me 'cause my behavior was different than most of the other guys.

Yeah.

So, I'd have these youngsters come up and be like, hey, can we work out with you today? Or, what book you reading, man? I wanna start changing. Or, I see you taking You know, some guys would say, man, why are you doing that? You know, when you get out, that's not going to help you. Or, you know, when you get out, you're going to go back to that old lifestyle. But I didn't even care what they said. I was so tunnel vision and convicted on this new path in life that nothing was going to deter me.

Yeah, it's— I'm smiling because I would— I give my— I was in the fitness industry for 26 years, and I would give my brother these hardcore exercises because he was in isolation too. And I I would give him these hardcore exercises that he could do in the small room that he had, the amount of room that he had in his cell. And he's transformed his life as well, you know.

Wow.

And so at least I know that he has, you know, he's sober, he's found God. And so that's a good thing. But a lot of people don't ever make it out. And do something as amazing as you, like you're doing with your life now, speaking and coaching and helping so many other people. When you have people that come to you, what is the biggest question that they have? Is it more business coaching? Is it more mindset coaching? Or is it more physical?

Yeah, a combination. More business stuff now that they see my business growing.

Uh-huh.

But, in the beginning, it would be questions about my time in prison and how I was able to stay positive or focused that long. Or, a lot of it is around discipline. A lot of guys just lack discipline and it shows in their physique, in their attitude. So, there's all these symptoms like they gain weight, they're not as happy in life, whatever it is. So, they want to be able to do the work consistently to help them to become the person they want to be. And so, that's where most of the questions stem from.

Yeah. And you know, I think when I see somebody who's super successful, but they look like they are so unhealthy, I'm like, oh, and then I see somebody that is super successful in their business, but they look super healthy. I'm going to go with that person.

Yeah. I mean, here's the truth too. If you have a lot of money or cars and stuff, but you're not healthy and you're overweight, You're not successful at all, in my opinion.

Yeah, I was gonna ask you, what is success to you?

And, that's why these guys will actually come to me because I'll call them out and they need accountability. They need that truth and honesty. They have all these yes-men around them, like kissing their ass because they built this business. But man, you're 300 pounds. You're gonna die early and leave your family and you think you're successful right now? And, I just tell them the truth because I care. If you're not healthy, if you're not present at home and spending time with your loved ones, if you're not in integrity with who you know you should be, you're not going to ever Yeah. The craziest thing that happened to me is when I was in jail, even before I knew how much time I was going to do, I was in a 6-by-8 cell. Like you said, your brother's so tiny, you have enough room to do pushups, and you're living with another person in there. And I started every day getting up early, I'd pray, I'd just close my eyes and think of all my family members' faces, and I'd picture all this good in the world. And it started changing my whole energy. I started feeling grateful in that cell with nothing. And then, I'd get up and I'd work out. And I'd work out until I was so exhausted that I had no negative thoughts, no negativity in my body at all. It was nothing but feeling good and proud of myself for those 1,000 push-ups or all those burpees or that 5-minute plank, whatever it was.

Mm-hmm.

And then, I'd get on my bunk and I'd read books and I'd look up words in the dictionary all day long and memorize them. And I did that every day for 8 months straight. And before I even went to prison, I would wake up or I just had these moments in my cell where I felt so much gratitude and joy in my heart. I was like, God is working a miracle in my life. How can I feel this way in here? It's not even fair. I shouldn't be able to feel this way in here. What's going on?

Mm-hmm.

And so, it redefined my whole definition of success because the emotions and the internal state I experienced in there was the highest form of human experience and enlightenment you can have. And, I know people out here with everything we think we need, that have never felt that way, ever. And most people will never feel that way. And it comes in the face of struggle. It comes in the face of becoming a believer. It comes— for me, like, when you have nothing and you're at rock bottom, you start to realize how good we have it, even when we think we have nothing. Like legs that work, eyes that could see colors, another breath, another day, another opportunity. Like, it just changed my whole perspective on life.

