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Care Without Compromise: Putting People First with Shannon Hernandez · The Heart-Led Business Show

• 0:01
  Speaker: Welcome to The Heart-Led Business Show, where compassion meets commerce and leaders lead with love.
• 0:09
  Speaker: Join your host, Tom Jackobs, as he delves into the insightful conversations with visionary business leaders who defy the status quo, putting humanity first and profit second.
• 0:20
  Speaker: From heartfelt strategies to inspiring stories, this podcast is your compass in the world of conscious capitalism.
• 0:29
  Speaker: So buckle up and let your heart guide your business journey.
• 0:36
  Tom Jackobs: Well, welcome back to the Heart-Led Business Show, where passion meets purpose and watermelons wear bow ties.
• 0:43
  Tom Jackobs: Today, we're thrilled to chat with Shannon Hernandez, a board-certified nurse practitioner and the brilliant mind behind Hernandez Holistic Health.
• 0:52
  Tom Jackobs: With a heart as big as her vision, Shannon is transforming lives through cellular healing and personalized care.
• 0:59
  Tom Jackobs: Join us as we dive into her inspiring journey of building a business that's all about empowerment, and explore how she's helping women embrace their health and destiny one empowered step at a time.
• 1:10
  Tom Jackobs: Let's get ready to unlock the secrets of heart-led entrepreneurship.
• 1:13
  Tom Jackobs: Shannon, welcome to the show.
• 1:15
  Shannon Hernandez: Thank you so much.
• 1:16
  Shannon Hernandez: Thank you for having me.
• 1:17
  Shannon Hernandez: I appreciate it.
• 1:18
  Tom Jackobs: Absolutely.
• 1:18
  Tom Jackobs: You don't happen to have a watermelon with a bow tie on it today, do you?
• 1:21
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I was thinking, and I just happen to be out of those today.
• 1:26
  Tom Jackobs: Ah.
• 1:26
  Tom Jackobs: Well, maybe we can carve one later.
• 1:29
  Shannon Hernandez: Yesterday.
• 1:31
  Shannon Hernandez: Maybe you should have meet me yesterday.
• 1:32
  Tom Jackobs: Right.
• 1:33
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, my script writers are so fun sometimes.
• 1:37
  Tom Jackobs: Well I'm really excited to talk to you today because, you know, I, I work with a lot of functional medicine docs, and I just totally believe in everything that functional medicine is all about.
• 1:47
  Tom Jackobs: And I just love what you guys do, and I, you know, want to kind of dive into your story, of course, as well, and understand what got you into that.
• 1:55
  Tom Jackobs: But first, the first question I always ask is, what's your definition of a heart-led business?
• 2:02
  Shannon Hernandez: Well, you know, it, whenever you, we spoke about that, it's what drives me.
• 2:07
  Shannon Hernandez: It's what always has driven me since I was small.
• 2:09
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I care deeply and genuinely about other people and their overall wellbeing.
• 2:14
  Shannon Hernandez: And so in my business, that's what I try to do.
• 2:17
  Shannon Hernandez: This is not about, you know, finances for me.
• 2:20
  Shannon Hernandez: If I wanted to be rich, I would've, you know, I would've chosen something else to do.
• 2:24
  Shannon Hernandez: This is truly about the overall, you know, genuine desire to improve someone's outlook and wellbeing and longevity and what their future looks like to them.
• 2:36
  Shannon Hernandez: So that's kinda why I chose to do functional medicine, teaching people about cellular health and why you need to be asking those questions, the why.
• 2:45
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I think people have taken a back seat in their healthcare these days.
• 2:50
  Shannon Hernandez: And so my goal is to give them their voice back, to teach them about there's other options out there.
• 2:56
  Shannon Hernandez: So, leading with my heart is exactly what I do every day.
• 3:01
  Shannon Hernandez: I really want people to get better.
• 3:04
  Shannon Hernandez: I want them to have the tools so that their future looks like whatever they want it to look like.
• 3:10
  Shannon Hernandez: I like to meet people where they are, and that takes caring.
• 3:13
  Shannon Hernandez: That takes hearing people, not listening to respond, but actually wanting to know where are you, where do you wanna be, and how can I help you get there?
• 3:23
  Tom Jackobs: I love that.
• 3:24
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, and that's so common in your industry as well, is just that care and the want to help people.
• 3:32
  Tom Jackobs: And, you know, not to knock the traditional healthcare model, or I should say sick care model they just don't have the time to be able to provide that level of care and understanding and compassion sometimes.
• 3:46
  Shannon Hernandez: Mm-hmm.
• 3:46
  Shannon Hernandez: And I think in decreasing the amount of time they get to exchange information and interact with people, it forces them into this funnel where they, you know, put people in boxes.
• 3:56
  Shannon Hernandez: "Okay, this is your complaint, this is what you need, this is how I'm gonna treat you." Moving right along to the next room.
• 4:02
  Shannon Hernandez: And so really the passion behind why we got into this business in the first place has to be put on the back burner because if you, you know, really get into it and try to get on a personal level with people, like you can't just jump right in,"Okay, why are you here to see me?" That kind of, that of takes away that, that personal interaction part.
