Loading...
Loading...

Everyone sees the success, but no one sees the weight behind it. In this episode, Shawn French and Pat Sitkins pull back the curtain on Exploring the cultural perspectives on entrepreneurship and breaking norms around success
From pressure, sacrifice, and family impact to the loneliness of leadership, this is the raw truth about entrepreneurship.
Key Takeaways
-Building something meaningful comes with pressure no one prepares you for.
-Success impacts your family more than people realize.
-You can’t balance everything—prioritization is required (Four Burner Theory).
-Determination is doing the work even when you don’t feel like it.
-The hardest seasons often come right before major breakthroughs.
Follow Us
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theshawnfrench
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/476624146831479?checkpoint_src=any
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5kS9tkLGQLcVyRgB3mDznw
Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-determined-society-with-shawn-french/id1555922064
Linkme - https://link.me/theshawnfrench
Pat Sitkins Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/patsitkins/
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Are you a trailblazer, a risk taker, someone with countless tales of epic adventure?
Well, I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working on it.
Even the boldest among us start off small, daring themselves to reach greater goals each
day.
If you're looking to take on a challenge like that, the defender is too.
It's a vehicle built for drivers capable of great things, whether they're head towards
an uncharted territory or just a weekend getaway.
A vehicle that like you is capable of great things.
The defender was engineered to meet challenges head on so you can explore with confidence as
a tough rigid body design that's been tested to the extreme.
Luxury appointments throughout ensure your adventure is in comfort.
3D surround cameras with clear sight ground view let you see underneath the vehicle and
anticipate obstacles in rough terrain.
The defender event is on now, explore enhanced offers at Land Rover USA dot com.
Start your day with Quaker protein insinote meal.
The insinote meal ready to help you tackle whatever your day brings, like wrinkling your
toddler into their car seat.
That was fun.
Coaching your six-graders soccer team, double girls, and carrying all the groceries in
one trip.
Try Quaker protein, insinote meal, granola, and bars.
Great taste and a good source of protein.
Quaker, bring out the good.
Building this media company so to speak has been the hardest thing I've ever fucking done
in my life.
If you knew what you were going to have to go through day one when you started this to
get to today, would you have done it?
No.
Staying corporate America made 300 grand a year and just been completely happy taking
vacations whenever I wanted to because we had money to do it and live like a robot.
I'm going to tell everybody right now listening.
Yesterday was a very hard day and you know that.
My kids are very intuitive.
The moment they looked at me, they knew something was up and I just said, hey guys, don't
worry.
It's just a rough day in business.
Daddy will get through it.
Now the little one, she's a witch.
I was putting her down and I kissed her right here on her cheek and there was tears and
she goes, something's going on with you and I don't know what it is.
You know, that was a wake up call for me to be like, man, maybe you should not wear your
shit on your sleeve.
That's why it's emotional for me because people don't see that side.
People don't see how the family's affected.
It's just been heavy lately, man.
And I think it gets really heavy right before the breakthrough.
Welcome back.
People are about to experience another recording with my partner and one of my closest friends,
Pat Sikins on the pulse, the behind the scenes episode of the Determine Society.
Today, we're going to do some housekeeping items, some announcements about the third
body giveaway that's starting to come to a close, et cetera.
And then we're going to get into some nitty gritty stuff, guys.
We're going to go deep and we're going to uncover a lot of different things with this
show and the questions that you guys have asked time and time over again of how we built
this thing and what our mission is.
So without further ado, buddy, let's get it.
What's up, patty?
Welcome back.
We're back.
Another episode.
Man, we hear there's been a month already.
Good grief.
Dude, months passed by really quickly.
I've in my old age at 47 years old, I realize how quickly time moves.
So that's a conversation, I think, you know, that's another other day.
All other deep one, but speed and time speeding up and just the rate at which things are going
right now.
I was actually in a conversation this week and we were talking about slowing down to
stop the little winds because it goes so quick.
I know we've mentioned that in the past, but I at least got to stop for a second because
I called you and made sure no one else was around and I screamed at you in excitement
because we did hit some new milestones.
I want you to tell people about the charts and where we are right now.
Man, it's really nice.
You know, the things with these charts, it's really nice to see that a bigger platform
like Apple recognizes what you're doing and verifies it on their platform, right?
So for the United States of America and all categories, I think there's, gosh, I don't
know, man, probably six million shows here in the United States of America.
You know, we hit number 14.
You know, I think it's probably the first time we broke the top 15, which is a massive
milestone.
And then categorically, we hit number one again, and we're still at number one today.
And let's be very clear about this, okay?
Because I think this is something that really fires me up, all right?
You know, we are battling giants in this industry, okay?
As Recline show, the Sean Ryan show, and we're continuing to be there right next to
him.
You know, the thing that really fires me up is that, you know, sometimes the visibility
I don't feel is there.
And it's always about these other shows.
And I love what they do, man, don't get me wrong, I'm throwing no shade at these people.
But you know, it's time for people to start paying some damn attention.
It is really freaking time because I feel like the tiger is being let out of the cage right
now.
Not obviously behind the scenes.
So I'm on another level right now, probably a level that you've never seen me at, and
we will continue to speak later offline.
But I am ready.
And the only thing that happened over the last 24 to 48 hours is I was woken up fully.
And that is a dangerous place to be in, man, because when I'm awake, I make moves.
And so put your fucking seatbelt on, dude.
I'm feisty this morning.
I like it.
Oh, I'm feisty, bro.
That's right.
feisty with an absence.
That's feisty.
That's right.
feisty feisty.
Well, if you're, if you're feeling all motivated, this is a good segue into one thing I did
want to talk about.
And I know we've mentioned it a lot, but that's the frequency.
We've been asking people on TDS on my show.