Yeah.

So from that moment forward, Like, that's why I'm so consistent in my health and my routines, because they gave me salvation in a time where I needed it the most. And so other people, they struggle to be consistent because they don't see the value in that stuff.

Yeah.

They see the value in the money in their account or the car they can get or the home or whatever. And that stuff's important too, but they don't see the value in their health or their routines until it's too late.

Oh, I mean, I I see it a lot because in the past year, I have really struggled. I had a procedure for complex regional pain syndrome that did not go well at all. And this past year, health-wise, has been really, really challenging. And it was to the point where I would do a Zoom and have to go lay down on the couch. Like, I haven't even done an episode. I should probably do an episode about this because a lot of people don't see behind the scenes, like, how much I was actually struggling. struggling health-wise. And I'd just be laying on the couch thinking, I can't get up. And I mean, I literally would— and my husband was like, you got to go back to the doctor. Something's not right. You've slept for 2 days straight. Like, I was having to cancel meetings, cancel interviews. It was horrible. And it really makes me appreciate, like, my health so much, that I can walk, that I can drive, that I get to be here with you, that we have a studio audience today. And I wanna take a question later from the studio audience.

Wow.

It just makes me so grateful. And I actually, every morning, I get on my knees, physically get on my knees, because it reminds me of how small I am and how big God is. And I'm like, just so grateful. But I think when you haven't gone through the struggles Or the challenges, and maybe people take things for granted. Or like you have people that are like, well, yeah, it's easy for you. You're disciplined. I don't know how to be disciplined.

What—

how do you teach somebody discipline? Where do you start for somebody who's even listening saying, well, good for him, he's disciplined, and good for you, Amberly, you're disciplined and you keep getting back up with grit. What do you tell somebody?

Yeah, I mean, most people suffer in silence, you know, like they hope, they hope that they wake up tomorrow feeling And it's just a roll of the dice. I live in a way where I have routines that guarantee I'm going to feel the way I want to feel every day. For me, the way I feel is the most important and valuable thing in this world, more than time. Because you could have somebody who has 24 hours and I have the same 24 hours. But if I'm here and they're here, whose time is more valuable?

Mm-hmm.

Mine, right? I don't want to be around my kids and be irritable and be thinking about, oh, I should have went to the gym, or worrying about money or stressing over life. A lot of people live that way.

Yeah.

So, it's like, why are you living that way? It could be so much better. And, the way humans are, we're stubborn. We wait until we're diabetic and the doctor says you have to stop eating that food or you might get your leg amputated or you might have complications, or we have a heart attack or something happens that really gets our attention to change our habits. So, most people are motivated by pain more so than what they can gain from change because the brain doesn't recognize the stuff that hasn't happened. The brain can only recognize real-life experience typically.

Yeah.

So, when I work with people, I try to help them to understand what's at stake, paint a picture for the future. Like, if you don't change, this is probably going to happen. It's pretty safe to assume this is what's going to happen in your health or your marriage or your business and all the people you care about at work if you don't change these habits now. And, it's hard for people to kind of rewire the brain. I mean, there's 3 ways people can change. Number one is traumatic experience. We know about that. That'll reprogram your brain instantly. Number 2 is novel experience. And that's why it's so important to go see speakers at events, get outta your comfort zone, try new things. And lastly is repetition. And repetition is the hard work that people don't wanna do.

Yeah.

Because it's not pleasant some of the time, most of the time, but that's how you really change over an extended period of time. And so—

Do you think being an athlete helped you with that?

Yeah, 'cause I was—

In your whole life, like what mentally? helped you? Because I feel like it helped me.

The biggest regret I had in jail was not pursuing my dream of being a professional athlete. I didn't even play sports in high school, and I felt so ashamed and embarrassed when I was sitting there in my cell and I actually had time to think and reflect on my life. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm like, wait, you didn't even play sports in high school? Like, I'm an athlete. That's how I identified with myself my whole life. I love sports. And so fitness for me allowed me to tap back into that version of myself. And I didn't have to go play in a major league team or in a league. I could be an athlete through my workouts, through the way I cared for my body, through my mentality. That was like a core component of how I identified myself.

