We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sha’ Cannon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sha’ below.
Hi Sha’, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later
I am 50 years old and I enjoy being a business owner. I’ve been an entrepreneur in one way or another since selling candy in middle school. However, I didn’t become a full-time entrepreneur until 2017. I had a lucrative career in the legal field working for a top law firm in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, Georgia. I ended that 10+ year career where I was an awarding winner, trade published, highly regarded leader, and all the things in exchange for a life of freedom as I wanted to design it.
Time freedom is what I lacked in corporate America. The freedom to take a long break just because the sun is out. The freedom to take a yoga class during business hours of a workday. The freedom to have an extended lunch with friends across town. The freedom to attend a program at my child’s school. What I soon realized is that having time freedom is what is needed to design your life to be the way you want to live it. I feel like I realized that late in life.
Most people start to live the life of their dreams after retirement. I decided why should I wait. I decided that the second half of my life would be built around freedom. In 2017, I made the leap to full-time entrepreneurship but in 2018 I left the United States to become a digital nomad. It was the ultimate step to living the life I wanted. I now live what I have dubbed a “life on vacation”. Instead of only being able to work remotely one day a week or leave early because you have your laptop with you, I spend extended periods of time living and working from all over the world. I started with a short stint in Belize, then lived three years in Mexico. I am currently located in the tango and beef capital of the world… Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Yes… I should have begun living this life sooner!
Sha’, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started my business as an entrepreneur coach. Feeling the industry changing and realizing that clients needed more high-level strategy and implementation in their business to be successful, I shifted to operations. Since 2018, I have been a Fractional Chief Operating Officer for small business CEOs of service-based businesses. Many small business owners are in awe of my lifestyle, so as a directive, my goal is to build their business growth around their version of freedom. I have facilitated one client’s 6-figure revenue milestone and another’s half million-dollar revenue milestone. However, I am most proud of the clients that choose a life where they can show up for their loved ones, enjoy time with companions, be a part of their children’s interests, and do other things that will matter most later in life.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn that the only path to success is to get a good job, get recognized as a good employee, retire, THEN you have earned the right to live your life outside of that box. Most of us are taught this path from a very early age. Most of us saw our parents and grandparents follow the same road map.
What if instead of being taught to live for our jobs, we were taught to design the life that we want first and then decide what best funds that way of life? I love my business because I created it to be something that I love doing for the type of people I love serving. Although I love it, it is always my intention that my business not BE my life and instead funds the life of my design.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
As I worked to pivot from being an entrepreneur coach, I did small business project management. I had one contract that paid the majority of the revenue in my business at the time. There came a point when I was no longer aligned with the client and I needed to release the contract. I had not yet published supporting content nor released marketing for the next phase of my business as a fractional chief operating officer for small businesses. I worried that I would not be able to bring in the business needed to replace the revenue. However, old-school marketing is still a great go-to. I went to my “little black book” of warm leads and made sales calls. Within 48 hours I’d surpassed my old revenue amount with new contracts for my new service.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ShaCannon.com
- Instagram: @ShaCannonCOO
- Facebook: @ShaCannonCOO
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC67sBdP11YL58WttymuN31g
- Other: Clubhouse… https://www.clubhouse.com/club/ceosensewithshacannon