And just people in general that we're having conversations with, we're having that conversation
around music.
Yeah, it started with the walk up song.
And actually had a guy give us credit this week, he said, man, that's you baseball guys.
That's your term.
And I love it.
Because it's our walk up song, right?
But I do want to remind people that that playlist is out there.
It's got curated songs.
It's the hype song, the one song that gets people's blood flowing and their energy up and
all that stuff.
Whether you're a weekend warrior trying to crush it out there on the road or whatever
it is.
If you're feeling motivated like Sean French is today, go out to Spotify and search the
frequency.
And you'll see the podcast cover right there.
And you can look at the playlist and we're updating that thing every single week.
So I did want to mention that.
And then the final one, like you said, is the sweepstakes.
So I'm talking to them about that.
They hear about TheraBody and the TheraGun in every episode because they've been a great
sponsor so far.
So let's talk about, you know, this was your idea.
We've talked about doing some type of giveaway sweepstakes for a long time and finally
pulled the trigger and we got it out there.
Yeah, I mean, the sweepstake is going amazingly.
Every single day more people are entering this contest and, you know, I think the main
thing about TheraBody that I really want to highlight is you're right.
They have been a great partner and, you know, it's a great product for overall physical
and emotional wellness and recovery.
And people notice these things and when you give something away of that much value,
people respond.
So if you haven't already entered this contest, you got to the end of the month, right?
You got to the end of the month and hopefully we extend the partnership because I think
there's so much more we can do with TheraBody, you know, in terms of onsite, inclinical, laboratory,
et cetera.
But like guys, hop on this.
It's an opportunity to win TheraGun Pro Plus.
Retail that $649, man, and I'm giving it away for free.
The only thing you got to do is go to the bio at the Sean French on Instagram and answer
the contest and do the bonus entries, right?
Like follow the prompts, man, because you're going to get so many, so many additional entries
if you follow what's going on and what we've seen, man, is a lot of people are doing it.
I mean, we've had over 2,000 people click on that link and we are not running any traffic
to it.
We've boosted it.
I paid $200 over 14 days and that's it.
And people are just filing in there.
So again, don't miss the opportunity, guys, go in there, click on the bio link and enter
the contest, man.
You might win.
There you go.
All right.
So you started mentioning it and we might as well just get down into it.
And I mentioned this the other day and I want to bring it up again.
It's the idea of the four-burner's theory.
So and you hadn't heard of it.
I'm assuming you haven't done a ton of research, so I'll go ahead and give you the premise
of this.
It's the idea that there are four-burners in your life.
You have family, you have friends, you have your health and you have work.
And at any time, there's only so much gas that can go to all four-burners on the stove,
right?
So they can't all be running at the same level every time.
And so what it's saying is when you're trying to build something meaningful, you're trying
to focus on your health, whatever, one or two of the four, you've got to tone down or
bring down the other burners.
And so as I look at that, to me, it's about the cost of what you're doing.
Because to be, you can't be the fittest person in the world, the best husband and father,
the biggest business person on the planet and have all the friends.
Like you just, you can't.
So I wanted to bring that up and let that sit for a second and get you to respond.
Not just in general, but specifically today.
You know, I think it's a great point, man.
And I think what it all boils down to when people are making decisions to move forward,
whether it's their fitness, build their business, their family, you got to go with what is
most important at the time, right?
Like if you have a horseshit relationship with your wife and your children or your husband
and your children or whatever relationship you have that you want to pour into, that's
got to be the priority, man.
So without real, meaningful relationships in our life, you can have as much money as
you want.
You can have, you know, the most popular brand on the planet and ain't going to meet Jack
shit if you don't got people next to you that love you, right?
So prioritizing what needs to be done.
You know, what I found with fitness though, you know, when you include that aspect, you
know, being the best physically fit, you can be.
It helps you mentally and it almost indirectly helps everything else, right?
It helps the relationship with the family because you're already doing hard things daily,
right?
And so those moments of contention within your household seem to be a lot easier because
you're already doing the hard thing over here, right?
So again, you can't have all four burners at the same level.
Something always has to, I don't want to say take a back seat, but isn't the priority,
right?
I mean, when I had to get in really good shape, that was my priority.
That was it.
Now coincidentally, the show elevated because of it.
So I think what people really need to understand is don't worry about the four burners.
Worry about the one thing and we've talked about this, right?
But I'm going to say it again because people don't really listen the first hundred times.
The one thing in your life that you know you need to fix, it's the one thing that keeps
you up at night.
That's the one thing that you think about consistently.
It sits on your frontal lobe and it's as heavy as an elephant.
That's the one thing you fix, man.
That's the one thing you dial into because what happens is you build the confidence level
of following through and then that bleeds into everything else.
So if you're stuck, there's a reason.
And most people do know the reason, but they keep dismissing it because they don't know
how to move forward.
You don't need to know how.
You just need to make that next move, make that next right decision and then do it
again over and over again.
And what you'll find is that area of your life starts to get fixed and then everything
else will fall into place as well.
Now it's not going to be without adversity.
I mean, we're learning that a lot, a lot lately, but I think it's what builds you in these
moments, man, is this these points of contention, adversity.
It is the true classroom, man.
It is the true classroom, but you know, the foreburner theory I love because if you focus
on all of them and you turn your dial up to 100 degrees on all of them, you will burn
out quicker than you can even blink.
Take a breath, focus on one thing.
It takes the pressure off in my mind, right?
Because like you said, you were looking at everything you were trying to do when you started
focusing on fitness, you said, that's the one.
And so there's classic examples of entrepreneurs that turn their work one up all the way and
everything else crumbles, right?
Their relationships, their family goes away, they have no friends, whatever it is.