• 4:24
  Shannon Hernandez: And so that's one of the reasons I have my own office is because I don't want someone telling me, Okay, you've been in there for seven minutes, it's time to get out of there and move to the next room." And, you know, treating people like numbers or herding them through like cows, like I don't want that.
• 4:39
  Shannon Hernandez: I don't ever want my patient to leave here thinking,"Did she even see me?
• 4:43
  Shannon Hernandez: Did she even understand what I was saying?
• 4:46
  Shannon Hernandez: Or did she just hand me another prescription?" Never ever, ever do I want my people to feel like that.
• 4:51
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 4:52
  Tom Jackobs: That's so important especially when you're dealing with people's health as well, because it's such a personal...
• 4:57
  Tom Jackobs: And sometimes it takes a little bit to kind of warm up and to share, like, what's really going on.
• 5:03
  Tom Jackobs: I know that years ago when I was seeing a doctor in Houston, I used to take a little sticky note with me just to remind myself what to say or what to ask, because I knew I only had, like, five minutes with him before he had to, like, run out.
• 5:18
  Tom Jackobs: And I was like,"Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait.
• 5:19
  Tom Jackobs: Quick, real quick, real quick." And then I'm like,"Ah." And it just felt weird, right?
• 5:24
  Shannon Hernandez: Yeah.
• 5:24
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 5:25
  Shannon Hernandez: And some people will get in the situation where they'll be like,"No, if you have something else to discuss, you're gonna have to make another appointment." You know?
• 5:31
  Shannon Hernandez: Because they are so limited on that time.
• 5:33
  Shannon Hernandez: So we'll talk about whatever your scheduled appointment topic was, but if you have something else, you're gonna have to come back.
• 5:40
  Shannon Hernandez: And so I, I just don't feel like that that's the
• 5:43
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 5:43
  Shannon Hernandez: Way to care for people, so I really, really try, to spend the time that they need.
• 5:49
  Shannon Hernandez: Now, doing functional medicine, you know, that takes a long time to teach people about root cause.
• 5:55
  Shannon Hernandez: And that's kinda why I started developing my virtual practice, why I've migrated outside the four walls, why I'm, you know, building groups of people to teach at once, because teaching people about something at the cellular level can take a hour or two hours.
• 6:11
  Shannon Hernandez: And, you know, to keep the doors open on my office, that's not feasible to spend two hours with one person, you know?
• 6:18
  Shannon Hernandez: As, as much as I would like to, like I'm a business person, too.
• 6:21
  Shannon Hernandez: So I have that is one of the things that I'm doing currently and trying to make sure people get the information, the knowledge that they need to move forward, be their own best health advocate without having, you know, to do that one-on-one here in my office.
• 6:37
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 6:38
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, that's very important to be able to, you know, help people at scale as well and be able to just impact more people.
• 6:47
  Tom Jackobs: And especially if it's something that you're saying over and over again, it totally makes sense to put that onto virtual.
• 6:52
  Shannon Hernandez: Like if you get people in a group where they can see, like I'm not the only one who's fatigue all the
• 6:56
  Tom Jackobs: Yes.
• 6:57
  Shannon Hernandez: Time.
• 6:58
  Shannon Hernandez: I'm not the only one with foggy brain.
• 7:00
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, there's 100 other people in this room, and they all feel the same, so I'm not alone." And then they start talking about like,"This worked for me, this didn't work." And then they empower each other.
• 7:09
  Shannon Hernandez: So it's like a really positive exchange of information.
• 7:13
  Shannon Hernandez: Everybody's learning, moving forward, and they all come out of it better versus just being isolated, thinking,"I'm the only one who can't lose weight or that can't sleep or that's always fatigued or whatever, and I don't know what to do, so I'm just gonna stay quiet'cause I don't wanna be embarrassed that I'm complaining." And so I find that a lot.
• 7:31
  Shannon Hernandez: So I want to utilize those areas to help people move forward for a better future.
• 7:37
  Tom Jackobs: Hmm.
• 7:38
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 7:39
  Tom Jackobs: So tell me, like, what drew you to functional medicine?
• 7:42
  Tom Jackobs: So what were you doing before you went into functional medicine?
• 7:45
  Shannon Hernandez: So I have been a, a nurse for 33 years.
• 7:49
  Shannon Hernandez: So I was at the bedside, I've been in the OR, I've done home care.
• 7:53
  Shannon Hernandez: I was a nurse educator in an associate degree nursing program for 16 years.
• 7:58
  Tom Jackobs: Cool.
• 7:59
  Shannon Hernandez: And then after that is eight years ago, I got my nurse practitioner, so then I went into private practice.
• 8:05
  Shannon Hernandez: So I've been in lots of different areas, dealt with, you know, people in different phases of their life, different disease processes for a long time, more than half of my life, you know?
• 8:16
  Shannon Hernandez: And so education is extremely important to me.
