This week, former NFL player and motivational speaker, Aaron Shawn Harper is with us to talk about how he has overcome setbacks in the business that he has owned for over 20 years. His philosophy in letting go of things others have done and choosing to forgive is inspiring. If you’ve not listened to a motivational speaker lately, his words are a great encouragement to add to your day. Take a listen!
Welcome to Business Talk Sister Gawk! I’m Bekkah! And I’m Ruthie! And today’s title is “How to Handle Setbacks in Business.” And with us today we have Aaron Shawn Harper. He has had quite a variety of careers in his life including being an NFL athlete and a motivational speaker and I believe even having a security company! I’m really interested to hear all about these different things but thank you so much for being with us today!
Shawn: Thank you for having me and we’re going to have fun today! Let’s win! Let’s go for it!
Ruthie: Awesome! Okay!
Bekkah: I love when we talk with people from the sports world because they’re very just like, “Let’s go!” *all laugh*
What Business Do You Own?
Ruthie: Yeah, so tell us a little bit about what you do?
Shawn: So, business-wise I own American Services and Protection. We’re a full-service security firm located in Columbus, Ohio. We’ve been in business, I don’t know, close to about 20 years now!
Bekkah: Wow!
Shawn: That’s something that I kind of walked into after I retired from the NFL. Playing you know offensive line in particular in college and NFL tackle, I love to protect and so this was a natural transition and a natural segway and that I can protect clients and the clients become my quarterback. I was able to bring over a lot of mindsets and concepts that I’ve learned playing professional sports because at a certain level in business it’s really about winning and if I could be so bold to say that life is about winning. It’s not about success it’s about winning. We are created to win and I can prove that to you if you dare ask me sometime in this podcast.
*all laugh*
Ruthie: Okay, I don’t know if that sounds like a challenge or?
Shawn: Yeah, it is, It is, it is.
Ruthie: Okay!
Why Did You Start Becoming an Entrepreneur?
Bekkah: So tell us a little bit about your “why”. Why do you do what you do?
Shawn: Well, the basis of my why is that I’m a winner. I’m here to win not only for myself but for the people around me. I’ve been blessed and I’ve come through a lot of adversity. Learning disabilities, stuttering my entire life, graduated last in my class in academics, being raised in impoverished situations, one of six kids on the south side of Columbus, Ohio, my mom scrubbed floors for a living. And I got to a certain place in my life, right, where I’m like, “There were people who helped me!” What about my third-grade teacher, Miss Francis? What about my football coaches in college? What about that neighbor down the street? There were a few select people. My mother who really stepped in and was like you know, “You can do it! You know you can make something great with your life!” So now I reached a point where I’m like, “Wait a second, who is helping the new breed of Shawn Harper’s? Who’s helping the people who are coming along who just need a word of encouragement, who just need a helping hand or maybe a small check or a large check? Where are these people and they’re here and they’re around us every single day! Unfortunately, in our society, everyone thinks about themselves and they have a myopic attitude and people are falling by to what they say! That’s my “why”.
How Have You Over Come Setbacks in Your Business?
Ruthie: That’s awesome! Okay, so we’re going to kind of talk about like the setbacks here of business. So give us an example of a time that you had a setback and how you’ve overcome that.
Shawn: You know what’s so funny? I was just going through this morning. I mean just this morning this happened and I was revisiting a major, major setback in my life with business and my life, actually. It was about the third or fourth year I was in business. I had my number one-officer to serve my captain and his son who was a lieutenant and another person basically tried to steal my entire company. They stole about three-fourths of all my contracts and I came from maybe –
Bekkah: What?!
Shawn: Yeah, I came from one payroll from going out of business! It was so hard to see the rejection of one client after another that canceled. Like, “Why? Why are my top clients canceling? What’s going on?” And then they lied on me to like the state and federal government so I had audits and then they caused workers comp. I mean it came from everywhere and I promise you I really wanted to give up. So this morning, after I made it through that and years later, this morning I’m sitting down and I’m just thinking, meditating, praying, releasing, loving and then that pain came back like, “Why is that pain there?” and I was able to spend like 20 minutes and just release it and forgive and just allow that space in my heart to be restored so that I can move on because I was looking at potentially hiring another operations manager and I’ve never had an operations manager since then. I realized at that moment it’s because I had trust issues! I allowed the past to destroy my present which would cripple my future.
