We recently connected with Terri Maxwell and have shared our conversation below.

Terri , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

How I Lost Over $1M and Then Got a GRATEFUL Tattoo

In 2009 I had the brilliant idea to use my business growth skills to “do good.” On the surface, it seemed like the smartest thing I’d ever done. Combine purposeful ideas with business growth know-how? HA!

Hardly. Nothing about the last decade seemed to work the way I thought it would.

For example, in 2018 our largest company lost its largest client, who walked away from a contract and left us to pay for large advertising and printing bills which accrued while we were working for them. As a conscious leader, it never occurred to me that another business would not honor a signed contract.

In the span of 6 months, losing that contract caused us to bleed cash and we lost 1.2 million dollars. It almost bankrupted our entire portfolio of brands and me personally. It tested my ability to trust, caused our team to step up their game and created a sense of GRATITUDE that I can’t put a price tag on.

You see…I am grateful because I no longer need “success” to create happiness. As silly as it sounds…I am happy regardless of whether or not what I am doing is “working.”

I serve others because it feels good. I do good because I want to. And that freedom is priceless.

The best part…the less I need success to create happiness…the more success shows up.

It was this experience that caused me to create my newest brand, ShiftCo.global. I learned that Purposeful or what’s known as a mission driven or “conscious” are designed to both do good and make money.

Balancing those two forces is easier said than done. We have to learn how to both live our purpose and drive profits; serve others AND sell. The most important aspect about a conscious business is how it grows.

A conscious business grows as we (the founder) evolve. Which means we have to work on ourselves as much as we work on the business. ShiftCo.global is dedicated to showing conscious entrepreneurs how to do that.

Terri , 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?

My gift is growing businesses.

I am on a mission to change the way business is done – THROUGH conscious entrepreneurship.

My purpose is to Inspire Potential. That means…I was born to help others find their SPARK.

I created Share On Purpose to launch and invest in ideas that solve key business challenges.

Working with a team of emerging leaders, Share On Purpose does two things:
1) Cultivates game-changing businesses through the Share Cultivator™
2) Invests in meaningful ideas through the Share Speculator™

Each cultivated brand started with a solution to a marketplace problem:
1) Shift/Co is the business GROWTH platform for conscious entrepreneurs who want to make the world better. We equip entrepreneurs with the skills, resources and connections to grow thriving businesses that make a meaningful impact.

2) IGNITE On Purpose is a profitable growth strategy firm offering a Pay-for-Performance model to accelerate the growth of founder-led businesses.

3) Succeed On Purpose offers a suite of solutions for career transformation, life transformation, and business transformation. We guarantee meaningful success.

4) Talent On Purpose uses Four Forces™ to build performance cultures and transform companies into great places to work.

5) Promote On Purpose is an PR and Authentic Demand Generation™ firm built on a ROI performance methodology. We grow the top line revenues of game-changing companies.

Writing is also a passion. I authored “Succeed on Purpose: Everything Happens for a Reason” and co-authored “The New World of Work: From the Cube to the Cloud”. My work has been featured in the New York Times, Dallas Business Journal as well as FOX and NBC.

I was honored as an “Outlive Yourself” recipient and was named Small Business Mentor of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners. These awards are a reminder that using my gifts of growing businesses and people, combined with an authentic passion for serving, is the secret to success.

In a career that spans more than 30 years, I have launched, owned, sold, rebranded or turned around more than 50 brands and now serve as a well-known advisor to leaders seeking to accelerate growth. It’s not what I do that matters; it’s how I do it. Every business in our portfolio, as well as the clients we serve, receives tireless passion, purposeful expertise and authentic servant leadership.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I started playing basketball as a way to escape the craziness of home. I became a very successful point guard, which is the person who takes the ball down the court and manages the field of play.

In a playoff game, my freshmen year, we were playing one of our arch rivals. As the point guard, my job was the dribble the ball down the court, run the play or find the open player and make sure we scored. We were faster than our opponent, so throughout the entire first half, I was very successful at what is called a “fast break” – where you get the ball down the first half of the court really fast, and either shoot, or pass off to a team member who shoots. Our fast break was working really well, and at half time we were ahead by 10 points and the fans were cheering me on as the leader of the team. I felt like I was on top of the world, that I could do no wrong.

