From College Fitness Coach To Creating Insanity: Shaun T's Story Is One Of Motivation | Forbes
Shaun T, fitness trainer and motivator, joins "Forbes New Money" to share his journey from a college fitness coach to creating one of America’s most popular fitness programs, Insanity.
Shaun was born in Camden, New Jersey, and raised in Philadelphia partly until living with his grandparents in Deptford Township, New Jersey. He attended high school there and played football, baseball, and ran track.
Since graduating from college (Rowan University) with a B.S. in Exercise Science. Shaun has had a successful career as Fitness Coach/Trainer. He has created numerous popular fitness programs such as: Insanity, FocusT25, Hip Hop Abs, and Insanity 30Max. His latest program, Let's Get Up is a dance focused workout that focuses on happiness, positivity, and burning calories.
Shaun was born in Camden, New Jersey, and raised in Philadelphia partly until living with his grandparents in Deptford Township, New Jersey. He attended high school there and played football, baseball, and ran track.
Since graduating from college (Rowan University) with a B.S. in Exercise Science. Shaun has had a successful career as Fitness Coach/Trainer. He has created numerous popular fitness programs such as: Insanity, FocusT25, Hip Hop Abs, and Insanity 30Max. His latest program, Let's Get Up is a dance focused workout that focuses on happiness, positivity, and burning calories.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hi everyone and welcome to New Money
00:05 where we talk to movers and shakers about how they made it.
00:08 I'm Rose Marie Miller here with Sean T,
00:11 the OG fitness motivator.
00:14 Sean, is there anything you'd like to add to that?
00:16 - I mean, fitness motivator, transformer.
00:18 I mean, I'm gonna let the people know
00:19 that we had a little conversation before we started.
00:21 I mean, you were doing what T25 at 14.
00:25 So I mean, you know, OG is good though.
00:27 But I love to call myself a transformer
00:30 to help people transform into the best them.
00:32 - Yeah, and what motivated you to do that?
00:36 - You know, to be quite honest,
00:37 I think it was very subconscious.
00:39 I had a really, really tough childhood emotionally.
00:44 And I think that my needing to have to kind of fight
00:49 my way through life, especially mentally,
00:53 that's why I have a conquer your mind on my arm,
00:57 especially mentally, just made me want
01:00 to help people transform.
01:02 It was just embedded in me as a young person.
01:04 And I always say, you know, through struggle comes strength.
01:07 Not all struggle is deserving,
01:10 but if you can utilize it in the best way,
01:13 I think it can like move mountains.
01:15 And that's exactly what I did.
01:17 - You turned your pain into power.
01:19 - Hey, pain to power, get into it.
01:21 - Absolutely.
01:22 So could you detail some of the challenges
01:23 she faced as a child?
01:25 - So the biggest challenge I faced is sexual abuse.
01:30 From the time I was eight to the time I was 12,
01:32 it was a very tough and trying time.
01:35 I wrote my book about it, "Tears to Transformation."
01:38 Just all of the mental barriers that come along with that,
01:43 just feeling like everything's your fault,
01:45 hiding from the family, secluding yourself, feeling alone.
01:50 And at such a young time where you're not even able
01:53 to not able to process why this is happening,
01:58 number one, try to process how to get through it.
02:00 So you're just basically, what I like to say,
02:03 throwing noodles up against the wall
02:04 just to live to see another day.
02:06 And eventually when I was 14 years old,
02:09 I moved out of my house.
02:11 I just, I moved out and I was just like,
02:13 I don't know what happened, but in my head I was like,
02:16 I cannot stay in this toxic environment anymore.
02:20 I just knew it was like a cesspool of negativity
02:23 for my life.
02:25 And I went to move with my grandparents
02:28 and everyone was like, why do you wanna move?
02:30 And I was just like, I just wanna feel free.
02:32 I was like, I just wanna feel free,
02:34 but no one really dissected that answer
02:37 and wanted to know why, but I knew why.
02:40 And from that point forward, it was just,
02:43 it was like, my grandfather was a pastor
02:48 and I was in church like five, six times a week, literally.
02:51 I knew the Bible, I think almost inside out.
02:53 But I say all that to say,
02:56 when I moved in with my grandparents,
02:57 it was my true being born again.
03:00 You know, in Christianity, they talk about being born again.