The Most Helpful Thing to Get Through a Business Setback
Bekkah: Yeah, so I mean there’s so many things in that that are just really, really mature in what you’re saying that a lot of younger people probably don’t think through. What was maybe the most helpful thing for you during this time of facing that setback? What really helped you get through?
Shawn: The power of forgiveness. You know, unforgiveness, resentment, and anger are like radiation. It would always destroy the container that is held in. Some of the most top ,the most successful people I’ve ever met regularly they forgive! In fact, I do a lot of school assemblies. I used to, I mean, I still do tons of school assemblies. I still do a lot of them right because I love our youth and from time to time a principal or a counselor will invite me in the office and speak to a kid who has “troubles” you know, “This kid’s ‘troubled’” or whatever. So I just, “Sit down. Let’s talk.” And what I do is I slowly walk backwards to the point of offense or anger or bitterness towards mom or dad. And once we get to that point, we unravel everything else, everything else just lines up a lot. I’ll say a large percentage of diseases are nestled and rooted in unforgiveness. If I could share one thing it’s, “Please, live, give, and forgive!”
How Have Setbacks in Business Been Different From Other Jobs?
Ruthie: Wow, so you’ve been going and speaking at different school assemblies and you’ve been an NFL player and you’ve done all these different things, how has business, how does that differ from other jobs that you’ve previously done in your life and in terms of how you address setbacks?
Shawn: You know, business as an entrepreneur is like swimming in the ocean. Okay, so when you work in corporate it’s like being in that big swimming pool, right? And you know what’s happening. You know who’s causing waves. You know the water is going to be at a certain temperature every day. You know that person’s going to be there, that person is not going to be, that person looks horrible in your swimsuit, that person looks great. *all laugh* You know it’s Friday the man’s going to kind of clean the pool and you just work your processes, right? An entrepreneur – it’s like you’re in the ocean. You got to be able to read waves. You have to be able to read the tide. You have to be able to look at the stars and forecast and check out, “Okay, it’s a red sky in the morning. It’s going to rain. Red sky in the evening. It’s great!” You know you have to be able to sense so much! You need to know if that person’s a dolphin or a shark! They both have fins a half-mile away and prepare! So that skill set you have to develop as an entrepreneur to be able to see what’s not seen and hear what’s not being said is probably the biggest asset you can carry that and your network.
How Networking Can Help You Overcome Setbacks
Bekkah: Yeah, and that really was the next question I had on my list even too. How has networking and being around other people been helpful for overcoming setbacks?
Shawn: You know, it helps you out –
Bekkah: Or maybe the opposite.
Shawn: It helps you out in three ways. Number one, I believe that your network is turning into your net worth. Okay, so many times there are opportunities or things that I need done that I can pull up a network of people, “Hey, I know somebody! Hey, I know this!” You know because I promise going through the actual interview process and trying to find somebody that is dependable in 2021 is tough! Number two, your network motivates you because you are around people who are like-minded, who have this similar struggles, and we’re all fighting together. That energy and that synergy that moves back and forth from maybe a competitor maybe a rival using that to help propel you to the next level is awesome! And the flip side of that is that being a business owner I just can’t go to anybody and talk about issues because they might not understand! You know I can’t go to my workers and share that, right? So I find people who can understand what it is to maybe not make payroll or maybe having some cash flow issues! I know that that person understands because they’ve got the same battle scars that I have! That’s so huge!
How Vulnerability With Like-Minded People Moves Your Business Forward
Ruthie: Yeah, so in that the group of people that you’re sharing these things with how important is it to be really real and vulnerable with people to be able to move forward with your business?