So to me, it takes a pressure off of going, look, right now, like you said, I can't do
everything.
So I'm going to focus on these two, realizing that these two, they're not going to get
the attention they need right now, but it's the decision I'm making to get all four up
as best I can.
Agreed.
I mean, just think about it, man, everybody has their own dynamics, right?
For me and my family, I'm close to my wife, I'm close with my kids, I already have that
going.
You know what I mean?
Is our relationship perfect?
No relationships perfect, man, everybody goes through shit, right?
But the bottom line is, I'm not trying to fix anything that is massively broken in that
realm, right?
Now, in the past, yeah, like I've had to grow, I've had to get better, right?
But right now, I know I can focus on the fitness and I can focus on the show.
And for me, you know, always as well as keeping an open line of communication open with my
wife and my children, that's easy for me, right?
That's already happening.
But if something shifted to where I had to focus just on the family and the business
then I would do that.
All the other things are already autopilot.
Already go to the gym every day.
It's not a conscious decision anymore, so some days it is, right?
Yesterday it was.
I don't want to do this.
I took my shoes on and off 10 times yesterday.
And I finally said, you know what?
If I don't go, then I'm going to regret it.
And I'm not willing to sit with regret.
So anyway, that's where I'm at with that theory.
So you mentioned the adversity.
And you know, we've talked about what we're going through.
I think in a decent way recently, especially with this show, but I know a lot of people
have questions about the beginning and how this show started.
And so I think a good place to start there because everyone loves an origin story, right?
So we got to have your origin story out there.
And I look at the adversity, the word determination, okay?
And I know this is something that you and I talked about early on, I was like, is this
the name for the show?
Should we change it?
Should we not?
The word determination, okay?
Was there a moment in your life when you decided this is the cause I'm going to hang
my hat on?
This is the word that I'm going to lean into, like explain to me in the audience at what
point determination became this sounding board for everything.
Hey, guys, we're going to take a quick break and we're going to slide into our recovery
segment brought to you by TheraBody.
What an amazing technology that TheraBody has.
And it was founded on a really cool story by Dr. Jason Werslin.
It was founded on pain.
He got into an accident and had this extreme pain in his arm and found that percussive therapy
really helped.
So he created the very first version of the TheraGun with a Makita drill, just a pilot
and test to see if his pain could be relieved by percussive therapy overall.
And surely it was.
So now birth to the TheraGun and now TheraBody who has a multitude of products to help you
recover emotionally and physically.
And some of the products even help with stress, meditation and better sleep and just overall
better wellness.
And when I had Dr. Jay on the show earlier in 2025, it really spoke to me because his
platform was founded out of a physical pain and the determined society was founded out
of emotional pain.
And so it felt natural for us to partner up.
So here we are, an official partnership with TheraBody.
And I want to talk to you about some of the products today that I've been enjoying that
I think you need to understand and know more about so you could potentially implement
them into your life.
And I'm not going to get into a big deep dive of the actual science and everything like
that.
I'm just going to give you some anecdotal information based on the products that I'm
using and that my wife is actually using too.
That is helping us out a great deal at home because the great thing about these products
guys is you can use them anywhere.
You can use them in the gym.
You can use them at home in your bed in your living room, hell, you can even drive with
the Thera TheraGun Pro Plus in your car and use it on your quads, use it on your arms,
whatever that is.
The first thing I want to talk about is the TheraGun Pro Plus.
I bring that in my gym bag every day to the gym and when I'm warming up, I use it to
warm up.
I put it on my arms, whatever body part I'm using that day, I activate those muscles
and what I find is I'm able to move my body a lot quicker and I'm a lot stronger on those
days that I do actually bring it and utilize it.
I just think it's a great way to understand your body and the connection between your strength
and your muscles and being warm and being able to perform because it's one thing to go
work out, but it's another thing to perform while you're doing it and the TheraGun Pro
Plus helps me do that.
Another thing that I really truly enjoy is the Jet Boots Pro Plus.
These things are wire free, there's no hassle, there's no quads, there's infrared LED light,
there's that compression therapy, and I've been having bad pains in my ankles both of
them actually for about a year and I don't understand where it's coming from, but when
I started using the boots, religiously after a leg day or after a cardio session, I throw
those boots on and I find myself a lot looser afterwards, I find myself lighter, and then
the next day, there's no pain in my lower extremity, like my feet.
The other thing that I really enjoy is that product really helps me recover a lot quicker
and let's face it, that's the most important thing when we're trying to move our bodies
or we're trying to succeed in life as we want quick recovery emotionally and physically
and these products help me do that and they can help you do that as well.
One of the other things that I really want to go into because it's helped my wife out
a ton with headaches and being able to distract from the noise and her mind and honestly,
it helps me with that too is a smart goggles.
Whenever we feel a slight headache coming on or things are getting really heavy, just
in our minds, just thinking about all the stressors, all the things out there that we can't
control, we throw the goggles on, getting a quiet place and there's different cycles
on there and different intensities of vibrations and massaging that you can either turn it
up or turn it down.
What I really enjoy is it allows me to focus on what's going on with just me and I think
about things and the massaging with the smart goggles relieves either headaches and it
relaxes me and relaxes my wife to a point where we can fall asleep better.
We are preparing to kind of downshift and shut down and slow down for the evening so
I heavily recommend them.
The other thing it's really good for is just creating a peaceful time in your day and
what I've found since using the smart goggles and then the other products is it works for
me, it works for my family and I know it can work for you too.
I want you guys to think about things that you are struggling with if it's lower back pain
or you wake up in the morning, your neck is tight.
I'm going to tell you the Theragon Pro Plus will help that out.
They have cold therapy on it, hot therapy.
I mean, think about that.