• 8:19
  Shannon Hernandez: I was fortunate enough to work with a family medicine physician, internal medicine and she was doing functional medicine about 20, you know, 23 years ago, whenever it wasn't, you know, as popular as it is right now.
• 8:32
  Shannon Hernandez: And so she kinda triggered that for me.
• 8:35
  Shannon Hernandez: And I still reach out to her now.
• 8:36
  Shannon Hernandez: She still helps me.
• 8:37
  Shannon Hernandez: I'm very fortunate to have her still in my life.
• 8:40
  Shannon Hernandez: But she triggered that, and I could see that there was more to medicine than,"This is what's wrong with you.
• 8:47
  Shannon Hernandez: Here's your label, and here's your prescription to fix that." So looking deeper than that and asking questions, and since I was a nurse, my mind already worked like that.
• 8:57
  Shannon Hernandez: So when you take care of people, you don't take care of their heart or their stomach or their foot.
• 9:02
  Shannon Hernandez: You know?
• 9:03
  Shannon Hernandez: As a nurse, you have to take care of them holistically from head to toe.
• 9:07
  Shannon Hernandez: So I took that with me into my provider role, and so I still take care of people like that.
• 9:13
  Shannon Hernandez: When they come to see me, I don't just address one section, because that is not how people are made.
• 9:19
  Shannon Hernandez: You know?
• 9:20
  Shannon Hernandez: Everything is connected.
• 9:21
  Shannon Hernandez: Everything flows Together, and if you don't address everything, you can't expect someone to get better.
• 9:28
  Shannon Hernandez: that's kind of what, you know, kind of encouraged me to step out on my own to have my own office, because I didn't want someone dictating to me, like, you can only do traditional medicine type of protocols and, and only, you know, treat people with medications.
• 9:45
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, you can't have things to address their central nervous system or try supplements to address their insomnia or whatever.
• 9:52
  Shannon Hernandez: So you know, it was a struggle in the beginning, I'm not gonna lie, but it was well worth it because you know what?
• 9:58
  Shannon Hernandez: When I go home at night and I lay my head down on the pillow, I know that I did everything I could to help my patient the best I could that day.
• 10:07
  Shannon Hernandez: Not because it's what someone told me I had to do or because that's all the time that I had, but because I genuinely listen, and I try to get them to where they want to be.
• 10:17
  Shannon Hernandez: You know?
• 10:18
  Shannon Hernandez: I don't develop protocols or care plans to get people from step A to step B based on their diagnosis, because that's not what's best for them or for me.
• 10:28
  Shannon Hernandez: So I try to meet them where they are, what do you want your future to look like, and, and then how are we gonna get there?
• 10:33
  Shannon Hernandez: And I just feel like that's a better way to foster them, because they have to understand the why behind what we're doing in order to participate in the best plan of care.
• 10:44
  Shannon Hernandez: You know?
• 10:44
  Shannon Hernandez: I find people come to me all the time, they're diabetics, been diabetic for 20 years, and I'll start talking about diet and what they need to take out and all this, and they're like,"Well, why has no one ever told me this before?" You know, and I address that as, you know, we're here today, we can't go back, we can't change where you've been.
• 11:05
  Shannon Hernandez: What we have is moving forward.
• 11:07
  Shannon Hernandez: So I try to redirect that.
• 11:08
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 11:09
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I don't want them to stay mad at where they've been for the last 20
• 11:12
  Tom Jackobs: Right.
• 11:12
  Shannon Hernandez: Years because we can't do anything about that.
• 11:14
  Shannon Hernandez: It's not gonna help
• 11:15
  Tom Jackobs: Exactly.
• 11:15
  Shannon Hernandez: Anything.
• 11:16
  Shannon Hernandez: But today, we have control over today moving forward.
• 11:19
  Shannon Hernandez: So we, it's like starting over sometimes, but you know, it is what it is.
• 11:23
  Shannon Hernandez: I love what I do.
• 11:25
  Shannon Hernandez: I love seeing that light bulb go off for people who genuinely want to be better from the inside out.
• 11:32
  Shannon Hernandez: Now, I know that I'm not for everyone,'cause there will be people who come to see me, and when I don't have the magic prescription pad there to give them a prescription for every symptom they have, you know, we kinda have to part ways, and I'm okay with that.
• 11:45
  Shannon Hernandez: 'Cause I, I, that's not the way I practice.
• 11:47
  Shannon Hernandez: It's not how I think is best moving forward for people.
• 11:51
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, figuring out why you're fatigued or why you have anxiety or why you have insomnia is much more important long-term than here's you a sleeping pill, or here's you something for anxiety or whatever.
• 12:03
  Shannon Hernandez: So, that, that's kinda how I go about everything.
• 12:06
  Shannon Hernandez: I'm very transparent.
• 12:07
  Shannon Hernandez: I'm very open.
• 12:09
  Shannon Hernandez: I love to educate people.
• 12:11
  Shannon Hernandez: And, and I'm not afraid to say I don't know.
• 12:13
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, if someone asks me something, I'm not gonna sit here'cause I have you know, letters behind my name and try to snow you and make up something along the way to make myself
• 12:21
  Tom Jackobs: Right.