Shawn: Well, I would hope that if you have a person at that level that is in your life and I would hope that you’ll be able to connect with them first. My motto, my saying is that “you connect then you communicate. You connect then you communicate.” So once that connection has been established, the respect, the trust, the admiration, now you’re able to communicate! See, all communication is based off of relationship. Okay, the way I’m talking to you is not the way I would talk to my amazing wife. The way I talk to my amazing wife and call her “sugar baby” and everything else is not the way I would talk to my 19-year-old son. The way I talk to my 19-year-old son is not the way I would talk to the president of the United States. Once the relationship is established then the communication ensues and so you have to be able to connect and have that trust and once that happens now you can communicate.
Bekkah: Yeah, that’s good advice when talking about your business too because when you don’t have somebody – if you give information to the wrong person it can really be detrimental in so many ways! One of the questions I was thinking about as you’re talking about that as you’re saying you’ve had so many people in life be an encouragement to you, what’s some of the best advice you’ve received when you’ve been feeling discouraged about your business?
Shawn: Well, some of the best advice that I have received in reference to my business when I’m feeling upset about my business is that everybody goes through this. These are growing pains and whenever you’re growing and you’re growing out of your old self you’re gonna experience growing pains. Take comfort in that! We all went through this process and the people who make it are the people who go through the process and they don’t get stuck in the process. That right there is just, man! It was just, wow! Basically, it was “take comfort in that!” And then when you go to like the internet you look at things like Google, you realize that the average millionaire has filed for bankruptcy 3.2 times like, wow! And that’s like front page of Google! It’s like you know what? We do fall. We do fail, we just fail forward and keep going!
Books to Read When Overcoming Business Setbacks
Ruthie: Yeah so in that as you’ve been learning and learning about how to help other people and everything what books have you read throughout your life that have been really helpful in motivating you and pushing you forward?
Shawn: Well, first and foremost, it’s not as much as I should, but I read the Bible. Okay, whether you see it as a religious book or just a book of great morals and values there are some great points. Okay, because I’ve learned a lot of spiritual laws from that book. Secularized, I read books like “Think and Grow Rich,” “One-Minute Millionaire,” “Psycho-Cybernetics.” I’m really big in manifestation. Really big! And it’s not what you do that makes you successful as much as who you are, okay? It’s like you have to manifest that and then that influences your thoughts and when you move from your self-concept then you move in authenticity and once you move in authenticity and absolute, leadership is not as bad because before they buy into your project they buy into you. When you’re moving with that agreement within yourself a lot of things come easy in the spiritual realm or the universe responds to agreement. It responds to, “Hey, I am all in on what I’m saying.” And once you have that if there’s indecision in your decision, then it doesn’t happen.
Ruthie: You’ve got all these quick little quips there and they’re so good.
Keep Your Mind From Becoming Negative in Business Setbacks
Bekkah: Quotable quotes. Yeah. So what are some helpful self-care habits? I know you talked about a little of them and just in our conversation but what would you recommend for other people to keep their minds from becoming negative in the face of different setbacks?
Shawn: Wow! So you have to – wow you know what? The first thing is you have to be conscious of what’s happening. About 80 to 98% of all communication is non-verbal. There is a subconscious network operating. It’s like a program. The program is what you see but there’s a lot of things working behind the screen that’s making the stuff pop up on the screen. You have to be conscious of what’s happening behind the scenes as much as possible. What I would encourage our audience to focus on is the media. Focus on the media and social media and what it saying and what it’s not saying to you. Like be cognizant of the fact when you drive down the street McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, maybe Rally’s have you noticed they all have the same colors? Why is that? Because those two colors trigger hunger and they’re direct competitors but they understand the subconscious over top of the conscious. They’re going to keep those same colors because those colors trigger hunger.
There’s a lot of things that are the same no matter what city you go to the fire truck is usually red maybe yellow and the siren is definitely red. The police they have red and they have blue. Why is that? How come they don’t have like a yellow police sign? Because they realize subconsciously that these are triggers. Now think about that for a second, if they spend all that money direct competitors and they’re going to do that and you need to pay attention to your own subconscious? You need to pay attention and to become awoke to you, to you. And then you take authority over that so, “You know what? I’m not going to play that song. I’m not going to watch that on TV. I’m not going to listen to that crap,” because once it gets into your subconscious and you speak it then you begin to manifest. If you put emotion behind what you speak you’re going to manifest it that much faster.
