Business Beyond the Numbers: How to Find Fulfillment at Work With Shay Rowbottom

Good! Thanks for being patient with me. I had an influx of podcasts over the summer. It totally burned me out. I was like, “I’m over this podcast stuff.”

I try to be pragmatic. I haven’t had a lot of success getting leads through podcasts. I’ve gotten some new followers and appreciate the micro content I get from them. Some have done really well. I promote the podcast a little on my page too, which is a win.
But overall, it’s been crazy. I try other channels, but everything goes back to LinkedIn. I get way more leads from LinkedIn videos than anything else.
Now, I’m working on establishing myself on other platforms because I don’t want to rely on one. That’s been my focus—LinkedIn videos and speaking gigs. The videos get the best return.
I was taking a break from podcasts, but I’m good now. I’m ready to go. Let’s do this.

Yeah. I’m from Milwaukee, born and raised. My first business scaled out of Milwaukee. I got an investment at 24 and built everything there. I’m not a cold weather person. I always thought I’d leave the Midwest sooner, but I got tied down—started my company, had employees, it became my life.
About a year ago, things with my investors started going south. I felt unfulfilled. We weren’t getting along. They didn’t like me—at all. And honestly, they didn’t even try to hide it. It was straight sexism. Old conservative men who were threatened by the fact that I was running the show.
Eventually, they wanted to demote me. I don’t talk about this a lot, but yeah—they wanted to demote the founder. I was like, “Nope. Not happening. Buy me out.” And they did. But then they slapped me with a crazy non-compete. I was like, “I thought I wasn’t valuable?” Clearly I was—they were just uncomfortable with a powerful woman in charge.
This wasn’t just my investors. My last business partner was the same. I kept attracting narcissistic businessmen, which I now understand came from childhood stuff. But when I finally stood up for myself and started healing, everything shifted.
I moved to Miami, took the buyout, packed my stuff, and left. That was in March. Since then, it’s been one growth journey after another. I’ve grown a lot in business this past year, but honestly, the personal growth has been even bigger. I’ve met a lot of healers down here.
Miami surprised me—there’s this incredible spiritual community. I thought I was coming here for business, tax breaks, all of that. But instead, I ended up doing deep personal work.
Three months ago, my partner and I broke up. We’d been together four years, and he was my business partner too. Now it’s just me—literally a solopreneur. I’ve slowly started seeing people again over the past year, but yeah, right now, it’s all me.
It all comes back to what we put out there. I was just really unconscious of a lot of my insecurities. Business ended up being the mirror that helped me see all that, and I’m so grateful.

Yep. I grew up in Wisconsin—Milwaukee. I never lived anywhere else, except I did live in Madison for about two years. Tried the whole college thing, didn’t work out. But yeah, I never really left my hometown until recently.

Yeah, I don’t really talk to my family. A lot of them are still up there though. My sisters and intermediate family got out—we all eventually moved away. I was actually one of the last ones to leave. They kind of dipped out around 18. My sisters are scattered across the country now.
I don’t have much of a relationship with them. I don’t talk to my parents at all. And then the rest—the aunts, uncles, grandparents—they’re still mostly in Milwaukee.

I’d say they got out a little bit. But I think there’s still a lot they haven’t faced. I’ve always been really rebellious with my family.

Funny, because people do ask me sometimes, how are you so resilient? How do you handle it? Obviously, like anyone who grows a page to that volume, especially as a woman, gets a lot of hate. Studies show that the more successful a woman becomes, the less likable she is—opposite for men. The more successful he becomes, the more likable he is.
So, yes, there are definitely haters. But I come from a home where I was already rejected. My family basically always hated and resented me. That made me strong.
Some of my friends are like, “Oh my God, that comment. I’m so sorry. People are mean.” I’m like, “You guys don’t even realize this doesn’t affect me. At all.” I love the haters. Bring it on.
You just learn from it. Maybe there’s a sliver of truth. A lot of times when we get offended, it’s because it’s true.
Strike to court, you know?
People say, “You’re a flash-in-the-pan entrepreneur, Shay. You’re fake. You’re this and that.” None of it lands for me. But if someone says, “You’re bitter, Shay,” and your anger shines through your content, then it’s like, “Oh, maybe that’s true.”
So I try to stay objective, even with the haters, because you can learn something from them.