• 12:22
  Shannon Hernandez: Look intelligent.
• 12:22
  Shannon Hernandez: I'm just not that person.
• 12:24
  Shannon Hernandez: I can say,"I don't know, but I'll figure it out." And my patients know if I say that, I'm going to figure it out, and I'm gonna
• 12:30
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 12:30
  Shannon Hernandez: bring them back in, I'm gonna show them what I found.
• 12:32
  Shannon Hernandez: Because I do research and I learn every single day because that's who I am.
• 12:37
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 12:37
  Tom Jackobs: Well, and that's important too, not just for that one patient, but for the multiple patients that will probably present with that same issue in the future.
• 12:46
  Tom Jackobs: So you're just, you're well prepared for that.
• 12:48
  Tom Jackobs: So tell me the, like what was the transition like for you going from the traditional sick-care model into functional medicine?
• 12:58
  Shannon Hernandez: Well, so I have to admit, you know, I had to do all my clinicals in a more traditional type setting.
• 13:04
  Shannon Hernandez: And, having to listen to someone and my only response being, you know,"Here's a, a prescription," or,"Here is a diagnostic," or,"Here's a procedure," or, you know, me feel like I was in a box, and I've always prided myself on being able to think outside the box, you know?
• 13:24
  Shannon Hernandez: So in doing that, I wanted to teach people about food, and their...
• 13:31
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, because so many people, you'd be surprised, do not associate the way they feel, you know, their foggy brain or their joint pain or their whatever, with what they put in their mouth.
• 13:42
  Shannon Hernandez: There is no association there whatsoever.
• 13:45
  Tom Jackobs: Yep.
• 13:45
  Shannon Hernandez: So when you kind of start bringing that up, that's a pain point.
• 13:47
  Shannon Hernandez: Like, people don't want you to touch their food.
• 13:50
  Shannon Hernandez: Like, you can touch a lot of things, but don't start depriving me of the thing that makes me feel good.
• 13:55
  Shannon Hernandez: So when you start talking
• 13:56
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, exactly.
• 13:58
  Shannon Hernandez: about sugar and how it's, you know, it's an addictive compound,
• 14:03
  Tom Jackobs: and
• 14:04
  Shannon Hernandez: that it increases your dopamine, so that's why we reach for things to make us feel better, makes our mood better.
• 14:11
  Shannon Hernandez: When you help them see that, you know, granted, yes, it does take time, and I like to do it in segments, because again, feeling deprivation is, is painful.
• 14:21
  Shannon Hernandez: So, once they just give me one week and see what removing processed foods and sugar from your diet does, like, then they, you get buy-in.
• 14:30
  Shannon Hernandez: And then they wanna know more and more and more.
• 14:32
  Shannon Hernandez: But that first week is really a struggle.
• 14:36
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 14:36
  Shannon Hernandez: Like I said, people do not understand they're poisoning themselves.
• 14:39
  Tom Jackobs: I know.
• 14:40
  Tom Jackobs: It's crazy.
• 14:41
  Tom Jackobs: Like last year I went through just terrible brain fog and at the end of the year, and finally got a food sensitivity test.
• 14:49
  Tom Jackobs: And when I eliminated wheat and eggs, and those two main sensitivities for me it was like a light switch went off.
• 14:59
  Tom Jackobs: And not only did I lose, I lost like four pounds, mostly inflammation.
• 15:02
  Tom Jackobs: Or not four pounds, four kilos, so eight pounds.
• 15:05
  Tom Jackobs: And I was like,"Oh my gosh." And I didn't change anything else.
• 15:07
  Tom Jackobs: It was just eliminated those two things that were causing so much inflammation and brain fog and gut issues and all that.
• 15:15
  Tom Jackobs: And it, yeah, totally changed just my outlook and, and everything.
• 15:20
  Tom Jackobs: So it's amazing.
• 15:22
  Shannon Hernandez: Yeah.
• 15:22
  Shannon Hernandez: And those kind of testings are extremely valuable in teaching people and showing them, for
• 15:27
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 15:27
  Shannon Hernandez: Their body and what is not.
• 15:29
  Shannon Hernandez: It's unfortunate that those types of testing are extremely important in educating people and showing them what foods are good for them and what are not, but they're also not covered by insurance.
• 15:39
  Shannon Hernandez: And so I get into that struggle a lot, too, with people, you know, wanting to know this extra information, but they only want to do what the insurance covers, too.
• 15:50
  Shannon Hernandez: And so really educating them on the importance of, you know, cellular level identification.
• 15:56
  Shannon Hernandez: I spend a lot of time doing that, and once they see, like you said, wheat is a big thing.
• 16:02
  Shannon Hernandez: So when they figure out,"Oh, I'm not supposed to have wheat.
• 16:06
  Shannon Hernandez: Well, I eat wheat every single day," and they start removing that, it's like something objective that they can see, like,"This is not good for me," it makes a huge difference.
• 16:16
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I have lots of different testing that I talk about to them and let them choose, but sometimes it takes multiple exposures in order to get that across.