Ruthie: Yeah, so tying in with what you’re saying and this mind-body connection and like speaking things out and how that affects you like I’m sure you’ve memorized a ton of things with being involved in football and all these different plays that you’ve learned so how does that – what things have you kind of internalized and really tried to like processes or things like rhythms that you’ve set in your life that are things that you’ve committed to like what specifically can people be doing today that would benefit them?
What You Can Be Doing Today to Overcome Setbacks
Shawn: Well, first and foremost, when I say things like “I’m a winner,” that is so important because all action stems from thoughts. Your thoughts come from your beliefs but your belief is nestled in your self-concept. “I am a winner” so now guess what? There’s no room for “I’m stupid.” There’s no room for, “I’m a failure.” There’s no room for, “I’m ugly.” There’s no room for, you know, “I’m crazy.” All that’s done because you can never grow past your name. First and foremost you gotta take authority over your name . Every movie starts with a name. Then from the name comes to script. Then from the script comes the cast and then from the cast comes action. Start with the name. Start with your name. What is your name?
I’ll tell you a quick story and I believe it was Alexander the Great okay. He had just conquered some country, and they had this huge banquet, and they bring out all the traders because you know everyone doesn’t want to fight. Some people run, right? They bring out all the people who ran and then they kill them, right? They kill them it just this is horrible right. It’s not a politically correct story just bear with me and they kill him and they got the little young kid like 12, 13 years old and I think it’s Alexander he was sitting there and he said, “What is your name?” and the kid said, “My name is Alexander.” And he got – Alexander the Great got so upset he jumped he said, “What!?” and he ran over to the kid he said, “What is your name?” He said, “My name is Alexander!” He said, “No! You are a coward! You ran in battle! There’s no way. What is your name?” He said, “Sir, my name is Alexander.” And Alexander looked at him say, “You have a choice. Change your character or change your name.”
And so the first thing you have to do is that you have to change your name. And the next thing you have to do is you’ve got to write your script. Which means that every day, okay? I speak, my wife and I, we speak six or seven things that are going to happen. We don’t have a vision board we have a script board and we say it together with emotion. You don’t know how powerful this is! And you speak it and you speak your life you speak your destiny every day.
Bekkah: So when you do that how do you have accountability put into that for as you’re saying, “These are the things that I want to accomplish. These are my goals,” and you’re speaking that, is it because you have your wife that you’re doing it with that you guys then keep one another accountable in that or how do you remember those things and follow up on them?
Shawn: The things that I speak I don’t need accountability for. This is not goals.
Bekkah: Okay, so they’re different?
Shawn: Yes, this is what it is. You know, this is what is. I speak all over the country and just this morning we spoke a number you know a financial number of what’s going to come in from my speaking engagements every month. Now it’s up to the Spirit to make that happen, but what I can’t do – I got to do two things number one is to recognize when it happens and the processing which is happening and number two you got to create capacity for which is another spiritual law. Creating capacity for that. I looked at my wife this morning I’m like, “Look, do you know what this means? When we’re out there – I’m going to be gone you know six or seven times a month,” and she’s like, “Okay.” I was kind of concerned about that but she was like, “Okay!” I’m like, “Yeah!” So it’s like, “Boom!” There it is. We’re in agreement. Now I’ve created capacity for that to happen.
Ruthie: Yeah, so you’ve said so many different things that I think people can draw value from could you go ahead and tell our listeners where they can find you?
Shawn: My website is seanharper.org, okay and if I’m not mistaken you said that this was a younger crowd so my Instagram is Speaker Shawn Harper Speaker. I’ve got tons of videos up there for any y’all people a little older, it’s Winning By Design on Facebook. Now I got something for you guys. If you go to Shawn Harper.co you can get a free copy of my book, “The Winning Edge”. It’s a great book it talks about the laws how to implement them. It’s a powerful book and you can get that for free no problem.
Bekkah: Awesome! Well, thank you so much for that too! We’ll definitely link that in the blog post!
Shawn: You’re welcome!
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