Not yet. But I’ve turned a lot of haters into fans. I make video content about this—I’m going to repost one soon. It had a headline that got flagged by LinkedIn, so it didn’t go anywhere. I had to repost it with a new headline.
Basically, I’ve reached out to a lot of haters—even the ones who were just blatantly rude, not constructive criticism, just clearly trying to hurt. I’ve reached out, been kind and loving, and said, “Hey, I’m legit. I know I look young. Maybe you think I’m just a blonde millennial playing popularity on LinkedIn, but I have a business. I’m serious about what I do. I love helping business owners.”
If you’ve ever liked my content, here’s my info. Much love. Appreciate the feedback.
I always love reading comments; they often turn into fans. Always. Maybe a few have been like, “No, screw you.” But honestly, a lot of people don’t realize—if you just approach them nicely and directly, not in the comments, they shift.
I’ll message them directly. “Hey dude,” and a lot of them turn into fans. Then they comment on all my stuff and love me. It’s hilarious.

Oh, the secrets come out when Shane comes on.

You got a little Connor McGregor up.

That’s exactly what I said. I said I was built for this. I faced so much rejection early on—tons. I used to be really sensitive about it. I’d run out of auditions crying.
Now I look back and say thank you to every single person who ever rejected me. You made me stronger.
Success is the best revenge on all those who rejected me—exes, partners, investors, whoever didn’t see my value. That’s fine, because I’m going to keep going.
I’m going to make it anyway. You’re going to make me stronger. You’re going to see what you missed out on. That’s where I’m at.

Keep it up. Yes, I love it!

Well, I got approached about LinkedIn about a year and a half ago by a friend who said he was having a lot of success on it. He said the organic reach was really great and suggested I make some original video content to get leads for my Facebook agency at the time.

I’ll admit, I didn’t know anything about LinkedIn. I didn’t see it as a valuable platform. Even as a businesswoman, I wasn’t using it. I think I hired a lead gen service once, but my profile was idle, and I wasn’t doing any content—so it was a whack campaign.

But when he said “organic reach,” I figured I had to at least check it out. Coming from the Facebook world, working with all my clients—who were blog owners, super talented people with massive followings—I noticed a common theme. Most of them built their pages at the right time. They got in early, during the gold rush, and that’s why they’re so established. It’s really hard to grow organically on Facebook now. But those who built early are just set. They’ll always be making money, no matter how the algorithm changes.

I saw that happening on LinkedIn and realized, wow, it might be too late for me to grow on Facebook, YouTube, even Instagram. I get that people might see me as a better fit for those platforms, but for me, LinkedIn was all about growth. Why invest in slower platforms when I could grow quickly here—which I did. And now the overflow is happening naturally. People are finding me on other channels without me doing much promoting.

I do plan to get a little more raw and “Shay” on the other platforms, because you’re right—I talk about a lot more than just business. But LinkedIn has definitely been the gold mine. Even though I show up not being solely about business, and I run a personal brand where I talk about struggles, especially as a woman, it still gets great results.

I’ve built a tribe of people who trust me. They respect my authenticity. They’re not turned off just because I’m not perfect. That’s a big misconception people have about LinkedIn: “I can’t get personal, I can’t be vulnerable, or I’ll scare away prospects.” Yeah, you might. But those people probably weren’t a good fit anyway. And for every one person I turn off, 20 more show up.

People ask, “Why LinkedIn?” First, I’m doing B2B right now, so it just makes sense. If you’re doing any sort of B2B marketing or have a high-ticket offer, I suggest getting on LinkedIn. If you’re running ads on Facebook or Instagram for B2B and not doing organic on LinkedIn yet, you’re messing up. The views here are cheap, your audience is free—and it won’t stay that way forever.

So I got on, started making more money, started being myself. Then I left my last agency and opened my own, focused solely on LinkedIn marketing—to teach people how to do what I did. I had so much early success, and I can’t lie, it’s been a really meaningful journey. I love this platform. It’s way more conscious than other social media spaces. People are more intelligent, more educated. Everyone either has money or access to it.