Yeah.

But, yeah, being an athlete is really good for a number of reasons. For example, my kids are growing up in a really beautiful life. I'm giving them everything I can because I want them to have an amazing life. But, what happens when people grow up and really easy kind of soft environments. They get weak. And the cycle continues, right? I heard Bradley talk about this. He goes— he's talking about himself. He goes, I had to go through the school of hard knocks to learn my lessons. So, I became a stronger individual. Therefore, that allowed me to create this life, right? So, this beautiful life that I'm giving my kids now is actually going to make them soft. And then, they make mistakes and they then have kids and the cycle continues, right?

Uh-huh.

So, I think sports is good because it teaches kids Grit, discipline, how to get along with other people, how to develop a winner's mentality without having to go through the adversity that we don't want them to experience.

Yeah. And it's funny you're saying that because, like, my oldest daughter who's in medical school at Yale, which is a big deal because I never went to college and neither did my husband, but she is at Yale in medical school. And she was telling me, yeah, Mom, you know, when you had your motorcycle accident and you were going through all those surgeries, She goes, it was so traumatic and I just started studying a lot. That was my outlet. And I said, well, good for you. Like, that's good because look at you. You're going to be a doctor.

That's incredible.

I mean, good for you, you know? And, you know, my youngest daughter, she's a horseback rider and she just got thrown off yesterday. And she's so— she goes, oh, Mom, the back of my arms are sore and this and that. And I'm like, but she keeps getting up. She's got grit. She keeps getting back on that horse. And these are not— these are not just like little Riding through the pasture horses, these are like, they're jumping really high jumpers, you know, equestrian. So I like that because it does teach her grit and discipline and trust and resilience and all those things. And so I know you have a new baby on the way. Yeah. Going to be a Pisces baby.

Yeah. Like due in March, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so you're such an amazing dad. You're such an amazing role model, and you're such an amazing speaker. I've had the privilege of sharing the stage with you at an event, and I was like so proud videoing you like, oh my God.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah. And now since I've seen you, I mean, we were talking about like when, you know, we don't see each other for a while, but when we get together, it's like, Like nothing's ever— like we haven't missed a beat. We just pick right back up where we left off. But like you have really grown this Unstoppable 365, which, you know, I'm all about the unstoppable because of my Unstoppable Success Summit and all that. And so tell me about exactly what Unstoppable 365 is. Yeah.

So it's a mindset, fitness, and nutrition program. Started off for men. Now we coach men and women. essentially personal development. Like, what are all the things we should do in our daily life to help us improve who we are? So, we coach them on reading books, on how to journal, the right foods to eat, how to work out, lose weight, build your physique, whatever it is that you want to change about yourself for the better. So, it started off with just me literally sharing my message online and then guys would reach out and I'd coach them one-on-one. And then, I got enough clients where I created a group because it wasn't feasible to coach everybody one-on-one. And that's really the time I met you. I remember you had some of your clients here the very first time. Yeah, I had about probably 50 clients at the time, maybe 100. And it was just me just on social media sharing my message and slowly building the business. And I always had a vision of where I want to take it. I knew that I couldn't go as far as I wanted to go alone. I had to build a team and surround myself with people that with were going to help me get to where I wanted to go. intelligent, brilliant, amazing people that— good team members, they should complement you, but also, you want them to have strengths that you don't possess.

Exactly.

You know what I mean? So, about a year and a half ago, 2 years ago, I started looking into who I should start to bring into my team and collaborate with. And the first person I hired was— his name's Josh. He's my COO. So, he's the chief operating officer. He does all the tech, all the integrations, all the stuff that I don't want to do. That you need to run a business.

Oh, I definitely have. My guy's Malik and I could—

He's key.

