Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shannon Ferguson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Shannon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My mother, Alice, was a single mom and I, myself, am an only child. She was an entrepreneur and owned a business in a male-dominated industry so I truly believe everything I am today is because of her. She was an incredible leader, overcoming much adversity and always leading with kindess and she taught me so much about business from a young age. Growing up, I spent so much time in her office and eventually working for her was my first job. Whether I was colour-coding and alphabetizing files, updating her roladex, or answering phone calls, I learned that a business does not run without a lot of hard work, effort and good people behind it.

My Mom passed away in 2015 and losing her broke me completely. I dealt with complicated grief where the future seemed extremely bleak and I was lost without her. Eventually, everything she instilled in me came to light and I knew that becoming a entrepreneur like she was would ultimtately be my true calling. I started my first Marketing & Events business about six months after she passed away and it’s that business that led me to co-founding FanSaves in 2017.

My Mom taught me to always take life one day at a time. She taught me how important it is to lead with kindness. She truly taught me so much and the things I learned from her throughout my life and while she ran her own successful company, continue to help me through even the hardest situations. I can often hear her voice guiding me through a business or personal problem and I know she continues to pull strings for me up there. I miss her everyday and love her so much but I know that she is still with me and that everything I am today is because of her and all she did right.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

FanSaves was created when my co-founder and life partner, Kris McCarthy, and I were managing the sales, marketing and sponsorship for two minor professional hockey teams. While selling sponsorship to local businesses, they kept telling us they wanted more from sponsorship dollars than what we were offering them- rink boards, scoreboard ads, wall signs, an ad in the game-day program, etc. They would ask if we had anything digital, anything that would drive people into their stores and most importantly, anything that would track customer demographics and ROI. We didn’t have anything like that, nor could we find any existing solutions, and so FanSaves was born,

FanSaves is a digital platform that offers fans discounts and deals from sponsors and partners of their favourite teams and organizations. It is a cohesive platform that benefits all three stakeholders- organizations, businesses and fans -while creating a network of deals across North America and encourging people to support the businesses affiliated with the organizations they are fans of. While FanSaves was created to solve a problem in sports, we have grown into other verticals as well including Chambers of Commerce, Tourism, Universities & Colleges and Media.

I’m most proud of our growth over the past five years as we are now working with over 60 teams and organizations with more than 800 businesses offering deals. We recently signed our first two major league teams, one in the NHL and one if the NLL, and we are in discussions with dozens more teams at the top tier level.

We have grown a strong, respectable brand that is devoted to eliminating paper coupons from professional sports and beyond while making it as easy as possible for fans to support local. FanSaves is available at www.fansaves.com or on our mobile app and it’s always free to sign up and redeem deals.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Kris and I met when the hockey team I was working for brought him on to work in the front office, after breaking his finger in a fight behind the net. We connected right away and we always said from the beginning that we have the same mind. It was very soon after that we were finishing each other’s sentences and spending day-in and day-out together doing work for the team and eventually we started dating. It took us a while to put a label on it as we were colleagues and wanted to remain as professional as possible, although everyone in the organization told us it was undeniable.

It was only 8 months after we first met, while we were still working for the hockey team (and another team as well), that we decided to create FanSaves. We truly believe that being dating co-founders is our secret sauce and one of the reasons we have found so much success. We have the unfair advantage that we get to be building the business and focusing on the brand as much as we like (which is often times, a lot!) because we spend every day together. Don’t get me wrong, we have gotten much better at carving out time apart from FanSaves but we genuinely like each other and we’e so passionate about the business that it truly hardly ever feels like work.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Having an engaged audience on social media is one of the most exciting, albeit frustrating, things you will do in your business. For us, building the FanSaves brand has relied heavily on social media and we are still continuously working hard to reach new goals. One thing both Kris and I have done and something we urge our employees to remember, is that your personal brand matters as well. Building a business brand is one thing but if you can build a strong personal brand to coincide with it then you’ll notice they often go hand-in-hand. And whether you’re building a personal or business brand it all comes down to engagement and content. We’ve done a really good job sharing our story, growing our network, and constantly posting about what we’re up to, wins, news and more.

Recently, I had a TikTok go viral that surpassed 10M view on my personal page (shanferg12) which skyrocketed my organic reach and followers count. One thing the viral moment taught me is that sometimes the least planned out posts are what ended up hitting so just start putting content out and see what sticks. There’s a ton of social media strategy out there that you can read (trust me, I’ve consumed most of it) but sometimes it comes down to throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.

My advice for those just starting to build a social media presence is just begin. It doesn’t need to be perfect and you don’t need to overthink it but you just need to start sharing your story. I also tell new founders that I mentor that no one else is going to share your story if you don’t do it first and no one will even know you have a story unless you put yourself out there.

A lot of people are intimidated by social media but I’ve never felt that way because I’ve always tried to embrace it, learn from it and use it to grow.

One tip I like to give new founders is to really embrace Linkedin. So many entrepreneurs under-utilize this platform, not realizing the reach they are missing out on, Linkedin has been one of our businesses biggest drivers for success and it’s such a great way to connect with people in your industry or those you look up to.

At the end of the take, take a deep breath and share your story because you’re the only one who can and if you don’t, no one will.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shannonferguson.ca and www.fansaves.com
• Instagram: @shanferg12 and @fansaves
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/fansaves
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/shannonferguson12 and www.linkedin.com/company/fansaves
• Twitter: @therealshanferg and @fan_saves