Latest / Revolution of Purpose Podcast / ROP Episode 30: John Street Interviews Shannon Malcom: Your Past Does Not Define Who You Are Becoming

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ROP Episode 30: John Street Interviews Shannon Malcom: Your Past Does Not Define Who You Are Becoming · Revolution of Purpose Podcast

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What if the greatest evidence of who you are capable of
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becoming is found in the distance between who you once believed
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you were and who you know yourself to be today? My guest today
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has experienced homelessness, addiction, and yet today
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she is an award-winning real estate broker, business owner,
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author, leader, mentor, advocate, and friend.
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This conversation is not just about success. Us though, this is
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about becoming. It is about identity. It is
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about what happens when faith, resilience,
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and a new identity begin rewriting that story that
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you thought you had already been written for your life. Welcome to the
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Revolution of Purpose Podcast. I'm your host, John Street, and each week
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we bring you conversations with thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and individuals
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who have aligned their life with purpose and
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created extraordinary results. So I'm going to live through it and accept it radically.
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With grace and hope and love. I mean, I would be proud
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to be in this household. It was an honor. I had so much fun.
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Tune in every Monday for the Revolution of Purpose solo show and every
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Thursday for Revolution of Purpose Conversations. Welcome to
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the Revolution of Purpose podcast. I'm so glad you're back here with us today.
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I am joined by the amazing Shannon Malcolm
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today, and I have really been looking forward to this conversation.
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Some of you may recognize the last name Malcolm because Shannon's husband
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Rob Malcolm was a guest on the podcast in, uh,
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early August or so. And today we get to hear Shannon's
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side of an incredible story. Shannon is an author.
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She's a franchise owner of Exit Realty. She is a qualifying
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broker. She is a top-producing real estate professional.
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She is the graduate of Birmingham Association of Realtors Leadership Academy
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and was named the Birmingham Association of Realtors 2024
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Residential Broker of the Year. She has also been recognized
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nationally by the National Association of Realtors as a
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Fair Housing Champion, and she serves her industry through
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numerous leadership and advocacy roles. But those accomplishments
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become even more extraordinary when you understand where
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Shannon's journey began. Shannon has overcome homelessness
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and addiction to build the life, the career,
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the marriage, and the impact that she has today. She and
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Rob are also authors of the book The Long Way
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Still Gets You There, where they share their story and a 7-step
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process designed to help other people move from where they are toward
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where they are designed to be. Shannon,
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welcome to the Revolution of Purpose podcast. Thank you so much,
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John. I'm so honored to have you here today.
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So I start every conversation on this podcast with the same question.
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And if you watched Rod's episode, then maybe you'll have a little bit of
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a pre-idea of how to answer this, but who are you today
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that your younger self would be proud of? My immediate go-to answer
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is I'm alive. Because see, I gave myself
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an expiration date of 35 years old. I didn't have any expectation
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of life after that, but God,
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right? And so, everything that I have accomplished
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over the next 18 years has been one,
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just a blessing that I lived another year.
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And two, she would be incredibly proud.
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That's amazing. Would she be surprised, do you think? Absolutely.
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There are many days that I can't even imagine that this is my
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life. Wow. No, I, I can, I can
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see that just from knowing a lot of your story, you know.
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So one of the reasons that I wanted to have you here today is,
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you know, if somebody looks at you right now, they see the successful broker,
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they see this business owner, the author, the leader,
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the awards that you've won, but they don't necessarily know everything
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that happened to get you here, you know, the, the things
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that created the Shannon Malcolm that we see today.
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And so if you're up for it, I would like to go back there for
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a moment. And I know that you probably are asked to share your story
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a good bit, but, you know, we, we are powerful because
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of the, the testimony that we have. And so you've
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been so open about experiencing homelessness and addiction.
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Can you share with us what did life look like for Shannon Malcolm
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during that chapter of your life? Well, for me, I, uh,
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the addiction came to try to heal traumas,
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right? So I didn't just wake up one day and decide
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I wanted to be an addict. Um, it came with years of using
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substances to try to numb some of that pain and shame
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from different traumas that I had overcome and that
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I had gone through. Um, and, you know, just to touch lightly,
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because a lot of it is in the book, very raw and real, but,
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um, coming from a place of poverty and with different
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people with different addictions and abuse in the home,
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child molestation, a teenage rape,
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abusive relationships myself. And so,
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you know, the addiction came as a means
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to kind of change the way I felt internally.
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And it took a long time once I got into recovery
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to figure out that that
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the addiction was more an escape for me,
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but it became such an escape that it became a necessity
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in my life just to get up and keep moving.
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And so we often in therapy talk about survivor,
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that instinct to just survive. And I had lived in
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that place of survival for so long that
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it got to the point where I was tired of surviving.