As the 2nd half started, I took the ball and just like before, ran down the court at lightning speed. This time, however, two of their defenders met me just across half-court in what is known as a “trap”. The objective of a trap it to trap the ball handler on her dominate side, in my case right, just as she crosses mid-court. The defenders sneak up to the half court line, and drive the ball handler to the right, and then step in front and block her.

So they run the trap, and bam, I lost the ball. Ugh. The other team scored, we get the ball back, and this time I decided I was going to try harder. So, I bolted down the court, and sure enough, here comes the trap, and I run right between them. Now, that would work really well if the sport was football, but basketball is not a contact sport, so again, I lost the ball, this time because I was charged with an offensive foul! Not good. Again they scored. So, I get the ball back, and this time, I was sure if I could get there a little faster, a little harder, I could fly past them and score. Same result. I kept this up for a couple more times, but no matter how I hard I tried; I couldn’t get the ball out of the right front court.

Finally, the coach, totally mad because we were now losing the game, pulled me out and stuck me on the bench. I was ticked. I never sat the bench! So, game over, we lost, and I stomped out of the gym.

It was his fault. All first half, I was running the game and we were winning. He takes me out, and we lose.
I steamed and stewed. The next day I went over to my grandpa’s house, and I knew he’d let me vent, so I come stomping in, sat down next to him, and started lamenting about this mean coach who took me out of the game. I told him what happened, and how I was doing great the first half, and then these 2 players were trapping me (as if it was their fault).

He kind of got that “uh huh grin” that usually meant he had a wise lesson to pass along, but he let me vent a little longer. I was so angry, and blamed everyone.

He said; let me ask you a question: “As you were driving down the court the first half, what were you focused on?” “Scoring,” I said. He responded, “And, after the second half, what were you focused on?” “Well, getting past those darn defenders! I probably didn’t use “darn” but this is a family show, so…

Finally, he said, “Terri, you get what you focus on.” Silence. Huh gramps? “You get what you focus on.” He went on, “You see in the first half of the game, you were focused on scoring. As soon as you became fixated on the obstacle in your way, you could no longer see the goal. You took your eye off the goal, and put it on to the obstacle Guess what? You got more obstacles.”

After letting that sink in he continued, ”And, why didn’t you change your focus back to scoring?”

“Well, because I was doing what had always worked.”

He said, “I know, but they changed the game on you. Why did you remain focused on the obstacle, the defenders, and not focus on scoring?” I couldn’t come up with a good answer, but the …I was beginning to catch on to his point.

“Ironically, that’s also a metaphor for life too. When things really are humming along and really working, God can sometimes change the game to help you grow into all that you are capable of becoming. The key to navigating that is to remember “you get what you focus on.” When the game changes, don’t beat your head against the wall trying to do it the way you’ve always done it, focus on your goal, and go around another way.”

Wham, all of a sudden it hit me. In this particular game, this particular night, when the defenders started to trap me on the right hand side, all I had to do was shift the ball from my right hand to my left and go a new direction. I could dribble with both hands, so it wouldn’t have been hard to do, but I was so focused on the obstacle, that I stopped focusing on my goal, scoring. Right, he said, “you get what you focus on.” Focus on your goal, not the obstacle.

Then, he reached down and gave me one of this grandpa hugs, and he said, look Terri, I sense that life is going to throw you a lot of obstacles. You’ve got to learn how to remain focused on your goal. Be careful…You get what you focus on.

This lesson, You Get What You Focus On, has shaped my entire life.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

Shortly after I lost all that money (previously described), one of my clients started saying that I needed to take some of my conscious business growth methods and put them into a community for other conscious entrepreneurs.

Keep in mind, at the time I had lost over $1M and almost lost everything. But, she persisted and helped me see that the hard knocks were invaluable to others on the path. She said she’d even put up some of the money. It was enough of an encouragement that I started to build a Pitch Deck.

On the surface, it seemed crazy…start an impactful conscious business on the heals of what felt like a massive failure. Yet, it seemed SO perfect. It felt SO right.

Soon, a few others joined the team and we launched ShiftCo.global in the summer of 2020. We now have around 300 members in 11 different countries. 62% of the members who are using our platform have already grown their business from one business stage to the next in less than 18 months (which means they doubled or tripled revenue).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shiftco.global/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrifmaxwell/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4-WuwrTJ48gVaz9Opb_Qkw