03:02 And for me, when I was 14 years old,
03:05 I just said to myself, wow,
03:07 this is what it feels like to live.
03:09 And I was like, if everybody can feel this way,
03:12 it's just an amazing thing.
03:14 And so my life's journey is to make people feel that way,
03:17 just a constant rebirth of themselves
03:19 so they can feel free.
03:21 They can be happy.
03:22 We're not here for a long time.
03:25 I know when I was a younger person,
03:27 when I was a younger person and people would say,
03:30 time flies, I used to be like, leave me alone.
03:32 Like, I'm having fun, but it's very, very true.
03:35 So I say like, embrace the moment and have a good time.
03:39 We are, not every day is gonna be great,
03:42 but there are great moments to every day.
03:44 And I just feel like I want people to feel that
03:48 and to be able to bring that out.
03:50 And I want them to have the power to do it themselves.
03:52 - You certainly are a motivator.
03:55 - I am, thank you.
03:57 - So the strength, you're strong right now.
03:59 Do you feel like maybe that's why you decided
04:03 to make fitness the thing,
04:05 because it made you feel strong?
04:10 - Very interesting question.
04:11 So truth be told, fitness is a nightmare.
04:16 Like, if you ask most people in the world,
04:19 they don't wanna get themselves up to push themselves
04:23 to the brink of disaster, is what I like to say.
04:25 However, the reward is so great.
04:28 But what I attach to is fitness is fine
04:32 until it gets really hard.
04:34 It's when it gets really hard where I start to enjoy it.
04:37 For some reason, it's just the challenge of pushing myself,
04:42 meaning my body, to the next level is also synonymous
04:47 with me motivating myself in my head.
04:50 So all of those people who did Insanity or T25,
04:53 or even if you're a dancer, even if you're a skier,
04:57 there is a point that if you do it long enough,
04:59 you've reached a moment of exhaustion,
05:02 or you reach a moment where you can't push anymore.
05:04 And the only reason you continue to push forward
05:08 is because you conquer your mind.
05:09 That is it, because your mind is telling you you can do this.
05:13 So for me, being able to push myself
05:17 and give myself constant motivation
05:21 in the moment of working out immediately translates
05:24 and transforms into my life.
05:26 So if I'm going through a tough time in life,
05:29 if I have to have a tough conversation,
05:31 or if there's challenges at work
05:34 and trying to move to the next level,
05:36 I'm like, well, if I can push my body to do that,
05:40 I can do that.
05:40 And then secondly, there's a subconscious thing
05:43 that happens for people who work out every day.
05:45 I would use Insanity, for instance,
05:47 because it's terribly tough.
05:50 But for people who do 60 days of my workout,
05:53 Insanity, for instance,
05:55 you're constantly telling yourself, keep going,
05:57 keep going, keep going.
05:58 While you may be doing it with your body
05:59 and you may want to do it because you want to look good,
06:02 there's still that subconscious thing that's happening
06:04 where you're saying, keep going, keep going.
06:06 That's positive reinforcement for yourself.
06:08 So you're training your brain to talk positive to yourself.
06:11 And so that's why I absolutely love fitness.
06:16 That is the reason why.
06:17 That is the reason why my new workout is called Dig Deeper,
06:19 because I just believe that if people can talk to themselves
06:24 to push themselves,
06:26 they have constant motivation coming from themselves,
06:28 where they can be the best of them
06:31 that they can possibly be.
06:33 - Sean, I'm curious.
06:35 I want to know the story between you being this college
06:39 student, I looked you up,
06:40 you being this college student who gained 50 pounds,
06:43 to you teaching Insanity.
06:48 Fill us in, fill in that gap.
06:49 - She's like, where's the gap?
06:51 So I grew up not having a lot of money.
06:56 And so there was a time when I was a kid
06:59 where I would wait till everyone went to sleep in the house
07:03 and I would sneak downstairs
07:04 and I would climb up on the counter,
07:07 my seven, eight year old self,
07:09 and I would get the bread and I would hide it,
07:12 literally, in my underwear.
07:13 I know that sounds so crazy,
07:14 but I was like, I can't get caught,
07:16 because we only have a certain amount of bread
07:18 and a certain amount of food,
07:20 but I was hungry.
07:21 So I was like, so I want you to think about that
07:25 in a way of I had to hide food to eat it
07:28 and whatever when I was hungry,
07:29 because we didn't have money.