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And so, as I mentioned earlier, just giving myself
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that expiration date, I did everything I could to
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get out of this life, to not suffer through the pain and
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the shame anymore. But God had a different plan for my
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life, and now looking back in hindsight, I'm so grateful that
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he did. Oh, we're all grateful. I'm, I'm so
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thankful that I want to even use the term woke up. Like, I want
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to— I'm thankful that you woke up. And I think that's a good term for
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this because you always had this version of Shannon
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within you, but I think you had to awaken to it, you know?
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And, and I mean, that took God, I'm sure. It took people,
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it took support, it put— took programs, it took a lot
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of things. But thank goodness you woke up. So when, when a person finds
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themselves in survival mode How difficult is it to imagine
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that another life is even possible? There are some days that I still shrink
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back to those parts of me when I get overly stressed
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or overly overwhelmed with all the different
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tasks that are now on my plate as a leader and as
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a business owner. Sometimes I find those survival parts
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creep back up, so they don't ever really go
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away. And I feel like through
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therapy and through just my relationship
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with the Lord, I'm still healing from a lot of those things that,
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that I suffered with prior to actually getting clean
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and sober. You know, our mindset,
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our paradigm of thinking that was built for 35 years
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before things started to shift for you, you know, so it doesn't change
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overnight. Sometimes people, they get, um, so down on
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themselves because they're like, why can't I just change the way I think? Well,
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half the things you think about yourself, you didn't even choose to begin with.
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Someone else told you that and you took it on, you know, and, or they
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were defense mechanisms or coping mechanisms or
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just flat out limiting beliefs that you bought into. And it takes time to
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do that. And so I thank you for being like so forthright
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that, hey, I still am in therapy. I'm still working through these things.
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Because I think that has to give hope to other people. You didn't wait
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until you were perfect to become a leader. You didn't wait until you
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were, I know every answer, I'm 100% healed to own
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your own brokerage or to, to, you know, be someone who shares
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your story. Your story is ongoing and you're open
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about that. And I think that's phenomenal. And I think it goes along with kind
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of a lot of the things that you coach and teach as well is because
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I am still a human becoming, like I am still
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figuring out what God's purpose for me is.
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And so every day I do feel like I get a little bit closer
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to that. And when I share my testimony,
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my only prayer is that it does provide hope for either
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someone who is struggling with some of the things that I have overcome
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or that I am still overcoming, but also to give families
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and friends the hope that their loved one who struggles
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with addiction or depression or anxiety can
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also choose to live a different life. And with
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help and support and lots of prayer, we can
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all become something better. That is,
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that is so true. And, and so huge.
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That's what we talk about so much on, on the podcast about just
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becoming that identity of ourselves that is creating the life that we
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live. Because, you know, so many people think, well, my circumstances
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are creating my identity. But I believe our identity is creating our
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circumstances. Now, not all the time. There are certainly circumstances that happen
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that people have no control over. And I'm not talking about trauma,
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abuse, anything like that. But there are a lot of things
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that we can control in our circumstances from knowing
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who we are and becoming that person. And so I think
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a huge thing of that is when you have a story like yours,
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how are some ways if people have come from, you know,
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addiction, or if they're in addiction now and they see this, what are some ways
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that you can deal with the shame and the stigma that comes with that
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but still get the help that you need? That's a deep question.
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Um, so for me,
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like, there are still little pieces and parts
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of my story that when I talk about them,
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I shrink back just a little bit because the shame is
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still there. Um, it's a daily reprieve to
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continue to lay that at the feet of the Lord and say,
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you know, you handle this for me today because I can't.
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Um, but also for me, like,
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I know that I know that I know that the Lord
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did not give us our testimony to keep it to ourself. Like,
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the whole point of a testimony is to tell people that
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you've overcome certain tests. Right, that you've overcome
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certain things. And so by, by telling
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it out loud, you're no longer holding that to
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yourself. In recovery, we always say you're only as sick
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as your secrets. And so if you keep that
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to yourself all the time, then you stay sick and you stay in that shame
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and you stay in that hurt and you stay in that
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I'm less than mode or I don't deserve better mode.
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And so we teach, Rob and I teach a lot
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of mindset courses around just changing that narrative,
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taking that negative limiting belief that either someone
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has given you or you've given yourself by telling yourself repeatedly
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that you don't deserve better, but how to take that negative
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self-belief and flip it to something positive. And being
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able to say a positive affirmation over yourself every single
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day, eventually you start to believe that yourself.
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And so it rewrites the story. It rewrites that negative story
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that you continue to have on repeat in your head every day.