• 16:26
  Tom Jackobs: Well, and you know with food in particular, not only is it like a religion for people, but also there's never a,"I eat this, I immediately feel bad." It's always the next day or the day after.
• 16:40
  Tom Jackobs: And so our brains just don't make that connection.
• 16:43
  Tom Jackobs: And so,
• 16:44
  Shannon Hernandez: Mm-hmm.
• 16:45
  Shannon Hernandez: Mm-hmm.
• 16:45
  Tom Jackobs: you know, asking people to do an elimination diet and to figure that out just seems like a lot of work to me.
• 16:52
  Tom Jackobs: So why not just do the test and pay the three, four,$500 or whatever it costs to get the test done and just know for sure.
• 17:00
  Shannon Hernandez: Yeah.
• 17:00
  Shannon Hernandez: Well, and so that is an extremely good point, because when you have those results, like those results don't lie.
• 17:06
  Shannon Hernandez: That is an objective form of data that you can relate to.
• 17:10
  Shannon Hernandez: Even if you do an elimination diet, people can always associate it with something else besides their food, because they don't wanna have to give it up.
• 17:19
  Shannon Hernandez: So if you acknowledge that wheat or pasta or eggs or dairy or whatever is impacting you, making you feel bad, then you have to do something about it, versus,"Oh, it's because I didn't sleep well the night before," or,"Because I exercise too much," or,"I..." You know, there's a million reasons other than,"Don't make me give up what I like to eat."
• 17:41
  Tom Jackobs: That's right.
• 17:42
  Shannon Hernandez: So it really does help to have that in front of them.
• 17:45
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, yeah.
• 17:45
  Tom Jackobs: Well, years and years ago, I had some throat issues going on.
• 17:50
  Tom Jackobs: I went and saw the doctor, and he was like,"Yeah, it looks like you have GERD.
• 17:54
  Tom Jackobs: You just need to eliminate caffeine, chocolate, and red wine." I said,"Well, you know, just kill me now." Like, might as well just...
• 18:05
  Tom Jackobs: I don't care my throat hurts.
• 18:06
  Tom Jackobs: I'm not giving up my coffee, and certainly not my wine, so.
• 18:10
  Shannon Hernandez: Yeah.
• 18:11
  Tom Jackobs: But, you know, it's those things that, you know, you were saying, that food becomes a religion almost for people, and it's, it's hard to correlate the bad feeling with that food and to make the behavioral change.
• 18:24
  Shannon Hernandez: Mm-hmm.
• 18:24
  Shannon Hernandez: Yeah.
• 18:25
  Shannon Hernandez: Well, and so whenever you're talking about GERD too, you know, the sphincter in between your esophagus and your stomach is directly regulated by the pH of your stomach.
• 18:35
  Shannon Hernandez: So if you don't have the right pH, it's not gonna close.
• 18:38
  Shannon Hernandez: So telling you to take out all of those stuff is not necessarily going to
• 18:43
  Tom Jackobs: Right.
• 18:43
  Shannon Hernandez: Fix it, and the medications that are prescribed for that
• 18:46
  Tom Jackobs: Oh.
• 18:47
  Shannon Hernandez: Are directly the opposite of what needs to be done to shut it off, you know, to close it.
• 18:51
  Shannon Hernandez: So, and I tell that story or I try to explain that concept, and people look at me like,"Are you crazy?
• 18:58
  Shannon Hernandez: Like, you think that I should try apple cider vinegar to fix my heartburn?" Yes.
• 19:02
  Tom Jackobs: Yes.
• 19:03
  Shannon Hernandez: Yes, you should try that because...
• 19:05
  Shannon Hernandez: and explaining the pH and how it correlates.
• 19:08
  Shannon Hernandez: And then they'll come back to me and they're like,"You were right.
• 19:10
  Shannon Hernandez: Like, I tried that, and gee, I don't have heartburn.
• 19:14
  Shannon Hernandez: I don't have to take heartburn medicine." So there, there's more to it, and when you get to that cellular level, when you have the desire to teach people about what's physiologically going on, and you don't just tell them like they told you,"Stop eating chocolate.
• 19:30
  Shannon Hernandez: Stop drinking coffee.
• 19:31
  Shannon Hernandez: Stop..." And you gotta explain the why.
• 19:33
  Shannon Hernandez: People need to know, why are you telling me to do this?
• 19:36
  Shannon Hernandez: Otherwise, they're not gonna do it.
• 19:38
  Shannon Hernandez: Why should they?
• 19:38
  Shannon Hernandez: Because, just because you've said?
• 19:40
  Shannon Hernandez: Well, you know, it just doesn't work like that.
• 19:42
  Shannon Hernandez: Our brains don't, don't work like that.
• 19:45
  Tom Jackobs: Exactly.
• 19:46
  Tom Jackobs: Exactly.
• 19:46
  Tom Jackobs: So, talking about your transition from, you know, the traditional model into the functional care into a heart-led business, what has been the most rewarding part of having a heart-led business?
• 20:01
  Shannon Hernandez: Well, just for my patients to say thank you for listening to me.