07:30 So when we got to college,
07:32 when I got to college, I had a food card,
07:34 and you could order Domino's, I had a scholarship,
07:37 so I was just swiping that card at the student center,
07:40 and I was like, I was eating pasta,
07:42 I was eating everything you could possibly imagine.
07:44 - Pack it up.
07:44 - But you know what?
07:46 Calories in means calories gained
07:49 if you're not pushing the calories out.
07:51 And so once that happened,
07:55 I just changed my major from communications
07:57 to sports science, where I had to teach classes.
07:59 And so the journey from that weight gain to insanity
08:05 was literally, it started with dance,
08:07 because I was like, you know what?
08:09 I can dance, and I was also a track athlete.
08:12 I was like, I can dance and I can run,
08:14 so how can I combine the two?
08:15 And so it started out with dancing,
08:17 and then from dancing, I got into fitness.
08:20 I was certified to teach everything
08:21 from spinning to kickboxing to step aerobics
08:24 to, I mean, anything that was in fitness.
08:27 Urban rebound, that was anything.
08:29 - Didn't your first class have like 90 people sign up for it?
08:31 - Yeah, yes, it did.
08:33 So my first class was a hip hop class.
08:35 But you know, I was like, you know,
08:36 I was kind of popular on campus at the parties
08:39 in the circle. - Excuse me, excuse me.
08:41 - You know, when the dance circle happened,
08:44 when it was like, wow.
08:45 There was no way, there's never been a time,
08:49 even as a 45-year-old man,
08:51 there's never a time that there's a dance circle
08:53 happening at any party, any baby shower, any wedding,
08:56 that I'm not gonna be in the middle of
08:58 at least for five minutes.
09:00 And I've always been like that.
09:01 I'm holding my integrity to that.
09:03 But so once that happened, I just,
09:08 I forgot where I was.
09:09 I'm just so excited to talk about it.
09:10 - 90 people in the class.
09:11 - Oh, 90 people.
09:12 So once I started to teach,
09:15 once I wanted to teach class,
09:16 I went to the director of the student center
09:18 and I was like, can I teach a dance class?
09:20 And she was like, have you ever taught before?
09:22 I was like, no, but I know how to dance, you know?
09:25 And she was like, okay, you know, have at it.
09:28 You know, this is the date.
09:29 And so I went to the school newspaper
09:31 and I put an ad in the newspaper
09:33 that I was gonna teach class.
09:35 I was thinking only maybe 30 people would come,
09:37 you know, just 'cause it's a dance class.
09:40 And so 90 people showed up and the director came to me
09:43 and she was like, okay, Sean.
09:45 She was like, the class only fits 60 people.
09:47 So you will either have to do one class
09:50 and 30 people leave really upset
09:51 or you'll have to do two classes back to back.
09:54 And just by nature, I choose the hardest way
09:57 'cause it's the most challenging way.
09:59 And I taught two classes back to back
10:01 and I never stopped teaching.
10:03 From there, I got on the schedule.
10:05 I started, I changed my, not changed my major.
10:07 I added a dance minor, theater dance minor
10:10 to my major in college.
10:12 Then I started doing shows.
10:14 I got hired around the state to teach dance classes
10:19 and a choreograph, went on to teach in choreograph
10:22 for cheerleaders, you know, cheerleading competitions.
10:25 - But what was that feeling?
10:27 What was that feeling like after you taught
10:29 that first class, was it like,
10:31 this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life?
10:34 - Anyone who's ever had a runner's high,
10:37 you ever run and you're like, no.
10:39 But for those who have a runner's high,
10:41 do you know, did you ever have a liberating feeling,
10:44 like such a euphoric feeling of either being proud
10:48 of yourself or something, like you just were so happy.
10:51 Like imagine the happiest you've ever been.
10:54 That feeling is what I felt when I danced.
10:59 When the beat comes on, it's a wrap.
11:01 It's a wrap for everybody in the room.
11:03 Because, not because I'm the best dancer
11:05 or the worst dancer, but just because it,
11:09 music makes me feel that great.
11:11 I literally get lost in the music.
11:14 So once that happened, I just started teaching
11:17 and teaching and teaching.
11:19 And then I started going to fitness conventions,
11:21 teaching dance and taking a lot of classes.