He is amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, just getting him on the team alone, we hit a little surge of growth, clients, revenue that year. And that was the tail end of 2022. And then, 2023, I brought on my first actual coach who I could start to delegate clients to and teach him, teach him sales, how to create content, How to fulfill the client's needs and what we had to do for them. So, I just started putting these pieces together. And then, the beginning of this year, I had an opportunity to team up with a handful of people, which was a really great opportunity. And just like anytime in business, there's always risks involved, right? Like, what if it doesn't work out? What if you— like, I gave up percentage of ownership in the business to bring on these team members.

Yeah.

Like, what if it doesn't work out? Well, there's always risk, but I'm I don't think that way. I don't think about what if. I just know where I want to go and I always picture it working out. And, if it doesn't, you pivot anyway and make it work.

Yeah, yeah.

And so, I brought on Whitney Jones, she's a 3-time Ms. Olympia, to coach all the women and start a women's division. And then, so we have another female coach under her. And then, I was able to partner up with Joe Polish if you know who that is. Joe's actually a business partner of mine now and he's the creator of Genius Network, which is some of the most amazing, brilliant entrepreneurs and business owners in the world are in his network. So, teaming up with him was the bigger picture vision of what we can accomplish as a company. He has amazing connections, amazing insight, and a handful of others. We got VAs, we got all these different team members, about 12 to 15 people now who help us run the whole operation.

That's amazing.

It's amazing. And it's one of those things that you're preparing for, You're reading all the books, you're getting insight from mentors, and then it kind of just happens. And all of a sudden, going from April to me and Josh and Matt, it was just us 3, to now having 15 team members, it's just crazy the amount of growth we've had in the last year.

Yeah, it's unbelievable for me too. I mean, I was a one-woman show for a long time and people would ask me all the time like, how are you getting these speaking gigs? And I'm like, oh, that'd be me. Well, who negotiates your speaker's fee? That'd be me. Who does your contracts? That would be me. I mean, I was doing everything. And now it's wild that on Sundays I'm typing up a list to my team members of what needs to be done, you know? And we have team meetings every week and everybody has their part. It's just like, wow, it's amazing. I mean, I did that in the fitness industry, but I hadn't done that— in my coaching and speaking event industry. So it's, I mean, I love it. I absolutely love it.

It's one of those things you're like, oh, eventually one day it'll be this way, right?

Yeah.

And then part of you is like, is it going to get to that point? Like, am I going to be able to find the right people and put them all together?

And sometimes people burn you. Oh, they do. I mean, just, have you been burned?

Yeah, I've had, not recently, but I learned. through a couple different relationships and collaborations. For me, it's all about integrity and we have to have the same values and being a good person and doing the right thing is always the most important thing.

Yeah.

Because you could have a really talented person, but if they have ulterior motives or they have bad character, I've seen a lot of bad things happen in business and I've had stuff happen to me where it was like, man, I trusted that person.

Oh, big time.

I thought they were a good human being and they turned out to Backstab you.

Just happened to me. Thousands of dollars. I was like, I have not been this conned since my ex-husband. Like, seriously. Yeah. And so I'm like, okay, it happened. Time to move on. Just keep moving forward. But yeah, I've, you know, actually my friend Jeff Crilly always says, you can teach skill, you can't teach attitude. So I hire on attitude. And then I think, well, I can teach skills. I can teach them how to do stuff.

Exactly.

But they have to have good attitude. You know what I mean? So let's take a break and take a question from the studio audience. Any questions from the audience?

Well, okay. I was thinking earlier, if you're coaching people, everybody hears so many different pieces of advice. Like you gotta be up at 5 AM, you gotta cold plunge, you gotta do all these things. But where should somebody really start? Yeah, that, that's a good question.

Okay, so I don't know if the— if you couldn't hear, where should someone really start? Like, there's all these different things out there, uh, cold plunging, like meditation, prayer, like all the gratitude journal, whatever it is. Where should somebody really start?

