In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Colleen Shumaker, creator of the "Finding the Fantastic" podcast. Colleen shares a formative story about learning to read despite severe learning disabilities, describing how her mother used a bridge metaphor to help her connect words and concepts, which sparked her lifelong habit of building creative "bridges" to overcome challenges. She advises entrepreneurs to stay true to their personal and business brand, warning against blindly following social‑media trends and stereotypes, and emphasizes the value of breaking those stereotypes to discover something "fantastic." She reflects on personal growth, telling her younger self that she isn’t as dumb as she thought and encouraging confidence in her abilities. Colleen explains her key to happiness: actively finding small, positive moments each day and recording them to reinforce a positive mindset. Her favorite book is Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, which taught her the power of listening. Her personal mantra, "keep moving forward," is tattooed on her body as a reminder to persist through hardships. The episode concludes with information on where listeners can find her podcast on Facebook and Spotify.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Colleen Shoemaker with us. She owns and runs a podcast called Finding the Fantastic. So welcome to the show, Colleen.
Woo-hoo! Thank you for having me.
Of course, pumped to have you, Colleen. And we'll dive in, Colleen. The first one I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Oh my goodness. So yeah, this was a tough question because there's so many, but I'm going to go with the time I learned how to read. And I know that sounds crazy, but I have severe learning disabilities, so I learned to read later in life. And I'm really great at finding creative ways to get around traditional learning styles. So when it came to reading, if I saw a picture on a book or in a reading book, I would just mimic what I thought the theme was, whether it was ocean, whale, cat, dog, and I would just guess. Sometimes I'd guess right, sometimes I'd guess wrong. Well, there was one time my mom was sitting there trying to get me to read the word cat, and it just wasn't happening. I mean, I was guessing every animal under the sun. That's, you know, vet, like, like, you know, animal doctor, because I was guessing. And she's like, all right, Colleen, listen, this is incredible that you're doing this. Like, you're guessing every other word right, but you're actually not reading. She's like, I think that's wonderful, and I think you need to understand that's special, I need you to build a bridge. And she found this book that was in our living room. She pointed to it, it was a picture of a bridge and a billy goat. And she was like, do you see how that billy goat's on top of that bridge? Both sides of the bridge are totally fine, Colleen, but in order to connect the two, you gotta build a bridge. And I thought about it for a second and I was like, okay, okay. I don't know what clicked in my brain, but I read the word cat, like I actually said it, drowned it out and read the word cat. And from that moment on, I was actually able to start to learn how to read. But the underlying message is that the, the idea that just because I think a different way, it didn't make it wrong, but I had to build a bridge to find a way around doing things that needed to be achieved. And that has played into my life so immensely, um, that being okay with who I am but also trying to find a way to conquer things in the traditional and other ways.
Yes, thank you for sharing that. That is an awesome story.
Thanks.
The next one I have for you, Colleen, is what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, so this one, this one is kind of cool because I try to follow it and live by it, is if just because from a marketing sense or from an overall operational sense there's a bunch of trends and stereotypes. So let's just say all the social media that's out there and things like that. Just because the trends and the stereotypes say you should do this and post that and post it this way, uh, if it doesn't follow your personal brand, your business brand, you don't have to do it. In fact, it goes back to kind of my story of, you know, build the bridge that connects it in your way. Be uniquely you, build a bridge that makes a gap that, but don't change your brand because everybody's doing this on Facebook or everybody's doing SEO or everybody's doing keywords. The compromise is not worth it and you're not be as successful as you would be if you stuck to what you believed in. It's gonna take longer, that's for sure, and people are gonna eyeball you like you're weird because you're breaking the stereotype, but it's totally worth it.
I could not agree more. And what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
Overall? Oh man, it's kind of the same thing. Break the stereotype. Break the stereotype and be okay with breaking the stereotype because once you do that, you're gonna find something fantastic, I guarantee it.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
You are not as dumb as you think you are, Colleen. There was so much stuff that I didn't do because I was like, well, I can't spell or I can't do this or I'm not smart enough. And granted, I found ways around it. I built many bridges, but I wish I had accepted me a little earlier and been like, no, no, no, no. Just, you're not that dumb, Colleen. Go be the marine biologist, you know?
So, and well, actually, this will maybe lead into the next one. So in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Uh, so the key to happiness, you know, it's funny, it's one of those things where I was depressed for like 6 to 8 years before I started this podcast. It was one of the reasons I started the podcast was because I wanted to find, find my why for life. Because everybody's like, find your why, or you just go into the doldrums of, you know, go to your job every day, do the shift work, do the 9 to 5, come home, pay bills, whatever. And I'm like, I'm not happy, I'm miserable. And so what I started to do was find small things every day that were happy, that were good, that made me realize my life was fantastic. And I would record on a phone and then go to bed and play it for myself to encourage myself that I had a great, fantastic day. And it's kind of just, you know, snowballed from there. And what I learned, the key to happiness is in the finding. It's not that every day is going to be fantastic. A lot of people are like, oh, there's Miss Fantastic, which is awesome, and I love that. But the only reason why I have such a positive attitude is because I understand that I have to look at my day and go, wow, that song that just played really pumped me up and was fantastic. I'm happy. Or I just had a great lunch with my friend. It's in the finding of the happiness in the moment and realizing that you do have it. You just got to look at it.
And what is the best book that you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Oh, man, it's Dale Carnegie. I think it's Carnegie. How to Win Friends and Influence People. And that book taught me the value of listening to people and how if you truly learn the art of listening to people, 'cause I like to talk, I just, I'm Italian and Scottish, I run my mouth. But if you like actually listen to people and as a skilled art, you can totally unveil a whole bunch of awesome adventurous things and knowledge that they know and make a deep connection with them.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Oh man, keep moving forward. Keep moving forward. I actually have it tattooed on my body with an arrow going forward.
That's awesome.
You gotta do it because life's gonna get you down. I mean, life, life as good as it can be, just sucks sometimes, and you're gonna hit hardships, absolutely. But you have to keep moving forward no matter which way, no matter how you build a bridge, no matter if it's the left to the right, forward, upward, downwards, however you got to build it, you have to keep moving forward.
Thank you so much for coming on, Colleen. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?
Best place, either Facebook at Finding the Fantastic or Spotify at Finding the Fantastic Podcast.
Awesome. Thank you so much again. We really appreciate it.
No, thank you. I really appreciate it. The podcast you just heard was published with Anchor. Got something you want to say to the creator of this show? Send them a voice message using using the Anchor app, free for iOS and Android.