11:24 And then I started winning awards for fitness
11:27 all over the world.
11:28 I won like best international presenter at one point.
11:31 And so then I moved to LA to become a professional dancer
11:35 'cause I was just like, why not?
11:37 And I was teaching classes at Equinox
11:40 and a producer came in one day and was like,
11:43 hey, your class is really good.
11:44 Like, did you ever consider having DVDs?
11:47 This was in a DVD era.
11:49 And I was like, I didn't, but I kind of did,
11:53 but I was just like, yeah, I thought,
11:54 I think it would be fun.
11:56 And I did Hip Hop Abs, which is my first program
12:00 with the company Beachbody Now Body.
12:02 And that was all she wrote.
12:04 - The producer, he set you up with Beachbody?
12:06 - Yeah, she set me up with Beachbody.
12:08 She was a producer at Beachbody.
12:10 So she came and she was like, you wanna do this?
12:12 I'm like, absolutely.
12:13 And so then we produced my first infomercial,
12:18 which was Hip Hop Abs, my first program,
12:20 which a lot of people still, I was on a plane the other day.
12:23 Some woman walked by, she was like, tilt tucking tight.
12:25 And I was like, ah!
12:26 (laughing)
12:27 I'm like, yo, this is literally 17 years old, this workout.
12:31 And I'm like, come through, you know?
12:33 So, I say that because it's still very impactful to people,
12:38 which makes me really happy that I made the decision
12:41 to do it.
12:42 And then two programs later is when I came out
12:44 with Insanity, and I had to fight
12:46 to get the Insanity workout.
12:48 Not fight, but I had to sell myself
12:50 because everyone looked at me as the dance fitness guy
12:53 because I created two dance workouts.
12:56 And I was like, no, I'm an athlete first.
12:59 Before I was a dancer, I was an athlete.
13:00 And then so-- - Tell us about that.
13:03 - My athletic background?
13:04 - No, tell us about the fight.
13:05 - Ooh, the fight.
13:06 So I walked into the office of the CEO of Beachbody.
13:11 His name is Carl Dikler.
13:12 And I was like, actually, I think we were having a meeting.
13:14 So we were in a boardroom, and I walked up to him
13:17 and I was like, I really wanna do this workout,
13:20 this really intense workout.
13:22 And he was like, no, you're just my dance guy.
13:25 And I said, maybe you don't know who I,
13:29 I'm like, did you just turn me down?
13:31 We still talk about it to this day.
13:33 So I'm not talking trash on him, he knows.
13:35 I was like, okay.
13:36 I was like, give me 24 hours.
13:39 And I called up a few friends,
13:42 and we actually went to a dance studio.
13:43 Ha ha, pretty funny.
13:44 But we went to a dance studio, and I filmed Insanity.
13:48 I filmed some Insanity workouts.
13:50 And I sent it to him, and literally,
13:54 probably 30 minutes after he saw it, he called me up.
13:57 He was like, this is yours.
14:00 Because what happened was I created this workout
14:02 where I'm talking, I'm doing the workout,
14:04 and everybody else, after 15, 20 minutes,
14:06 is on the floor tapping out, and I'm still going.
14:09 I'm like, let's go.
14:10 And he was like, holy crap, if we can get people to do that.
14:14 I'm like, absolutely, if we can get people
14:16 to push themselves to that level of fitness,
14:20 they're gonna hate it, but they're gonna be joyful about it.
14:24 They're gonna feel really good.
14:25 They're gonna change their body.
14:26 They're gonna change their mindset.
14:27 And so Insanity released in 2009,
14:32 and it was the number one infomercial
14:34 for seven years in a row.
14:36 - It ran all night.
14:37 - It ran all night.
14:38 Anytime somebody picked up chips,
14:40 ordered some food, whatever it is,
14:43 that pizza, Domino's, when you come home late
14:45 from the club, Shaunte was on the TV,
14:48 like, ripped, flexing, pushing people through,
14:53 showing before and afters that you just feel horrible
14:56 about yourself, you know what I'm saying?
14:58 - Wow, this is actually crazy for me,
15:00 'cause it really ran all night, Shaunt.
15:02 I remember this.
15:03 - All night long.
15:06 - So what gave you the idea?
15:08 Like, were you just, would you wake up one morning,
15:10 like, this is a good idea?
15:13 What was that moment where you thought up Insanity?