And oddly, a lot of my audience is male, which is new for me. I grew up in a very feminine household—lots of girlfriends, no brothers. It’s weird being followed and respected by all these businessmen. But hey—dudes get paid. So I don’t mind. I accept their money.

Yeah. I know that probably comes as a shock to people. They’re like, “How can you get more raw than what you’re already doing?” But I really haven’t opened up that much about my personal story. I’ve been avoiding it. Lately, I’ve been talking more about my childhood trauma—stuff I didn’t deal with earlier in life that I brought into business, into entrepreneurship, into my last agency.

And I’ll admit, I was accountable for a lot of the toxicity. I definitely had value—I was a digital marketing ninja—but I struggled to take responsibility for things. I kept running up against this victim mentality. At a certain point, if enough people are saying, “You’ve got issues with accountability,” you need to wake up. When it’s not just one or two people, but a lot of people, it’s a sign.

I still love digital marketing. I love teaching it. I have this unique experience from my last company in video licensing, so I learned a lot. But now I feel called to shift into more personal development—talking about why people are so insecure, why we’re struggling with things like addiction, obesity, depression, divorce.

I mean, one in four women is on antidepressants. Suicide rates for men are insane. And we just keep pretending everything’s fine. But really, what we have is a culture full of people who feel fake, not because they want to be, but because that’s how we were raised. We’re programmed: go to school, go to college, get married, check the boxes, look “normal.”

Anything too vulnerable gets rejected. That was our parents’ generation—and theirs before them. Millennials are blowing the lid off it. We’re like, “We’re depressed. We don’t want kids. We don’t want to repeat this.” People say Millennials don’t want kids because of money, but I think it’s deeper. A lot of us don’t want kids because we’re just now realizing our own parents didn’t really know how to raise us. And now we’re like, “Why would I continue that cycle?”

But when you say this to parents, the defensiveness is intense. They know their parents hurt them, and they don’t want to admit they’re doing the same. But often, they are. Maybe the surface is different—like, “My dad never came to my games, but I go to all my son’s games”—but the underlying patterns are still there. They’re still parenting from conditional love.

And that’s the part people miss. They confuse personality traits with being a better parent. But they still want their kid to get into a great college or get straight A’s—not really for the kid, but for their own self-image. That’s not love. That’s control.

I plan to start talking about this more. I don’t have kids, but I’ve studied a lot about childhood development, especially because I grew up with narcissistic parents who were wounded themselves and never did the healing before having five kids.

This is an epidemic. It’s invisible, like cancer. Narcissistic parenting has been normalized for generations. But now people are waking up. And I want to be part of the movement that brings this into the light—talking about why we’re really unhappy and how we start to change that. Because what we’re doing now? It’s not working. And people are starting to feel that.

That’s a great question. I have a great answer for you. I’m working to automate and delegate my marketing division so I don’t have to be so hands-on in the LinkedIn training personally. I’ve got a great team of social media experts. Some of them have worked with me for years, so they get it. But the truth is, this marketing expertise is something I can take anywhere.

Especially during my time in South Florida, doing all this personal work, I’ve met more and more healers—naturopaths, breathwork practitioners, shamans—all these people who’ve had a huge impact on me. I’ve hired new life coaches, and I’ve just seen how many broken, wounded, unconscious people are out there wreaking havoc, who really need healing. And there’s such a disproportionate amount of those people versus the amount of people who actually understand and can help.

There are too many broken people and not enough healers. And I’m not talking about Western doctors. I’m not even talking about clinical therapists. I did talk therapy for seven years. Let me tell you, I went and did ayahuasca for one weekend, called my therapist, and said, “I wasted seven years of money on therapy.” I was very open to it. You have to go in on your own time, of course. But that experience blew the lid off everything I thought I knew from traditional therapy.

So I started investing more in alternative medicines. Turns out, there are amazing people out there with real healing gifts. But in this conscious community, most of them don’t know how to market themselves. They’re just not business-savvy. So now I feel called to really automate the LinkedIn side of things and pivot my marketing to serve a niche within the conscious space—helping healers and leaders in personal development get their message out.

People like Tony Robbins, Brené Brown—those are the types of thought leaders and healers I want to support, in addition to what I’m building with LinkedIn and all the business owners there too.