When I open that box and realize that I could have heat therapy and cold therapy and the
Theragon changed everything for me and also really made the thing that I hate doing the most
is warm up, made that very easy for me just by applying it to the muscle group that I'm going to
use before I do it and in between sets which promotes quicker recovery between sets.
So if you're looking to go high volume or to lift heavy weights, I strongly consider that.
All these products are there to help you move along in your day with less pain and recover
quicker. So go check it out because now, like I said, the official partnership has begun and from now
until the end of March in your first order, you get 15% off your first order, not every order.
So if you're going to buy some stuff, load up there in that cart for that first time and you get
15% off, go to Therabody.com and at checkout, the code is determined. So let me know how you guys
like it until then, stay determined. You know, it's a good question and I hope people really grab
on to it this time. You know, I hate to be, you know, petty with it, but that's the reality.
Literally catch on. You know, the word determination, when I looked at my life,
when I looked at everything I'd been successful in, what was the common ingredient?
It was me not giving up. It was me continuing to move forward, even when I didn't want to.
It's like whether it was in sales or baseball or even in this damn show, those moments of like where
you just feel like the world is pushing against you and you want to stop. That's the moment of like,
I can't stop because I made a commitment to myself and to other people. And now there's
business partners, there's an audience. I have a responsibility. It is to live that branded
determination. So for me, it was like, you know, this real estate, massive realization of what
made me successful. And it wasn't a ton of talent. It wasn't, I was just a better salesperson
than everybody else. And I didn't have these special skills. It was like, I was unwilling to
fucking stop. And for me, determination is something that I pinpointed that were most people fall.
They give up at the first sign of any type of adversity. Like, well, you know, if this is going
to be this hard, if the bury of entry is this difficult and this must not be the thing for me,
how many times are you going to do that? It's not that. It's like, what are you willing to give?
What are you willing to sacrifice? Are you willing to put your, you know, proverbial nuts on the line?
And for me, it was on determination because I felt that that's what made me special in some ways.
But it also gave me a lot of insight of where people are missing.
Because they're waiting for that moment where they want to do it. And that is not determination.
That is not going to move you for whatsoever. That is waiting on this motivation word or feeling
like you want to. I mean, Jesus, Pat, how many days do we wake up and want to do something?
If we waited for wanting to do something or emotionally ready to do something, like,
I would still be 230 pounds, maybe 250 by now, laying on the couch underneath the blanket,
watching Netflix. You mentioned barriers to entry and how hard it is to get started. It is,
right? Like putting your shoes on, taking them off, you're like, crap, I got to put them back
on again. Like, that's pretty hard. And then I got to get in the car. Let me ask you a question.
And I've been wondering about this with myself and then with you. If you knew what you were
going to have to go through day one when you started this to get to today, would you have done it?
I don't know. That's my honest answer. I mean, a part of me says, yeah, but a big part of me is like,
no, no, I would have stayed in corporate America, made 300 grand a year and just been completely happy
taking vacations whenever I wanted to because we had money to do it and live like a robot.
You know, wake up, get in my scrubs, go to the OR, do this, do that. Do the dog and pony show with
the lunches, do the dog and pony show with the surgeons, play their game. You know, and I think
it's a great career. I mean, I think that, you know, I don't, I don't want to paint corporate America
in a bad light, but it's a lot easier road. It's a lot easier road. I mean, the berry of entry here is
tremendous, tremendous. And if you look at things and try to dissect them up front of how hard it's
going to be and if you're willing to do it, I mean, I think most people would say, no,
no, like I got three kids, a wife, like, let me, let me stay safe. That's how we're wired.
You know, and so sometimes man ignorance is bliss.
That's a very honest answer. And I'm pretty much in the same boat because I look at where we are
and you and I talk about this offline all the time. You know, these are the problems we asked for.
We didn't say we're going to ask for these specific problems in the future. It was we want to go
up the ranks. We want to be known. We want this that and the other thing. Well, what comes with that
is all the stuff that we're dealing with. And so we asked for it. And so to look at it now,
I love what we're doing. I'm sitting on, you know, 11 o'clock, you know, in the morning,
hanging out with you. This is good. We get to do some great stuff, but it is fucking hard.
You know, yeah. And you know, one day, I want to tell it all, I just can't right now, right?
We can't right now. But the fact of the matter is, is like, people look at the show and look what we
what we're doing, you know, I'm grateful for the response, but they have no idea
of what goes on in the day to day in the back end of it. Like you know, because I update you,
I talk to you three times a day, most days, and it's like, these are the things that we're dealing
with, right? And like I said, one day, I want to be able to air it all out, like literally air it
all out, but I can't do it yet until we hit a certain point to where we're set. And then I can
tell everybody, this is the shit that you're going to go through. You know, and again, on a one-on-one
basis, if somebody wants to hire me and help them, then cool, I'll do that. But I'm not going to be,
I'm not going to air everything out on socials. I'm not going to air everything out on the podcast,
because I don't think it's the, I don't think it's the platform, right? My whole thing is is like,
this shit is not easy. This, building this engine, building this media company, so to speak,
has been the hardest thing I've ever fucking done in my life. And I want the audience to
truly understand that. What you're seeing is the payoff of a lot of pain, a lot of sacrifice.
And I don't say this to get pads on the back where people feel sorry for, I don't want you to
fucking feel sorry for me. But what I want you to understand is there was so much that has gone
into this. And there's some days where this is not emotionally healthy for me. And my wife deals
with it. And it's not fair. Yesterday was a very hard day and you know that. And I told you this,
but I'm going to tell it, I'm going to tell it to everybody right now listening.
My kids are very intuitive. The moment they looked at me, they knew something was up.