15:16 - Well, believe it or not,
15:18 Insanity was a workout that I was teaching in college.
15:22 Nothing that, I have newer stuff now,
15:26 but workouts that I've put out on television
15:30 or on DVDs or streaming up until recent
15:34 were workouts that I created 20 plus years ago.
15:38 It was just my live class.
15:40 And, you know, once I created Insanity,
15:43 then people were like, it was Insanity and P90X.
15:47 I have to give Tony Horton,
15:48 who's another Beachbody trainer, like, a lot of credit,
15:51 'cause he did, like, the tough lifting,
15:53 I did the tough, like, HIIT cardio.
15:55 But I was just like, no, we, like, we have to do this.
16:00 Like, this is where it's at, you know?
16:02 This is, I was, I think I was, no, I know,
16:05 I was really over the infomercials that would say,
16:09 drink this and you'll be ready
16:11 to go to South Beach for a week.
16:12 I'm like, I'm like, this is, this is impossible.
16:16 I'm not saying that, you know,
16:18 you can't cut your calories back and drink instead of eat,
16:22 but I'm, I'm like, this is not longevity for people.
16:25 So with Insanity, I wanted,
16:27 I still see people walking down the street
16:29 on the subway in New York City,
16:31 and they're like, y'all gotta get back on my Insanity.
16:34 They're like, it was the hardest thing I've ever done.
16:35 They're like, I still work out.
16:37 But they were like, that was--
16:39 - Insanity, yes.
16:40 - And it's not a workout that I want you to do forever.
16:42 I actually created that workout also
16:44 because I wanted you to know how hard you can push
16:47 so every other workout you do is mentally easier.
16:51 Like, of course, there's gonna be tough moments
16:53 in other workouts, but when you think back
16:55 to those Insanity moments where you're pushing yourself
16:57 and you're dripping and you barely can do one more pushup,
17:01 you're like, I got this.
17:03 It's just like, Insanity, while it is fitness,
17:06 it is life training, and I've taken that
17:10 and I put it into my new workout, Dig Deeper,
17:12 that has no jumping, it's all weight-bearing activity.
17:15 It's really good for your muscles and your joints.
17:18 - Sean, before we get into that,
17:19 I wanna go back to you saying the weight loss shakes
17:22 because now there's the shot, right?
17:25 The diabetic shot that people are using to lose weight.
17:28 What are your thoughts on that?
17:30 - So my thoughts on people wanting to feel good
17:33 about themselves and however they get there,
17:36 if it's safe, if the doctor says it's fine, do it.
17:40 However, however, what are you doing for this?
17:44 Because getting the shot without controlling your nutrition
17:49 or learning about the controlling of your nutrition
17:52 is not really the answer because what happens
17:54 if or when that shot goes away?
17:56 Then you're just gonna slingshot your weight back
17:59 to what you were doing before.
18:00 So it's just like when people get gastric bypass,
18:03 surgery, they have to go through therapy
18:07 and some sort of nutritional therapy
18:09 before they get the surgery because what can happen
18:13 is they shrink your stomach and you can't eat a lot
18:17 and then what happens is you lose the weight
18:18 but then your stomach will expand again
18:20 and then people start eating again.
18:21 So when it comes to anything,
18:24 when it comes to people getting a shot,
18:26 I'm like if it's accessible and not getting in the way
18:30 of people who have diabetes, by all means,
18:32 do whatever it is, it's your life.
18:34 It's literally your life and you have to make the decision
18:37 to do it but what are you gonna do to change your behavior?
18:41 Because at the end of the day,
18:42 if you're not changing your behavior,
18:44 then this shot, what it does is suppresses your appetite.
18:48 Okay, but when you stop taking that shot,
18:51 your appetite is coming back.
18:52 This shot slows down your digestive system,
18:56 which okay, but if you're not eating
18:59 and you're not regulating your digestive system
19:01 and you don't know how to eat
19:02 to keep your everything moving,
19:05 then is it really a healthy option for you?
19:08 Some people choose the healthier option being,
19:11 you know, aesthetically and physically pleasing
19:14 to themselves or for other people,
19:16 which will make me go here,
19:17 which is pretty controversial what I'm gonna say
19:20 but most of the time, we aim to lose weight
19:24 to get to a certain weight that is way beyond
19:27 anything that we need to do.