Yeah. I mean, think about the effectiveness of digital marketing in the modern age and the darkness that kind of comes with the Internet. A lot of these healers, they don’t even like social media. You know that, because there’s a darkness there—they’re protecting their energy from it. They’re very reluctant to use it. I mean, it would be very rare to find someone who’s like a shaman or a breathwork practitioner, a very spiritual healer, who’s also like, “Oh yeah, I’m totally social media savvy. I’m on it like logic.” You know, it’s just not so much about bridging that gap, but really helping to get these messages out there.

I mean, these are the products I believe in the most. And while I love helping business owners in any B2B space, this is what the world needs. Healing. This is what the world needs. This is what I needed. I realized I would have made way more money. I would have been a way better boss. I would have been way better for my clients. So much would’ve shown up better, provided more value for them, had I done this healing work much earlier—which our society doesn’t really promote or make easy to find or access. You kind of have to go hunt it down on your own.

So if anyone out there is listening, and you’re just in your personal journey trying to do work on yourself, and you feel like you don’t have a lot of support, your family’s looking at you like a weirdo for trying to go within, like, “Dude, you’re not alone.” Just keep going. I know it feels lonely. Reach out to me if you’d like. I’ll try to get back to you—it’s worth it. Absolutely it’s worth it.

You know, I had to go through some dark times, but absolutely came out the other side with the intention I originally sought—which is like growth, healing, and peace. Inner peace that I previously just could not access.

Oh my gosh, I know. I’m sorry. I’m, like, very sorry. I keep veering off—we can go back!

Absolutely. You know, I feel that it’s very much needed for me—and all business owners—to have some sort of higher purpose aligned with their work. Now, I’m not gonna sit here and act like I was completely fulfilled the past four years doing social media. But, you know, I was very conscious of, like, I was doing it as a way to build a skill. I was doing it to have that skill on my tool belt. Like, I want to know media buying, I want to know video creation, I want to know how the News Feed works. I did that as an investment, knowing that I could take that knowledge with me anywhere.

But you’re right in that, like, it’s not the driving factor behind, like, you know, making Facebook videos, making pet videos, all the stuff I did. It was fun. It humbled me. I learned a ton. I would not be the same robot you see today on LinkedIn without all that experience. However, I didn’t have that real higher purpose behind my work. And I see that now. I see that it’s like, dude, these 12-, 13-, 14-hour days that we sometimes incur as entrepreneurs are so much easier to get through when you have a higher purpose behind your work.

And so that’s what I’m excited about stepping into. It’s not just the healing—and what I believe this world needs most right now—and helping to market these healers to society, but also that I care. You know, I care a lot more about helping the world heal from their childhood wounds and all this unaddressed trauma so we can stop repeating it, stop the cycle of abuse in children. I mean, that at the end of the day is going to drive me way more than, you know, just getting, like, a SaaS business—a higher lead stream through their LinkedIn.

I’ll do some Breaking Bad.

Yeah, that’s a really great question, because I personally feel like I had to hit rock bottom in a lot of ways. And rock bottom looks different for everyone. For me, it was actually getting that payout last year when I sold my shares in my old agency, moving to Miami—something I’d always wanted—having more freedom, autonomy, independence, and more money in the bank than ever before.

I had everything most 26-year-olds dream of. I had it. I made it. I did it. But then I asked, “Why am I still unhappy?”

That was the turning point for me. It’s that cliché saying: money doesn’t buy you happiness. No fucking shit, man. I got to Miami and started running into all the same roadblocks. I had trouble taking responsibility. I felt overworked and underappreciated. I just wasn’t motivated.

That was my breaking point: realizing I had everything I thought would make me happy—and I still wasn’t. So I started looking back into my childhood. I started therapy, digging into repressed memories, because a lot of our insecurity stems from childhood—and we often repress the real cause.

But I also want to urge the audience not to feel like you have to hit rock bottom to make a change. That, in itself, is a limiting belief. You don’t have to lose your money, your girlfriend, or your job to finally face it. You can start now. You don’t need some heroic, triumphant fall-and-rise story.