• 20:05
  Tom Jackobs: Mm-hmm.
• 20:06
  Shannon Hernandez: You know I have a lot of people who will go to their specialists, and then they'll come to me and they'll say,"I went to my cardiologist," or,"I went to my gastroenterologist," or,"I went to my whomever.
• 20:15
  Shannon Hernandez: Now can you explain to me what this means?" Because they know I'm gonna Talk to them in a language that both of us understand.
• 20:22
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I don't need to impress anybody with my degree.
• 20:25
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, to me, we are partners in their healthcare.
• 20:28
  Shannon Hernandez: I am here to facilitate them for whatever they want their future to look like.
• 20:33
  Shannon Hernandez: I try to teach them that you shouldn't be a passenger in your healthcare.
• 20:39
  Shannon Hernandez: Like, you shouldn't be funneled information from one side of the table to the other.
• 20:43
  Shannon Hernandez: And so they know when they come to see me, like, they're gonna get all of me,'cause that- that's, that's how I am, that's who I am.
• 20:50
  Shannon Hernandez: You get all of me or nothing.
• 20:52
  Shannon Hernandez: I- there's no 50/50.
• 20:54
  Shannon Hernandez: I don't do anything halfway.
• 20:56
  Shannon Hernandez: So they know that when they come to me, they're gonna get the real truth.
• 21:00
  Shannon Hernandez: They're gonna get exactly everything that I can find for them, because I want them to make informed decisions.
• 21:07
  Shannon Hernandez: So being able to do that is extremely important to me.
• 21:11
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I wanna be real, and that's why a lot of my patients come to me, because there's no fluff about me.
• 21:16
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, they know that I'm gonna tell them like it is.
• 21:18
  Shannon Hernandez: I'm gonna give them the straight truth.
• 21:20
  Shannon Hernandez: But they also know I'm gonna go at them with solutions too.
• 21:23
  Shannon Hernandez: I don't identify their problems and say,"Best of luck to you."
• 21:27
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 21:28
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I want to help them through it so that they get to the other side, and it looks like what they want it to.
• 21:34
  Shannon Hernandez: Their future self, I want it to be the best version that it can be, and I'm always there to help them get there.
• 21:40
  Shannon Hernandez: And so I feel like if you're not led with your heart, if you're not here for the right reason, then that's those people that leave their appointments feeling like numbers or feeling like they just sat there and they wasted their air because no one was listening to them.
• 21:56
  Tom Jackobs: Right.
• 21:56
  Shannon Hernandez: So yeah, that's why I feel like it's so important and it's what I strive for.
• 22:00
  Tom Jackobs: And I bet it feels good as well to, to have people just, you know, like,"Wow, this has been amazing.
• 22:05
  Tom Jackobs: It's, you know, thank you.
• 22:06
  Tom Jackobs: You've changed my life." It's, it's such a good, good feeling to have.
• 22:10
  Shannon Hernandez: Yeah.
• 22:11
  Shannon Hernandez: It, it is.
• 22:11
  Shannon Hernandez: And that's what drives me.
• 22:13
  Shannon Hernandez: Like I said, I'm not driven by finances.
• 22:15
  Shannon Hernandez: My heart is, when I do something good for someone and I can tell that they're appreciative, that's my payment.
• 22:21
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, that's what makes
• 22:22
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 22:22
  Shannon Hernandez: me happy, what increases my dopamine.
• 22:24
  Shannon Hernandez: So I just
• 22:25
  Tom Jackobs: That's good.
• 22:26
  Shannon Hernandez: Love helping people and figuring out ways and solutions that are not inside those traditional boxes.
• 22:32
  Shannon Hernandez: I try to meet people where they are and help them in the best way for them.
• 22:36
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I could have 10 people with all the same diagnosis, all the same labs, but they all need something different from me, so I try to make sure I figure out what that is, and I don't treat them all the same, and my patients know that.
• 22:49
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 22:50
  Tom Jackobs: So talking about the business side.
• 22:51
  Tom Jackobs: So a lot of heart-led business owners struggle with thinking that it's either make a profit or be heart-led, and it is actually an and.
• 23:03
  Tom Jackobs: You can be heart-led and still make a profit.
• 23:06
  Tom Jackobs: So how do you balance that conundrum, so to speak, in terms of balancing making a profit, but also being heart-led at the same time?
• 23:16
  Shannon Hernandez: Well, so believe my faith is very strong, and I know that God always provides, and he brings those people to me that need help.
• 23:26
  Shannon Hernandez: And so, you know, sometimes I will get paid in alternative methods.
• 23:31
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, I get salsa, I get different kinds of things because that's what they have to give.
• 23:37
  Shannon Hernandez: And you know, they're trying, I'm trying, And we're doing the best
• 23:40
  Tom Jackobs: I love that.
• 23:41
  Shannon Hernandez: we can with what we're being led with, and I just love what I do.
• 23:45
  Shannon Hernandez: I love seeing people get better.
• 23:47
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, whenever they come to me, makes me kind of emotional, sorry,
• 23:52
  Tom Jackobs: That's okay.