19:29 I say if you're, most people say,
19:31 "Oh, I wanna get back to the way I was in high school."
19:33 I'm like, "Really?"
19:34 Like, let's talk about where you were,
19:38 where your hormone levels were in high school.
19:41 Let's talk about mentally where you were in high school.
19:43 Let's talk about responsibility
19:45 where you were in high school.
19:46 So people put so much pressure on themselves
19:48 because of society to look a certain way
19:51 and they choose to do things that don't necessarily,
19:55 they're not necessarily aided
19:57 by changing their behavior as well.
20:00 But I'm like, whether you wanna get gastric bypass,
20:02 you wanna take a shot,
20:03 you wanna get some cosmetic surgery,
20:07 I'm like, "Go for it, I'm gonna celebrate you,
20:08 "I'll go to the beach with you,
20:10 "I'll help you go buy the bathing suit."
20:12 But I'm also gonna be like, "Okay,
20:15 "so, but what are you doing for your internal health
20:17 "and your mental health as you go through this process?"
20:20 I think that is the question.
20:22 And I even say that to people who judge people that do that.
20:25 Oh, they only lost weight because they did the shot.
20:27 I'm like, "Okay, but what are you doing?"
20:29 - True, that's true.
20:31 - I'm like, at least it's a step.
20:33 - Right.
20:33 - But I will, I think that mental health
20:36 is really, really important,
20:37 especially when it comes to you
20:40 wanting to look better for yourself.
20:43 Ultimately, we wanna look better
20:44 because of what society thinks is beautiful.
20:48 That's a whole other conversation.
20:50 - I like how you focus so much on mental health.
20:53 It's not just about the looks,
20:54 but it's about what's inside as well.
20:56 - People are walking around unhappy.
20:59 People are walking around behind a scrim.
21:02 You know, at the beginning of a musical,
21:03 a lot of times there's a scrim
21:04 and you see what's happening, but it's not real life.
21:07 And that's how a lot of people are walking around
21:09 because their desire to please other people in society,
21:14 and they're not living their most authentic and true selves.
21:17 But if your mental health is on point,
21:19 man, I'm telling you, it's the most joyous feeling.
21:23 Combined with getting older and wisdom,
21:26 I mean, it definitely is a process
21:27 for you to get to that place,
21:28 but I just really, mental health is huge for me.
21:32 It literally changed my life.
21:34 - Well, Sean, at the very beginning of this interview,
21:36 I called you the OG fitness influencer.
21:40 So what are your thoughts on fitness influencers these days
21:42 or people who, I don't know,
21:44 maybe they don't even have a personal training certification
21:47 they just teach in.
21:47 What are your thoughts?
21:49 - Desire to be great is great.
21:52 That's what I'll say.
21:52 I think a lot of people have their own reasons
21:55 to become an influencer or to be great at something
21:58 or to want to have a million followers
22:02 or get 30,000 likes on a post.
22:04 There is motivation behind them wanting to do that.
22:08 It's really great.
22:10 It really comes down to the user.
22:12 Like how much knowledge does this person have?
22:14 Are they telling me the truth?
22:16 And is the service that they're offering me
22:19 actually getting me long-term results?
22:23 But to the influencer, I'll say this.
22:26 Just, you know, humans are like snowflakes.
22:30 So even if you're a fitness influencer,
22:32 you don't have to do what everyone else is doing.
22:35 I promise you right now,
22:36 everyone has a different perception of the world.
22:39 So if you're a fitness influencer,
22:41 you have a different perception of what fitness is.
22:43 So don't try to mold into what's working for everybody.
22:47 Find that moment or that thing that you're passionate about
22:51 in fitness for you,
22:52 and that is the thing that's gonna make you stand out.
22:54 And then you don't have to try hard.
22:57 You really don't have to try hard to stand out.
22:59 You just have to be yourself.
23:00 - Well, Sean, I want to quickly ask you
23:02 a few money questions before I ask you what's next.
23:03 - Oh, come on, money.
23:05 Money.
23:05 - So could you tell me,
23:06 how did you learn how to manage money from,
23:08 because you had rather humble beginnings, right?
23:11 - Yeah.
23:11 - To today.
23:12 How did you learn how to manage this money?
23:14 - Well, there was definitely a struggle.
23:16 I mean, when I first came into money,
23:17 I just wanted to spend it 'cause I never had it, you know?