The truth is, a lot of people are so programmed to people-please and want to be liked, that facing their own shame or shortcomings becomes unbearable. It’s a dealbreaker. Not necessarily for entrepreneurs—because to run a business you usually need some level of self-awareness—but some still operate purely from narcissism. And they might find success in business, too, just by trampling over people without empathy.

For me, the feedback I got from business partners and colleagues helped. I worked with them closely every day, and I kept hearing the same things: victim mentality, lack of accountability. That was huge for me. And hearing it enough finally got through.

But it’s not easy. I avoided it for a long time. Like I said, I was stubborn—I had to hit rock bottom. But the journey is really about self-love and self-forgiveness. Facing yourself. Facing your shit. It’s okay. Even if you’ve been the toxic person, even if you’ve hurt others—if you can face it, own it, and correct it, that’s what we need in society.

But people run from that. Most people don’t own their part in things, because they’ve never resolved their own victimization from childhood. They carry that with them—bitter, guarded, and convinced the world’s out to get them. So of course they blame others. Of course they can’t take responsibility. It’s easier to say it’s the government, or it’s Trump, or it’s your ex, or your parents—anything but yourself.

But if you’ve been in a toxic relationship for four years, guess what? Tough shit. How are you accountable? How are you showing up every day in a relationship full of red flags? What kind of self-respect do you have if you’re staying in that?

You’ve got to face your insecurities, baby. That’s the only way out. No one’s coming to save you. It’s just you.

You can. I recommend life coaches more than clinically trained counselors. Life coaches usually do it because of their own passion and their own experience. They’re usually self-taught. I find that self-taught people are often way more effective than people traditionally trained in the therapy space. That’s my experience. So a life coach, that’s great.

But really, I would go to your friends. You know, if you think about the relationships in your life right now, think about the ones that are—maybe not the hardest—but the most triggering for you. You know, I have girlfriends that I love to death, but I’ll even avoid hanging out with them sometimes because of how blunt and direct they are with their feedback. For me, those are the friends you want—the people who are going to call you out on your bullshit, who are going to be the most direct. That’s what love is. You know, love is not never telling your friend that you believe they have a real problem that needs addressing.

Love, even when it’s hard, is telling your friends the truth. And that honest feedback—even if it hurts at first—is love. So I’d say a more tangible tip for starting to break down your own programming, your own limiting beliefs that have been holding you back (like so many of us), is to think about which friends you trust and believe would be the most honest with you.

Should you ask them this question? Simply go to them and say: “Look, I know we’re friends. We like to be nice to each other, lift each other up a lot. But I’m really looking to improve my shortcomings. I want to address my flaws. I know I might have blind spots around my own behavior—my flaws, my toxicity. Honestly, what do you think I could work on? Can you give me some feedback? Do you feel like I’m defensive when people disagree with me? Do I come off as cold? Do I not let other people in?”

Whatever the case may be, find a friend you trust who is willing to be real and honest with you. Start to cultivate that relationship where you actually give each other feedback. Because I know, for me, when I started having friends who didn’t just people-please me and actually called me out on my bullshit—that’s when things really started to change.

Well, I’d start with making some friends, buddy. Come on, now.

Do you know Mark Gaysford on LinkedIn? He’s a recruiter and creator, and a friend of mine. He just did a video that went viral—it was about how many men don’t have friends. It’s a real epidemic. A lot of men, especially in the business world, just pour themselves into work and end up really lonely. We talk about male privilege, but there’s also a kind of female privilege that doesn’t get discussed much: the fact that it’s more acceptable for women to express emotion and cry. For men, it’s like we’ve erased that—it’s like being masculine means not feeling anything. That’s toxic masculinity.

These men are hurting, and I love that you admitted it—“I don’t have friends.” You’re not alone. A lot of men struggle to open up, but they need to. So yeah, definitely work on that. Find some friends, get out there.

It’s kind of like one of those things where you know a ton of people, but you personally don’t have close friends. I can relate to that.

Yeah, I’d imagine it’s coming from some core belief. Maybe you don’t know exactly what it is, but it might be this belief like, you’re not worthy of friends. Maybe you had a friend really hurt you in the past, and you don’t realize you’re still operating from that—like, from scarcity, like, “I don’t want to open up to friends. It’s just not worth it.”