Yeah, I mean, everyone's a little different. There's a lot of different tools that we can use to improve the quality of our life. Like, not everyone's going to meditate, Not everyone's going to journal. Not everyone likes to read books. Some like audiobooks. But there's also an element of getting uncomfortable. And the person you are today is not the person that's going to achieve those future results if you haven't gotten them yet. So, you have to recognize that and be willing to maybe sacrifice a little or commit to certain things that you don't want to do. I think getting up early is a big change for people because You could build so much momentum in the first couple hours of the day by getting up earlier and having a plan. Like, okay, I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna have 15 minutes of just reflection, then I'm gonna go to the gym and work out. I'm gonna drink my 30 ounces of water and take my supplements. Like, there you just did 2 or 3 things that built momentum in that day that started you, you know, moving towards that ideal best self you wanna be. So, and if guys say, I don't wanna get up early, I'm like, dude, like, I find reasons why their rebuttals are like, Yeah. So, if you have young kids or you want to grow this business or you're sick and tired of looking in the mirror because you don't like the way your body looks, like, that's what I'm reminding them of. I'm like, you can't even get up early, but you say you want to be the best dad? Like, for me, it's just I don't tolerate any excuses because I've gone through all of the stuff and everything was stacked up against me. I mean, I was facing life in prison at 23, like, drug addict, loser kid, didn't fulfill any of his visions, and I rebuilt my life and changed my life. And I did that by never making excuses and just whatever it takes. And so, that's my attitude, but you got to find what motivates people. What's that pain point or what's that deeper why? That's what I work to uncover because then the work becomes a lot easier when people know why they're doing it.

Yeah.

If you're just in the cold plunge and you're up early and you're hating it, you're having that negative self-talk, you're going to stop doing it eventually. But, if you can change your self-talk and make the connection to that moment to Like the better dad that you're becoming or the business that you're growing or the marriage that's just so connected in the future because you changed for the better. Like that's the stuff that keeps people going.

Yeah. And I mean, there have been times where I haven't felt like I'll get to the— like I'll get to the end of the mountain and I'll be like, I really don't want to climb this mountain today. And I'm like, you know what? I get to climb this mountain because I was in a wheelchair for a long time.

Yeah.

I get to do this. And I think about, there are times when I get to the gym and I start scrolling through Instagram in the parking lot and I'm like, I got to get my butt in there because I know how I'm going to feel after I work out.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

And that's the crazy thing is like, look at what you've been through and you even have moments like that where you're not feeling it.

Yeah. But I've learned to talk to myself.

You got to be your own coach and having those little Little mantras like, I get to, that could shift your energy and perspective instantly.

Yeah.

You know, um, and you have to have that. You have to develop a part of yourself that's going to always coach you and push you to do the work. Because if you don't keep doing it, you know, I tell people it's hard to develop good habits, but it's so easy to break them. Like, you can break them in a week of just not going, you know.

Break them in like a day.

Seriously. So it's like this, you know, this, this ball You know the fable of Sisyphus pushing up the boulder up the mountain? It's like that. You got to keep pushing it, otherwise that thing's going to crush you.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I could talk to you for hours and we're out of time and we didn't even get to your book. I didn't get to one question off the 2 pages of questions. I mean, but you're, Shawn, you're amazing. You're changing lives for the better. It's always so good to see you. Tell people where they can be a part of your Unstoppable 365, where they can see you speak, or just anything about you. You've got your podcast, where they can order your book. Tell them where the best place to find you.

Yeah. So, I mean, the easiest way on Instagram, it's Sean_Crane_Official. Reach out to me there. I'm Sean Michael Crane on Facebook, or go to www.unstoppable365.com. Reach out to me and the team if you're interested in coaching around health, fitness, mindset, all of the above.

Shawn, you're amazing. Thank you so much for being on the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. And thank y'all for tuning in. And if you found value in this episode, tag Shawn and I on Instagram. When I see that, it always just makes me so— makes my heart happy, and I share it on my Instagram as well. Thank you for tuning in, and we will see you next week.