• 23:53
  Shannon Hernandez: And they, you know, they've been diabetic, and they're just like,"I've been to all of these providers and they all tell me,"Just lose weight, just eat better." Well, what does that even mean?
• 24:05
  Shannon Hernandez: What does eat better mean?
• 24:07
  Shannon Hernandez: If you don't give them the means, and then you, you know, you see them again, and then you tell her,"You didn't lose any weight and your sugar's not better," what did you do?
• 24:15
  Shannon Hernandez: You set them up for failure.
• 24:18
  Shannon Hernandez: People don't like to fail.
• 24:20
  Shannon Hernandez: So that's what leads me different when I am trying to help people, is I make sure they have the resources to be successful, because you can only fail so many times, and then you're just gonna stop trying because they're gonna get it in their mind of,"Why should I keep doing this?
• 24:35
  Shannon Hernandez: Why I keep failing?" So I, I try to make their experience with me different.
• 24:41
  Shannon Hernandez: Now, am I always successful?
• 24:42
  Shannon Hernandez: No.
• 24:43
  Shannon Hernandez: You know, not every therapeutic
• 24:44
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 24:45
  Shannon Hernandez: Relationship is beneficial, but you know, I do try, and I feel like my way of doing things is from my heart, you know?
• 24:54
  Shannon Hernandez: And sometimes that may not always be the best thing as a business person, but you know what?
• 25:00
  Shannon Hernandez: For me as an individual, that is what's best for me.
• 25:04
  Shannon Hernandez: So I know that God's gonna take care of me.
• 25:06
  Shannon Hernandez: I know that he's gonna take care of my business, and so I take care of people the best way that I can, and everything else will fall into place.
• 25:14
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 25:15
  Tom Jackobs: I love that philosophy as well because, you know, it's when you do the best you can for other people, then it's just gonna come back as well.
• 25:23
  Tom Jackobs: And like you said, you will be provided for.
• 25:26
  Tom Jackobs: So that's awesome.
• 25:27
  Tom Jackobs: That's great.
• 25:28
  Tom Jackobs: I'm glad that your, your faith is carrying you through on that as well.
• 25:31
  Tom Jackobs: That's wonderful.
• 25:32
  Shannon Hernandez: Yeah.
• 25:33
  Shannon Hernandez: It's extremely important.
• 25:34
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 25:35
  Tom Jackobs: So Shannon, tell us how people can learn more about you and the great work that you're doing.
• 25:40
  Shannon Hernandez: So I do have a website.
• 25:43
  Shannon Hernandez: It's hernandezholistichealth.com.
• 25:45
  Shannon Hernandez: I post content every day.
• 25:47
  Shannon Hernandez: I try to make short instructional videos every day.
• 25:50
  Shannon Hernandez: And you can see those on Facebook and Instagram under Hernandez Holistic Health, so if you wanna go and look on those.
• 25:56
  Shannon Hernandez: My email is shannon@thedeprescriber.com.
• 26:00
  Shannon Hernandez: So if you wanna email me with questions or if you'd like to send me your contact information, then I can send you the calendar link where we can set up a time to discuss whatever condition they're experiencing and see if we'd be a good fit to work together.
• 26:15
  Shannon Hernandez: I'm also, you know, doing different types of presentations at health fairs, at summits, educational conferences, to teach people about cellular health and wellness, because like I was talking about in the beginning, I just think it's so important for people to know there's another side of healthcare out there, and I don't think enough people are aware of it.
• 26:36
  Shannon Hernandez: So that's something else that I'm trying to do as well.
• 26:40
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 26:40
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, great.
• 26:41
  Tom Jackobs: That's awesome.
• 26:41
  Tom Jackobs: And tell us about the ID Life.
• 26:44
  Tom Jackobs: The link that you are giving out to our listeners.
• 26:47
  Shannon Hernandez: So supplementation is extremely important.
• 26:49
  Shannon Hernandez: I know that most of you have been to the drugstore, to the pharmacy, to Walmart, CVS, wherever, and looked at the supplements, and you go down the aisle and you're just overwhelmed at the number of bottles there are.
• 27:01
  Shannon Hernandez: So what people do is they go and they look at the price.
• 27:04
  Shannon Hernandez: So they'll either buy the cheapest one or the most expensive one, you know, thinking that that's better, and it's not always the case, or the one with the prettiest label, or maybe the
• 27:13
  Tom Jackobs: Right.
• 27:13
  Shannon Hernandez: One that has, you know, the more compounds in there.
• 27:17
  Shannon Hernandez: So, you know, the supplementation industry last year was$65 billion just in the United States.
• 27:23
  Shannon Hernandez: So people are spending a ton of money on something that's not even guaranteed.
• 27:27
  Shannon Hernandez: You don't even know if there is any of that in the bottle that's on the label.
• 27:32
  Shannon Hernandez: So teaching people about the right supplements is really important for me.
• 27:36
  Shannon Hernandez: So with the link there, if you go on there, it'll take you to my website where you can do a personalized assessment that's gonna ask you about your location, your geographical location.