We should be talking about your mom offline, Shane. We should break it down. What the heck went on? You know, like—

Well, I mean, it really is our parents. That’s the blind spot. People don’t realize that they might have had abusive or neglectful parents, because as a child, you’d rather believe you’re flawed and unlovable than admit your parents didn’t love you or made you feel unsafe. Children can’t believe their parents don’t love them and also feel safe and supported. So we idealize our parents and, in doing that, we diminish the toxic qualities they might have.

I mean, how many people do you know that are still doing things for their mom or dad, and all they do is complain about them? Like, “I gotta go pick up my mom.” But it’s like—stop doing things for them. You’re idealizing, still acting like a child. “My mom loves me, but this and that,” and I’m like, “No, she doesn’t.” You’re an adult now. Get out of her. It’s true. I know that’s controversial. It doesn’t apply to everyone, but straight up, 90% of the people I talk to—when you break it down—it’s the blind spot they have for their family.

And I’m not talking about your wife and kids. I’m talking about your parents, your siblings. Where do you come from? Because people carry that toxicity with them, thinking they owe something to their family. You don’t. None of that.

When I cut out my family for the first time a few years ago, when I started setting boundaries and distancing myself, that’s when I took off. That’s when I took off on LinkedIn. That’s when I started making way more money. That’s when I started facing my true, authentic self. It never would’ve happened if I kept trying to gain the approval of my family. No way.

Yes, yeah. Thank you for asking me that. Well, I’ll always do the marketing content. You know, like I said, I’m still very passionate about my digital marketing background and how I can bring this knowledge to business owners—specifically the older generation. A lot of times, the older generation is big on LinkedIn. A lot of them feel overwhelmed with social media. I feel very fortunate and privileged to be in this position. It’s an honor. I love teaching the older generation about social, and I’ll always do that—or at least my company will in some facet or another when I move away and take more of a backseat role.

But you know, I’m starting a podcast, and that’s going to be very focused around mental health and the epidemic of narcissism. I have really big plans for that. It’s going to be a lot more raw, unfiltered. So like, if you follow me on LinkedIn, you see my mental health stuff, my vulnerability, you’ll definitely want to subscribe to my podcast because it’s going even deeper and starting to really teach people.

It’s going to be a lot about business too—like how narcissism thrives in the business world. That’s a topic I’m very passionate about. So ultimately, it’s going to be like interviewing different people in the mental health space who are part of this movement of dismantling this mental disorder that we’ve had in society for so long, but also interviewing business owners and breaking down how they see narcissism—either their own narcissism playing a role in their success or how they see it unfold in the business world—as to why we have so much, um, yeah, so much conflict.

There’s definitely a huge lack of empathy happening at the corporate level, at the government level. It’s narcissism. That’s what it is.

I know, I know. It’s like I’ve talked about it so much, like I was telling Shane earlier. I’ve done so many podcasts this year. A lot of people want to ask me about marketing—my background, going viral, all that. It’s fine. I like talking about it. I’ve just talked about it a lot.

I plan to, yeah. I mean, it’s very themed around—like, you know—I use “narcissist sizzling” as a verb for our society. Like, we are on fire with narcissism. We don’t even realize it’s so common, it’s just accepted. That’s the theme. It’s like fire. I’ve got the American flag as the background in the cover photo.

I mean, it’s a lot about how narcissism touches the whole planet, but it’s really focused on what’s happening here in the U.S., in Western culture, and how that’s starting to seep into other cultures. And this narcissistic attitude—like plowing people over—which I believe stems from white people (I’ll get into that on my show), is seeping into other cultures now.

People are starting to either fall victim to it or realize you can’t beat them, so you join them. But they’re becoming very conscious thought leaders. Gary Vaynerchuk, for example, is a great example. Some might actually consider him narcissistic, but he truly has a lot of empathy for a digital mogul. He’s constantly calling out toxic hierarchy in corporations and agencies. I can tell that he genuinely cares about his employees, giving them a comfortable life, giving them what they need, and just having empathy.

That’s the modern age entrepreneur I want to support. Are the business owners who have emotional intelligence?

Right? We’re gonna make him. We’re gonna make healing viral. You guys, we’re gonna make healing viral.