23:19 And then through years of building businesses,
23:24 building different business entities,
23:26 having to pay people, having to pay health insurance,
23:30 and you know, just like as you get older,
23:32 and people, you know, to solve more money, more problems.
23:36 Yeah, more money does, I don't say it causes more problems,
23:38 but it makes you have more responsibility.
23:41 Responsibility with your communication to people,
23:43 responsibility with you being able to save.
23:46 And so, you know, I have to give lots and lots of props
23:51 to my husband, Scott, because he is the one
23:54 that took our money, and I've learned a lot from him
23:58 of being able to take the money we have and make it grow.
24:02 And for me, I like to call myself a hustler.
24:06 Like I can make money.
24:07 I can go out there and make money right now.
24:09 Yo, you want a goal?
24:10 I have a goal of making a million dollars.
24:12 I promise you right now, I can make a million dollars
24:14 in a completely different business than I am involved in
24:17 right now in a year.
24:18 I can do it.
24:19 - Do you have any investments?
24:21 - Oh, I have plenty of investments.
24:23 - Okay, you want to share a few with us?
24:25 - I mean, I have my financial advisor is on point.
24:28 - He's on it.
24:29 - He makes it happen.
24:30 But I say all that to say that,
24:32 like my strength is in making money,
24:35 and then having a financial advisor and a spouse
24:38 that knows how to make the money grow is just really,
24:42 it's important.
24:43 Obviously I know about it and I learn about it
24:45 and I'm into it.
24:46 But just like raising kids, I'm like, it takes a village.
24:50 And so don't, you can save money alone,
24:55 but I highly recommend getting like a financial advisor.
25:00 That is, it's pretty much the best thing, you know,
25:03 for me, it was my spouse and my financial advisor,
25:05 but it's pretty much the best thing.
25:06 Because you hear it from football players,
25:10 basketball players, people who win the lottery
25:13 that come from the hood, that come from no money.
25:16 Lots and lots and lots of people lose their money.
25:19 They could probably make $20 million
25:22 and then 20 years from now they have nothing
25:24 'cause they don't know how to control it.
25:26 So, you know, you have to find somebody you trust
25:29 to trust you with your money
25:30 so that your money can trust you.
25:32 And then later in life,
25:33 you can be like living your best life,
25:35 you can be in a mall, you know what I'm saying?
25:37 Like now, I'm so happy because when it comes to money,
25:42 because I'm at a point where I can put thousands of dollars
25:46 into my kid's bank account every month.
25:49 So when they get 18 years old or when they graduate college
25:51 or whatever we decide we wanna give it to them,
25:53 like it's gonna set up for their first business.
25:57 It's not just like, here's the money, here's a free for all.
26:00 If they go to school, the money's gonna go to school.
26:03 They're not just getting the money,
26:04 it's like, oh, you wanna start a business?
26:05 All right, we set aside some money
26:06 to help you start a business.
26:08 So, you know, I think I know for sure
26:11 that's the other thing that, you know,
26:13 makes me happy about saving money and making money
26:15 'cause I have these two little boys
26:17 that I just love so much.
26:19 You know, I'm gonna, it's my job to help them grow in life.
26:23 And so that's what we're doing.
26:25 - You know, what's really interesting to me is that you,
26:27 it sounds like, Steve Harvey has this thing.
26:29 I would tell the same $10 jokes and I'm telling them today,
26:33 but I'm just making a whole lot more money
26:34 for those $10 jokes.
26:36 - That's exactly what you're doing.
26:38 - You know, I'll tell you this.
26:39 When I first started doing fitness events,
26:44 I mean, I would be like, oh my gosh,
26:46 I'm getting like $1,500 to travel to Europe,
26:48 which is a good amount, 1,500 euros, I was happy.
26:51 I was like, I got on my plane, you know.
26:54 Now, I wanna preface this by saying,
26:56 I'm not saying I'm better than anyone
26:58 when it comes to money,
26:59 'cause when you start talking about money,
27:00 but this is the motivating factor.
27:02 So I was like, okay, I'm making my $1,500.
27:05 All right, let me get three classes.
27:06 Let me make, you know, 4,000, you know,
27:08 do my little negotiation to the point where
27:12 I would be traveling back and forth to Europe so much
27:14 that I would get upgraded.