• 27:47
  Shannon Hernandez: It's gonna ask you about your, conditions, your diagnosis, any prescription medications you take.
• 27:53
  Shannon Hernandez: For females, it'll ask about menopausal symptoms and all those things.
• 27:56
  Shannon Hernandez: And then when you're done, it customizes a vitamin packet that's just for you.
• 28:03
  Shannon Hernandez: So there's no going to the store and getting a multivitamin that is, you know, for someone who's 20 or 70 or male or female, obviously none of those populations need the same thing, but they're all given the same multivitamin, you know?
• 28:17
  Shannon Hernandez: So with this, you're gonna get something that's just for you.
• 28:20
  Shannon Hernandez: And, you know, you can take the assessment again every 90 days, so as the seasons change, you can get on there, update your assessment.
• 28:28
  Shannon Hernandez: And one, for one of the reasons behind that is it updates the amount of vitamin D that is in your packet, so it knows the amount of sun exposure that you should be getting if you're spending time outdoors, and it adjusts that.
• 28:39
  Shannon Hernandez: So the way I feel is if you're gonna be spending your hard-earned money on something, you should be getting what you're paying for.
• 28:45
  Shannon Hernandez: You know
• 28:45
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 28:46
  Shannon Hernandez: and people don't understand that if you go and you get, you know, five different types of supplements that are from different companies, the fillers and the binders in those may be fighting against each other, and you really don't know if it's interacting with your prescription medications or not.
• 29:01
  Shannon Hernandez: So with this, you don't have to worry about that because it takes all that into consideration for you.
• 29:07
  Shannon Hernandez: It'll tell you if you need to take a supplement in the evening or the morning so that it doesn't coincide or interact with your prescription medication.
• 29:15
  Shannon Hernandez: It's just a better avenue.
• 29:17
  Shannon Hernandez: It'll give you better support, less fillers, less, you know, crap in there that you're gonna be getting if you just take some random supplement.
• 29:26
  Shannon Hernandez: So I think it's really, really important for people because what you can get from your diet these days because of the quality of the produce you're able to secure is just poor, so you have to get it in some way.
• 29:39
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 29:39
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 29:40
  Tom Jackobs: Great.
• 29:40
  Tom Jackobs: Well, I'm glad that you put that in there.
• 29:42
  Tom Jackobs: I put it up on my screen here, and it looks great, like in terms of the assessment and all that.
• 29:47
  Tom Jackobs: So that's awesome.
• 29:48
  Tom Jackobs: I'm gonna be taking that as soon as we hang up today.
• 29:51
  Tom Jackobs: So thank you for that.
• 29:53
  Shannon Hernandez: And those of you that are watching, if you have questions once you're done, you can always reach out to me.
• 29:57
  Shannon Hernandez: We can review the assessment.
• 29:58
  Shannon Hernandez: Now, the thing that I want you to know is your information is confidential.
• 30:02
  Shannon Hernandez: When you get on my website and you take that, it doesn't send it to me.
• 30:05
  Shannon Hernandez: I cannot see it.
• 30:06
  Shannon Hernandez: Your information is secure.
• 30:08
  Shannon Hernandez: That is your information.
• 30:09
  Shannon Hernandez: If you want me to go through that with you, then you would have to go through that, share the screen with me or send it to me.
• 30:16
  Shannon Hernandez: I don't want people to think if they go on there and do that, then I'm automatically gonna see all of their history, because that is not the way it's designed.
• 30:22
  Shannon Hernandez: It is confidential.
• 30:24
  Tom Jackobs: Okay.
• 30:24
  Tom Jackobs: Good, good.
• 30:25
  Tom Jackobs: Glad you clarified that as well.
• 30:27
  Shannon Hernandez: Mm-hmm.
• 30:27
  Tom Jackobs: So Shannon, again, thank you so much for coming on the show today and sharing your experience and sharing your expertise with the audience.
• 30:34
  Tom Jackobs: I appreciate it, and I know the audience will appreciate that as well.
• 30:37
  Tom Jackobs: So thank you.
• 30:38
  Shannon Hernandez: Yeah.
• 30:38
  Shannon Hernandez: Thank you so much for having me.
• 30:39
  Shannon Hernandez: I appreciate it.
• 30:41
  Tom Jackobs: Absolutely.
• 30:41
  Tom Jackobs: And thank you, dear listeners, for tuning into the show today.
• 30:45
  Tom Jackobs: We all certainly appreciate that.
• 30:46
  Tom Jackobs: So make sure you're checking out everything that Shannon's doing.
• 30:49
  Tom Jackobs: We're gonna put all the links down in the show notes, so make sure you're going down there and clicking around and checking all that out.
• 30:55
  Tom Jackobs: And also while you're down there if you don't mind sharing the show with a friend or a family member that could use the advice shared on today's show, I would certainly appreciate that,'cause it just spreads the word about the show and helps us get more people the help that they really need.
• 31:09
  Tom Jackobs: So until next time, lead with your heart.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: You've been listening to The Heart-Led Business Show, hosted by Tom Jackobs.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Join us next time for another inspiring journey into the heart of business.