They knew. And I said, Hey, guys, don't worry. It's just a rough day in business. Daddy will get
through it. I'm a fighter. We're going to get through it. It's not a big deal. We'll figure it out.
I asked my wife to put the girls down last night because I just didn't have the capacity
to do it. But when I tuck them in, my middle, my middle daughter is like, are you okay? I was like,
I'm going to be okay. Now, the little one who you know, I mean, you know all my kids, but you know
how she's an empath. She's like her mom, like she's a witch. And I was putting her down and I
kissed her right here on her cheek and there was tears. I'm like, what's wrong? And she goes,
something's going on with you and I don't know what it is. But I'm sad because I want you to be
happy. And I looked at her and I'm like, honey, I love you. This is not for you to shoulder.
Thank you for caring so much. And I ended up laying with her and holding her because I needed to be
there for my kid. My feelings about what happened yesterday or the five years prior meant nothing
at that point. The most important moment, the most important thing right then and there was
my daughter. And you know, that was a wake up call for me to be like, man, maybe you should
not wear your shit on your sleeve because it can impact your little ones. You know, and then I
went into my son after putting him down. He put his arm around me. He's like, you got this.
And dude, like, that's why it's emotional for me because people don't see that side.
People don't see how the family is affected. No, people don't see how the kids respond.
Man, my kids are freaking leaders, man. And they're there to pick my ass up. And the thing is is like
they made me feel better last night. My son asked a question about Barry Bonds.
And I went off and it made me forget about everything going on. And we researched his stats.
I gave him some ammo so we can go back to people with. And and and dude, I don't know where I'm
going with this, but like, it's just been heavy lately, man. And I think it gets really heavy
right before the breakthrough. What we've talked about a lot is, you know, a few things. Number one
is instead of a victim mentality of saying, why is this all happening to me? Look at it and
saying, what is this doing for me? And making space to hold whatever it is that we're about to hold.
I had Tim layman on two types this week. And he's the CEO of a 200 plus
insurance and risk management agency up in South Bend, Indiana. There are offices all over the
place. I've known for a really long time. And we were, I said, Tim, there's a lot of people out
there that are watcherpreneurs, right? They want to be a lot of social maybe not quite accurate
post going out to people saying how great entrepreneurship is and CEO and all that stuff, right?
We've talked about it. And so I said, Tim, as a high powered CEO and soon who is actually a,
you know, chief executive officer of 200 plus people, I said, what is the one thing that people
don't talk about when it comes to being a leader? And he said, it's the loneliness and the weight
that you carry. What we're doing out here is very visible. And it's very high profile. And even
with Tim, it's a very large insurance agency. People see the result and they go, that's really great.
That's really cool. But again, I just, I keep asking myself, would I have started? I don't know.
I'd like to say yes, but I don't know. And so I think where I'm going with this is it's not
unique to us. Like our problems are very unique. But being in a position of any
leadership, whether that's at in your family and a business, if you're trying to build something
meaningful. Like you said, buckle up because this shit is a fucking roller coaster every single day.
Like it's it's layers upon layers like every little decision. You know, it's like, oh, we're
getting this guest on well, but we have to do this and that. And then this part, I was telling my
wife, I'm like, it's just layer upon layer upon layer. And you just keep digging it, just dirtier.
So I don't know what to say to that as well. But I, man, it's all back to determination.
Right? Every single person we talk to have had a season have are in it. You know, even on the
surface where everything looks great. And then they go, oh, god, I'm really struggling. I got
stuff I need to say. So I think for everyone, you know, your problems, they're very specific to you.
But you're not that special. Everyone's going through it.
Dude, the the moments of loneliness that that when you told me that Tim said that. And then you
made that post on your social. That to me is the most real thing in entrepreneurship.
Or even if you're leading an Fortune 500 company, dude, like if you're CEO and, you know, you're
or an entrepreneur and you're building something, you can have people all around you, you can have
a spouse, you can have children, you can have business partners. But at the same time, you feel lonely.
You feel lonely in your own thoughts. And, you know, because not everybody's going to operate
like you do. So they're going to they're going to cope differently. For me, I put my face in it
and I try to dig, dig myself or dig ourselves out of something or put us in a position. And there's
times of of massive loneliness. And again, like, I don't know what fixes that. Because I think that
it's always going to be that way. That's where we went, man, was, you know, you can have the,
like Tim's got a great team around him. And most of the people we talked to around have people
in their camp that are the best at what they do. We have an amazing team of partners and people
around us. But at the end of the day, it's just a reality. And so I think the biggest thing here
is just minimizing it, right? Understanding that it is just part of it, deal with it. The more you
can minimize it, great. And if you can get bigger payoffs, knowing that like sitting there at four in
the morning, pack away at the computer, going, yeah, but now I get to sit here with you at 11.
Yeah, pay off. Yeah. Exactly. Like, is the juice worth the squeeze, man? And oh, by the way,
like you said, I signed up for this shit.
Know what I think it is, man. It's a line, right? Like, I know you and I are bigger in energies
and different stuff. We won't go to woo woo and this one. Cause I know we're in a lot of stuff.
But, you know, people look at celebrities ago, I want the whatever body. I want to look like this.
I want to, you know, have a massive media company like Sean French. It's like,
if you just want it because everyone else is doing it, it seems good. Then of course,
you're going to rely on motivation. And we know that goes away. Like to me, you know,
my definition of determination is remembering why remembering why you started in the first place.
And we do that a lot. You know, we have to push each other sometimes like, yo,
yeah, remember, like, remember, like, this is the brand, right? This is the brand, guys. Like,
this is where we go. And, you know, to your point, if I had started this out of
vanity and wanting to have this visibility because everybody else had it,
I would have quit four years ago. And, you know, the point here is it was a calling,
it was a purpose. And so when you have a purpose and you feel like this is what you are made for,
this is what I want the audience to really grab on to. It doesn't matter what it is.
