My Interview With Shannon Oleen

Shannon Oleen is a motivational speaker who empowers young adults. Shannon has followed her passions for her entire life. One of Shannon’s big passions was sports. Shannon played sports in high school, and after a lot of practice, Shannon became an NFL cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs. After putting the poms down for good, Shannon pursued another passion which was to become a motivational speaker. I had Shannon on a Google Hangout which you can watch here (the noise in the background is my computer’s fans. Sorry about that). Here were the main takeaways from the interview.

1. Success does not go to you; you go to it. If success came to us, there would not be thousands of books in the world about success systems that never fail and similar book titles as well. The road to success is the road less traveled. However, by taking that road, you will end up becoming successful by doing the things that you love to do.
2. Patience and action lead to success. Shannon thought that when she became a motivational speaker, she would be able to quit her old job in 6 months so she could focus on motivational speaking. It took a lot longer for her to eventually quit her job, but by staying patient, she was able to quit her job and focus on motivational speaking. In addition, Shannon Oleen tried out several times for the cheerleader team, and after trying out many times, the Kansas City Chiefs had Shannon on their cheerleading team.
3. We need to find out who we really are as individuals. In one of her blog posts, Shannon goes in detail about her 2 week canoe ride where there was rationed food and water. From this 2 week canoe ride, Shannon was able to discover who she as a person is minus all of the technology. Shannon did not use any social networks during the canoe ride, and although that alone is brave enough for a gold medal, there were no forms of technology or every day things we take for granted. It is amazing how much we take brushing our teeth and toilets for granted. This experience allowed Shannon to know who she is as a person, and that is something we all must do–find out who we really are minus the clutter. I’m not telling you to go on a canoe ride, but I am telling you to dig deep, remove the clutter, and figure out who you are as a person.

The entire interview has elements of humor and motivation intertwined into one. If you want to get in touch with Shannon, you can subscribe to her blog and follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social networks (just search Shannon Oleen, and she’ll show up).