Hey, nothing. Hey, nothing makes you a better marketer or businessperson—or person, really—than working on yourself. So this all applies.

Oh yeah, I definitely want people to know where I come from, because I feel like a lot of people have a tendency to look at me like I have it all together. I’ve been like, “Oh, this is it.” But dude, this has been a long journey for me. And I also want people to understand that being insecure, very much, was a driver for my success in my 20s.

Yeah, that’s a great question. I do a lot of work. I do a lot of work. I have four different life coaches currently, for many different things.

I go to breathwork, which is huge. I talk about plant medicines and how beneficial they can be to really catapult you to another level of consciousness. It’s like a cheat code—plant medicines for healing. If you’re intimidated by doing that sort of work, start with a shaman breathwork.

I’ve been to some insane breath classes in Miami where it’s like, you literally feel like you’re tripping. Like, you go just as deep. Conscious-wise, it’s a clearing. It’s super, super healing.

I do yoga. I meditate. I read a lot. I read a lot of books about childhood development, how I got this programming, and how I can undo it. I’m still in the process of undoing it and recoding myself.

And then yeah—journaling. I love to journal. You know me, I’m a huge writer. I write a lot. I write poems. Sometimes I’m just super artistic. I like to share my gifts.

And then, it never hurts to have, you know, close friends. Good community to talk to as well.

No, no. I’m the opposite, man. I’m the opposite. I look at degrees versus people who are self-taught, and I’ve always had better experiences with the people who are self-taught. This goes for sure—this goes for my own staff.

When I hired video editors, if they were a film grad or they were self-taught, the self-taught person crushed it. Media buying? The self-taught person crushed it. Therapy? The self-taught person crushed it.

Now, if I’m going into surgery or I need a lawyer—yeah, you better have a degree. I’m not messing around with that. But people don’t realize there are so many degrees that are actually counterproductive to finding someone who’s actually effective. Like I said, for me, it’s therapists.

I really don’t mess with psychologists. A lot of them just get paid to write scripts anyway. That’s not true healing. A lot of them don’t, deep down, have their own story of healing—they’re just kind of part of the system.

Life coaches are usually ex-therapists. I saw a naturopath once who was an MD. She left the practice because she refused to prescribe so many opiates. This was ten years ago, when we were still in the opiate boom. She refused to prescribe so much, she got fired. And now look what’s happening—they’re telling them to stop prescribing opiates. These are the people I want to work with—people who’ve been in the system, seen the bullshit, and said, “This is not right. I’m not actually healing people.”

And look, I get that doctors probably go into med school with good intentions. But a lot of people have trouble being objective and asking, “Is this really helping people anymore? Or is this an outdated practice that’s just designed to make money?” Because it is a business. It’s not actually about healing anymore.

So for me, life coaches have been way better. I find they’re always someone who’s actually done the work—faced their own traumas. And another thing about therapists—they can’t talk about themselves.

Not only do I feel like a lot of clinically trained therapists haven’t actually healed their own childhood wounds, but they’re also in this robotic state of like, “Oh. And how do you feel about that?” Here’s some antidepressants.

Life coaches can talk. Life coaches can share their own experience with you—which I personally find way more valuable, because I’m a talker.

So if I share something with a life coach and they go, “Yeah, the same thing happened to me in my twenties,” or “I was also abused,”—that’s powerful to me. I didn’t even realize until recently what a huge benefit that was.

You can get more personal with a life coach. A therapist will never talk about themselves.

And you’re right—and there are definitely bogus life coaches out there. Don’t take everything at face value. But I do want people to really start facing reality, because it is a reality. I mean, the data is proving it. Our human consciousness hasn’t caught up yet because so many of us are in debt, and we don’t want to admit we went into debt for no reason.

College is bullshit. It literally limits people. I believe college was originally intended to open people’s minds, but now it does the opposite. Because of everything that came after college was invented—like the internet, social media platforms, online communities, YouTube channels—you can literally learn everything you need about video editing or whatever trade you want without ever stepping foot in a classroom.

College has been completely surpassed. And now, it’s actually what’s limiting people. If you just go to college to “get educated” but you’re not using the internet, mentorships, or free platforms—following people like Tony Robbins, Grant Cardone, Gary Vee, and actually absorbing real-time, relevant information—you’re falling behind.