27:15 And then the first time I got upgraded to business
27:17 and I was able to lay down flying from LA to Germany,
27:22 I was like--
27:23 - Not you stretched out on the plane.
27:25 - I was like, you think I'm sitting back there again?
27:27 Nothing wrong with sitting back there.
27:29 But me investing my time at that point in my craft
27:34 to be able to up-level myself, I'm like, okay, cool.
27:37 I'm like, I have to make a way to not sit back there.
27:41 So then I'm like, how am I gonna do that?
27:42 I'm gonna be really good at what I do
27:44 so that one day I can charge a hell of a lot more
27:47 and now I don't have to leave my house
27:48 for less than $30,000, right?
27:51 So it's, this is the thing,
27:54 you were talking about influencers, right?
27:56 Yeah, like, but I'm only able to do that
28:00 because I provide a service that people need
28:02 and I'm passionate about it and I'm doing it
28:04 in a way that's most authentic to me
28:06 and people have tangible results.
28:10 But if I were to conform to do what everyone else was doing,
28:14 I'm just not believable
28:15 and nobody's gonna pay me that money
28:16 'cause they're like, I can get that from over there.
28:18 You can only get one, Shaunti, you know?
28:22 And I'm gonna give you everything I got
28:23 to help you transform.
28:24 - Well, Shaunt, what's next for you?
28:27 - Oh, next up is, I kind of mentioned it before,
28:31 but next up is my program, Dig Deeper,
28:33 where I take fitness to the next level.
28:36 As I'm getting older, I'm 45 now,
28:38 I know people don't wanna jump as much anymore
28:40 and I got involved in bodybuilding
28:44 because I had a shoulder injury
28:46 that really prohibited me from even doing fitness.
28:48 So there was a whole year
28:49 where I just wasn't in the best shape
28:51 that I wanted to be in
28:53 because my shoulder was giving me lots of issues.
28:55 So I had shoulder surgery,
28:56 I walked into my physical therapy center,
28:58 one of my physical therapists was a woman
29:00 who just, she was just incredible and amazing.
29:03 Her name is Kristen.
29:04 And I just said to her,
29:05 when I can start lifting weights again,
29:07 can you train me?
29:08 And she was like, sure.
29:10 She didn't even think about it, she was like, sure.
29:12 Come to find out, she did Insanity
29:14 in her summer of her eighth grade,
29:17 going into ninth grade,
29:19 and it was a full circle moment for her.
29:20 So she trained me for the last 18 months
29:24 to get my body to where it was.
29:25 And the strength that I feel,
29:28 the mobility that I have,
29:30 the peace that I have
29:33 and being strong and confidence that I have,
29:35 I was like, I need people to feel this way.
29:39 And so the program Dig Deeper,
29:41 it happens in, it's a three month program,
29:44 but I tell people to do it for at least a year
29:46 to get major muscle development, max muscle maturity.
29:51 But it's not just a workout.
29:53 I'm literally, well, I'm definitely shanty,
29:55 I'm definitely wild,
29:56 I'm definitely like giving you some,
29:58 entertainment because I need to keep you occupied,
30:01 but I'm teaching you how to use your muscles
30:03 in a way that you've never learned how to use them
30:06 on a home workout DVD
30:08 or workout streaming platform before.
30:11 And so I'm just really excited.
30:13 I know people are going to feel the results,
30:16 see the results and change the way,
30:18 they're gonna change their bodies
30:19 and just gonna be,
30:20 like the physical results are great,
30:24 but I'm just wait to hear how confident people are.
30:28 I actually went out to dinner with a friend of mine
30:30 who was in my workouts before,
30:31 I've known for maybe 12 years.
30:34 And last night we sit down to dinner,
30:36 she's like, she was in a test group for this program.
30:38 She's like, feel my arms.
30:39 (laughing)
30:40 I'm like, holy crap.
30:41 - And that's Dig Deeper.
30:42 - Yeah, that's Dig Deeper.
30:43 You're gonna be walking around telling people,
30:44 you're gonna say, feel my arms.
30:45 - Okay.
30:46 - Get into a personal space, done.
30:48 Feel these arms.
30:49 - Thank you so much for joining me today, Sean.
30:51 - Thank you for having me, I appreciate it.
30:53 - Absolutely.
30:55 (silence)
30:57 (silence)
30:59 (silence)
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