If you were meant to be a baseball coach, if you're meant to be a freaking teacher,
if you were meant to be an entrepreneur, you better hold on to that purpose of why.
Because that's what's going to get you to continue to move even when you don't want to.
Because you can't give up on your purpose because if you do, you know, in 20 years or 30 years
when you're laying on your deathbed, you're going to regret. You're going to regret not pushing
forward or you're going to regret not pursuing something that was your actual purpose. So for me,
it's like, it's very simple and hard at the same time. Like, this is the mission. This is why I
started it. Like, I have to keep going because this is another opportunity for me to solidify the
brand. You hear the sad story all the time, a father and mother passes away and didn't have
life insurance and the family is left to deal with the debt and struggle without any financial help.
That's where term life insurance comes in. It can help protect the family financially from those
struggles if something unexpected were to happen to you or your spouse. Fabric by Gerber Life
is term life insurance. You can get done today for busy parents like you all online on your schedule
right from your couch. You can be covered in under 10 minutes with no health exam required. If you
got kids and especially if you're young and healthy, the time to lock in low rates is now.
Even if you have life insurance through your employer, it may not offer enough protection for
your family. It may not follow you if you leave your job. There's no risk. There's a 30 day
money back guarantee and you can cancel it any time. Join thousands of parents who trust Fabric to
help their family. Apply in just minutes at meat fabric dot com slash TDS meat fabric dot com slash
TDS M E E T fabric dot com slash TDS policies issued by Western Southern life insurance company
not available in certain states prices subject to underwriting and health questions.
You know you need fiber for a healthy gut but do you actually know how to get it? Quaker has
been serving up fiber since 1877 with over a hundred great tasting good source of fiber options
to choose from. Whether you like old-fashioned oats instant oatmeal granola or oatmeal squares
Quaker makes it delicious. So good. Get your fiber with Quaker. Shop Quaker's good source of
fiber products at a store near you. Because you know it. You know you can't explain it fully.
Most people do not understand this right now. Now everyone you know not everyone.
Millions of people are listening and that's amazing so yes people are paying attention but the
ones around us that we need to understand what's happening they don't understand it yet and so
to your point whatever your profession whatever you're trying to make a college-based small team whatever
the thing is if you know that that is what you are supposed to do and you can't get off it right
because you're going to have your own internal garbage going why the hell are we doing this like
let's go back to corporate America let's go do whatever like abandon this ship enoughs enough
but if you keep going back to it and you can't explain it like there's no reason like logically
that we should have kept going to your point four years ago three years ago two years ago one
but we just know that this is what's supposed to happen and at some point it's going to be okay.
This is what most people won't say but I'm going to say it. Do you think for one second I haven't
thought multiple times about just going back and doing a job I think it's the most natural thought
you know and there's too many people out there sensationalizing no I believe in myself I would
never say that you're fucking lying you're you're a liar okay this is about survival okay we're
in a game and it's our job to score as many runs as possible to win the freaking game at the end
of the nine frames so yeah naturally everybody would want to say like you know maybe maybe I
should maybe I should pivot but hey that's not in the cards here you know what I mean like it's just
not this is what we're doing because I believe in it you've talked about going from let me ask this
when you started recording in your car you said you're it was after the gym like what was life like
what were you doing professionally like what was your life like when this thing started day one
yeah I was in medical sales right and I was making great money but I wasn't fulfilled
you know there was something in me that wanted more it was like there was a creative side of me
that was like maybe you should invent something what can you start you know like where can
you really grow and then what I just started diagnosing is that people were struggling and they were
stuck there's many successful people out there making a lot of money but not happy and so what I
identified for myself it was never about the money yeah money's nice you know it's a tool
it is not the end all be all and it sure isn't something that you should idolize and a lot of times
when we get stuck I feel like it's because we're idolizing the bottom line instead of the mission
and we got to quickly pivot but yeah dude what it looked like there as I was you know early
morning workouts dude and I was in the OR I was servicing you know operating rooms and selling
capital equipment and disposable disposable things you know for the for the cases and it was great
music great job but for me man it was just I felt there was more to life I felt like
I was stuck in a sense like always having to answer to somebody always having to like be
accountable you know my location turned on so they can see where I'm at and they just didn't
sit right with me man you know it didn't sit right at all um you know so life was a lot different
than um you know I had a great benefits which I don't have now um you know it you know I had a
steady you know you know you know 15 to 20 G's a month coming in were you just in my house
were you college coaching baseball yeah I was coaching baseball too okay so and I thought
that was part of it and so you know I saw that you had the professional aspect you had the kids
that you were coaching you got your family that's growing so at what point did you go
you know what I'm thinking I'm gonna take this Facebook group and I'm gonna start a podcast
that's a great idea yeah that yeah that was a fucking good one wasn't it you know as I was
driving down the road one day head into a hospital on 75 and um I think I was going north I think
I was going to the Bradenton and all of a sudden it was just this wave of thought that came through
like man this is not just a Facebook group this is going to be a podcast you know we could do
merchandise which we still haven't really figured out and we will but bringing stories of
overcoming I think even at that time during COVID was super important right and so just hit me like
a frickin mac truck dude you know I call my wife I'm like what do I do like just what you have
until the time you get home to figure it out or I don't want to hear about it and so I figured it
out and recorded my first episode that evening because it's about taking action when you feel something
instead of worrying about the house and what's gonna happen you know what I mean and I think that
always comes from a place of again I'm gonna say it one more time purpose like what's the purpose
of it why are you doing this and for me it was just like the world needs it everybody wants to know
how to be successful but people get stuck so what can I do to create something like a vacuum for
people to be like oh me too like I feel this way as well and what stories can I bring what type of
guests can we bring and it started off small it was just me venting and then it was you know