But a lot of people are still stuck in the mindset of, “Well, my parents had a degree,” or “College is where you learn.” I personally think college makes people more closed-minded in a lot of cases. And then, afterward, they get righteous about it. Because it takes a very self-aware person to admit, “Yeah, I got a degree for no reason. I’m a waitress now.”

And what happens? You hear people making excuses. Like, “Well, I don’t regret college. I made friends.” Come on—that’s bullshit. You don’t need college to make friends. You don’t need to live in a dorm to build community or start becoming an adult. That whole structure is outdated.

Look at the world today. Look at modern resources. I started a million-dollar company with two college dropouts. Both self-taught. It’s silly.

And again—disclaimer—there are certain careers where college is still absolutely necessary. I get that. But it’s crazy how many people are still going into debt for liberal arts degrees, only to end up working in restaurants.

And worse, they’re doing it at 18—when they don’t even know what they want. Wait until you’re 25 to take on college debt. Really think about it. What does this debt mean? What’s my plan to pay it off? Is this really worth it?

Don’t just blindly listen to your parents. They’re still operating from the 70s, when college was affordable and actually made sense. And that’s part of the narcissistic parenting thing—parents not seeing what’s best for their kids today, just wanting their kids to have a degree because all their friends’ kids have one. They just want to fit in.

Yeah, I love coffee, but I’m like, really naturally high energy, so I don’t do well with a lot of uppers. I drink decaf coffee, but yeah, I love coffee.

Less than ever. Lately, I used to sleep a lot more. I used to have depression. I used to not want to get out of bed. I would sleep nine, even ten hours a night, if I could. These days, I sleep about six or seven.

I sleep in on the weekends. On the weekends, I’ll sleep, like, eight or nine, you know? I wake up with a lot more excitement. Now I don’t need as much sleep.

Like, you know, tying into how to face your childhood wounds to become a better leader. Exactly. That’s what I want to do. You know, like I said earlier, I just really see so directly now how not dealing with those insecurities of mine, I let people down, I let my employees down, I let my clients down. I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to heal.

I will end with just this one marketing tip, okay? Me being so vulnerable, raw, and willing to admit my flaws and shortcomings is absolutely part of why I’ve grown so quickly on LinkedIn and garnered so much attention online. Vulnerability is a strength, even in business. You’ve got to tell content creators this because a lot of them stay dry. They stay stuffy, too niche about their market. That’s fine. You know, obviously, flex your skills in your industry and make content around that. But people do business with humans. I do not believe I would’ve had nearly the success I have today—with my own business, my revenue, and my LinkedIn following—if I had not been honest and real with myself and my followers. So please, I know it’s hard and can be scary, but do the same for yourself. People will respect you for it, and you’ll become a positive force and a leader for others to start doing the same.

Yeah, sure. Well, definitely follow me on LinkedIn. That’s where all my original content goes out first. Like I said, guys, I know we didn’t cover a ton on this podcast, but I do share a lot of general digital marketing tips and video editing tips for social media on the news feed on my LinkedIn. I’m always giving out free value, so definitely follow me there. It’s linkedin.com/in/shayrowbottom. And of course, there’s definitely sprinkles of other content there too—talking about life and personal development. And if you want to get in contact with me or learn more about my B2B services on LinkedIn, and how I help business owners attract their target market and increase revenue through this platform, you can definitely check out my website. All the info is there at shayrowbottom.com, and there’s a form to fill out to set up a call.

Hey, if I got you to make one friend after this, Shane, I did my job. So you’re gonna go, I’m gonna be checking in on you, buddy. You’ve gotta make friends.

Oh man, you’re welcome. Haha, thank you. I’ve got so much love, man—people. I have so much support coming out of the woodwork. I’m very fortunate, not only for the close friendships I have here in person in South Florida, but just the community online. I mean, it’s truly amazing. I love each and every one of you. Anyone who’s listening, who’s been following me, if you’ve ever liked, shared, engaged with, or commented on a post, thank you, because it does not go unnoticed. Every day, I’m so grateful for every single one of my supporters.

Thank you, Shane. It was an honor, and you take care too, my friend.