local select you know local entrepreneurs then it was people on Instagram that built stuff and
then all of a sudden it exploded into you know the Jaylen I was in William H. Macy's in Tony Goldwyn
next week like that's where we're at you know but it was painful
at what point did you realize this might be something right because there are a lot of people
that we talk to that either have a show already they're like how do you do what you do or I want
to start a podcast I want to get on YouTube I want to start or whatever at what point did you
figure out like this actually might be a business like this might actually be a viable podcast that
people care about was there a guest was there an episode was there a you know what was it when you
went hmm you know that that's a hard one to answer here's what I'll tell you in for everybody
listening is it wasn't an exact moment it was in a culmination of a bunch of different moments
like when I would as bad as I was at the beginning at this thing I mean my speech pattern was off
I would ums and I it was terrible but what I started getting feedback from with every guest is
thank you for creating such a safe space thank you for allowing me to tell my story thank you
for hearing me the world needs more shows like yours and I'm like hmm they don't I didn't pay them
to say that you know and when those when that type of feedback kept coming I'm then I just sat
there and said to myself I go this is this is it this is the way I just got to figure out
down the road how to scale it and make it bigger and you know all that kind of stuff and we're still
trying to figure that out but you know to the point is is like you can only hear people's feedback
for so long until you actually believe it in the blessing I had wasn't like hey dude you suck
your shows terrible it was like you're on to something don't stop and so I use that and you know
that's where we are now and I look at it as a responsibility if I stop then people lose
I'll always go figure it out I can walk away today and I'll go figure it out but I'm not worried
about me I'm worried about the people listening right now and that's the difference between us
and a lot of other shows because I actually give a shit you'd been around for three years before
I even heard the name Sean French and we've told the story and we won't go too deep into it but
basically we both got introduced to each other when both said nope want no part of that whatever it
is yeah you don't want marketing I don't want to work with another podcast or if we're good
but again you just kind of know when things are supposed to happen and here we are
what I've found with you and I want to say this differently because I don't want to repeat
the way we've said this before is this show and you are not manufactured meaning there are show
you know like I just said there are plenty of brands businesses celebrities they're trying to
figure out this podcast content game right and it's all for an end purpose of promoting the
said product brand whatever it is this was purely because you needed to vent into something during
COVID and then it became something and now here we are
did you imagine signing up to be the face of determination when you started this no
what does not in a million years what does that feel like from a pressure standpoint because I
can say from my standpoint like there are times when I deliberately post something or say something
to you because I am supposed to be portraying this brand I'm not Sean French I didn't start this
so when you look at everything you're dealing with you slapped a pretty darn
big label on yourself does that does that affect you I think it would be lying if I said no
you know what I mean I don't I don't know if it's a conscious thought that runs through my
mind daily but every time I want to fall off and not do something I think of the responsibility I
have to the listeners the viewers it's like I came out and I said this this is the name of the
show the determined society and if I don't execute what I need to execute then I'm a fucking liar
and that's what changed everything for me through even just like I always go back to it the
physical transformation like we had a show called the determined society that talked about disciplined
determination and grit but I wasn't displaying I wasn't the walking billboard you know and that
and that is heavy right that's a realization and I had two choices I could sit in the shit or
I can move and I just so I chose the latter I chose to move you know what I mean and and I am
welcoming that I am the face of determination I am a determination expert because I've dealt with
a lot of shit in my life I'm dealing with a lot of shit right now and I'm not gonna stop that's
a difference man I'm not gonna retreat you know and and I and it is a heavy thing because people
are watching people are looking at me you know people are people are judging my next move based
on what my brand is are you a trailblazer a risk taker someone with countless tales of epic adventure
well I'm not quite there yet but I'm working on it even the boldest among us start off small
daring themselves to reach greater goals each day if you're looking to take on a challenge like
that the defender is too it's a vehicle built for drivers capable of great things whether they're
head towards an uncharted territory or just a weekend getaway a vehicle that like you is capable
of great things defender was engineered to meet challenges head on so you can explore with confidence
has a tough rigid body design that's been tested to the extreme luxury appointments throughout
ensure your adventure is in comfort 3d surround cameras with clear sight ground view let you see
underneath the vehicle and anticipate obstacles in rough terrain the defender event is on now
explore enhanced offers at land rover USA dot com you know you need fiber for a healthy gut
but do you actually know how to get it Quaker has been serving up fiber since 1877 with over a
hundred great tasting good source of fiber options to choose from whether you like old-fashioned
oats instant oatmeal granola or oatmeal squares Quaker makes it delicious
so good get your fiber with Quaker shop Quaker's good source of fiber products at a store near you
and when you open that when you open that can of worms up you better be ready
and you better be committed because if not you're going to lose and I'm not I'm not a big
not a big proponent of losing so we'll just say no no when I look at this journey
right it's obviously been well documented but those closest to your family your friends
and the people that continue to tune in twice a week and listen to the determined society
what do you want them to understand most about this journey so far
I want them to understand that it was done with a pure heart
you know I just think that a lot of people create things because they can make money
and they can monetize it and like cool let's double down on it you know for me it was about purpose
for me it was about giving people something giving them a piece of me giving them something that
no other platform can give them which is hope you know in truth but man the the one thing the other
thing that I'll say outside of that it was done with the pure heart I don't know if I can
describe how rewarding it is if when I'm in the gym and a friend of mine her name is Fabby she's
great she took care of stitch when his eye was all jacked up for those you don't know my my
shits who had a melting eyeball about six months ago and he almost lost his eye and I ran into her
in the gym you know one day and you know since then she's been over at her house hung out with
me and my wife and amazing human being she comes up to me one day in the gym after not seeing her
for about four months gives me a big hug I smile at her and she holds up her phone she goes I was
just about to listen to your newest episode and holds it up and it was me and you was the last
pulse episode I was like wow you listen and she goes our whole office does
that means more to me than anything because that is proof that it is working that is proof that
people are listening that is proof that people believe in what we are doing and that means something
to me and there's many more examples like that but that one to me was was crazy
we've talked about that before of the messages and how much those mean to you so I definitely want
to encourage people you know obviously there's a lot coming at you but continue to you know
comment send messages do all that stuff because we all at the determined society appreciate that
stuff and we share it weekly in our meetings and if you want direct contact we do have a school
account so I do want to wrap up with that Sean and just talk more about this society because
what you just mentioned you know we've talked a lot about determination but we haven't really
talked much about the society so I do want to wrap up with that just talking about the fact that
we have so many people around us both directly that we're working with that you know we're
collaborating with but just this whole group of people that are all focused on one thing and that's
just getting a little bit better every day so I want you to talk about the society first of all
and then talk about that school account because it's getting better and better well I mean I think
the society is very simple right it's a group of individuals that refuse to retreat based on
their feelings you know and they understand that this is going to be hard whatever path they've
chosen you can either continue to dive in every day and follow through and do what you said you're
going to do or you can let up off of it that's the society like if you if you are in life and you
are building something then you need to be a part of it like straight up like we don't give any
lip service here this shit's going to be hard right and the school account and I want to be up
front with everybody we're we're slowly building this thing slowly building and right now there's
free access so you know go to the freaking website you know click on coaching and then enroll in
the school account it's free right now what are you doing it's cheap like what's wrong with free
eventually there will be offers in there but you know there's gonna be a lot of behind the scenes
things in there hot seat coaching and if you really want more and you want to be a part of this that's
the place to go because we're building something right now that nobody knows it's in the background
okay and it's going to be big and if you want more and if you want more of this in your life
then you need to be in that school account because that's where it's gonna that's where it's gonna live
you want the real and wrong go there I would end with one thing yeah could you came out firing
and I think we we simmered a bit so it's good we're I still feel the feisty energy
and I'll see balance is fine right you're feisty burners down right now if we're trying to
heart rates up but it's okay there we go um as we were wrapping this up I was thinking about
the episode we had recently what between our last pulse and now where you were talking about a much
deeper conversation the manifestation where you have literally outlined the life that you wanted
and it's now and we're getting knocked around a little bit as a company right now even though on
the surface things are great if you could do that exercise today for it's a one month right so
it's not future a couple of years from now but if you could take today's energy unleash everything
that you said you could what does next month when we're talking look like oh put me on a spot um
as detailed or not as you want to be I think for me you know looking at the next month I think I
just want more peace and I think peace can bring so many different things right I'm not saying
that we're gonna let up but you know we have some things in place you know Dave Dreevers hall
and ass right now I took the leash off of him this morning you know he's working on some big things
and if one of those pops that's going to create a lot of peace right it's going to create a lot of
just more of a less turbulent me inside right because I feel like I feel like I'm vibrating at such
a high frequency right now and it's just I'm about to burst and I'm waiting for that one thing
that walkoff home run or that base clearing double and if I could pinpoint anything
for the next month it would be peace it it truly truly wouldn't that may not make sense to everybody
but they ain't going through what we're going through right so just I need some more freaking peace
okay and I need some more calm so I can create with you I can create with production I can
you know create multiple things you know but what we really need is a big deal right because I
want to be able to bring over Jackie as a COL so she can run the operational stuff there's a lot
of things that we don't have in place yet that a lot of people would think that we do and we don't
and that creates a lot of turbulence for me internally so peace man
I like that answer yeah and a billion dollars but to your point I mean peace can come in a lot of
different different ways it can be financially it can be additional resources around you it can
be time it can be a trip whatever it is closer to spirituality whatever it is man so I well
y'all heard it he just spoke it out there so next month I don't know if he's going to be as
feisty maybe we'll see a very peaceful long flowing hair some robes you know some nice chains and
again feeling peaceful dress up like a monk there you go you know I am I am I'm just happy to be out here
with you just fighting this fight every day and you know again the pay off so we get those little
wins and that's what keeps this thing interesting and fun and certainly worth it
like you said just to be able to affect people's lives and whether it's just giving them a stupid playlist
to get them through a workout it's not stupid playlist but a playlist to get them through a workout
a little you know sound bite here there to get them through their day whatever it is man
I'm just proud and and are to be with you so I'm excited to see peaceful Sean next month
well I love having you thank you for being here and dealing with my crazy and my intense nature
for the audience thank you for listening share this episode with somebody you know love and
trust but don't forget to go to thedeterminsociety.com click on the coaching tab and roll in the school
account for free and I promise you you will not be disappointed and until next time guys stay determined
you know you need fiber for a healthy gut but do you actually know how to get it
Quaker has been serving up fiber since 1877 with over 100 great tasting good source of fiber
options to choose from whether you like old-fashioned oats instant oatmeal granola or oatmeal squares
Quaker makes it delicious so good get your fiber with Quaker shop Quaker's good source of fiber
products at a store near you at Charmin we heard you shouldn't talk about going to the bathroom
public so we decided to sing about it Charmin all too strong you can use less better than the rest
Charmin all too strong booty pass the clean test summing with texture it's the best study up teacher lesson
on fresh your booty pass the clean test yes sir Charmin all too strong Charmin all too strong with
time and we texture cleans better than a leading one-ply brand so you can use less enjoy the go with
Charmin
The Determined Society with Shawn French