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It's so huge. And I've heard you speak before about the power of owning
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your mornings and deciding that
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in that morning you're going to visualize the day that you want to live,
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that you're going to You're going to be open to God
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blessing you that day, that you're going to flow in who
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you, who you know yourself to be before you start getting hit around
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like a ping pong ball, right, from your schedule. And that is so
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important. A lot of people don't realize that, but yeah, if you can win your
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mornings, you can win your day. Yeah, it's so important. And that mindset work,
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of course, is a huge part of that. So one more question
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about your story. Can you explain to me what was
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like the pivotal Pivotal, the pivotal moment
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that you, um, that you decided, I cannot continue
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living this way. Like, what was maybe your rock bottom? What was what
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sort of woke you up? So I always talk about the expiration
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date of 35 years old and trying so
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hard to either overdose myself or
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pick a fight with the biggest person in the room, hoping that they would
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just break my neck. Like, the thoughts were morbid.
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Um, and the closer I got to my 35th birthday,
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all of these circumstances happened and I ended
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up in jail. I ended up arrested and
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spent several, several months in a jail cell
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and was very bitter and had to,
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um, kind of go through the withdrawals of
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all of the different drugs that were in my system.
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While in a jail cell with many, many, many other
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women. And so most people know that
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there are prison ministries that go into the jails and
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just try to minister and offer hope and prayer and Bibles
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and things for the men and women who are incarcerated.
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And I was so angry at that point in my life,
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just angry at God for everything that I had had to
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experience and angry at myself for not being able to
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find a way out of all of my pain and misery. And the
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prison ministry teams kept coming in, and just defiant,
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I refused to go down to get prayer or to go
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take a Bible from them. And then one morning,
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I just decided I'm just going to go down, I'm going to snatch the Bible
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from their hand, and I'm going to go back to my cot and
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just put it under my pillow. We'll just see what happens.
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And so I did all that just very defiantly, and a
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few days later, I opened the Bible,
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and it just kind of fell to Psalm 116 that
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says, I love the Lord because He heard my voice.
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He heard my cry for help, and He saved me.
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And immediately, a lot of foundational
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Things that I learned as a very young child about the Lord
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just came rushing back into my heart,
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and I knew this was not the way my life was
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supposed to go, and this is not what I would have ever
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imagined for my life. But I missed my
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son's 16th birthday sitting in that jail cell,
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almost missed my daughter's 13th birthday, and those are 2
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big important birthdays, and unfortunately
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for my story, my children had no idea where I was,
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if I was alive. They didn't know,
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and so just the heartbreak of waking up
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that day in that jail cell going, what am I doing?
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I can't do this anymore, and I can't do it on my own,
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so I have to seek help from the Lord.
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That's huge. So from that moment,
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how long did it take for your circumstances to start
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to change, and what did that look like? So it took
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a little while. So Rob and I, um, when I finally was
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released from, from jail, um, Rob's family allowed
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me to stay with them, and that was like the first
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act of mercy that I saw, um, because I was
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not used to loving, caring families trying to help
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other family members. That was just not my story. Um,
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and so I got to stay with his
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family. We, we found a church and we started going to
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church and we were doing recovery meetings. And so it
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took a long while, and I will
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probably say a couple of years before I
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got to a place where I had my own place and could
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afford to buy a little car and get myself
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back and forth to work and get myself back into my
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children's life because I didn't break their trust and
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break their hearts just like that. I did
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it over a span of years, and so it took a while
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to earn that trust back from my family and from my children
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and even from myself because addiction
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is hard to get out of that because the
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negative mindset and the lies of the enemy are just so much
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louder than the gospel that you're hearing
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or the prayers that are being prayed for you. And so even
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the chemicals in your body, right, right. And just the damage that
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it does to your mind and your soul, really.
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Um, and so I was probably almost
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3 years clean and sober, um,
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before I did relapse, which happens to a lot of us.
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And it— the first relapse was
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not of my own choosing. I got connected with the wrong group of
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people again, and I thought that I could
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save them because now I'm saved. And what I
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learned from that experience is that people will drag you
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down a lot faster than you can help them up.
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And I think that was just another lesson that I had to
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learn, um, just in order to
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have this 15-year run of sobriety that
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I've had behind me now. Um, but that
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relapse also brought Rob and I back together,
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and he was kind of He was my
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best friend, and he saved me from myself after
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that relapse and out of another abusive relationship.
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And through him, through the hands
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of many, many people that helped
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me financially or helped me by just praying for
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me or helped me by giving me a ride somewhere if I needed
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it, like, it took a lot of time for me to get to a
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place where I didn't feel like I was that same broken little girl.
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Mm-hmm. That's amazing that, that even
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in the relapse you can look back and see the hands of God.
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You can look back and see how even in something that was,
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I'm sure at the time after 3 years sober,
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absolutely full of shame and heartache and heartbreak,
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you can still see that God still worked it to your good. That's right.
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I think all of our story can become something that
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happened for us if we just surrender it to God and say,
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okay, God, I don't know how you can make something positive out
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of this. Yeah. And maybe the only positive is that you survived
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it and you can tell others so they get the hope. But as long as
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we surrender that, then God can take that and make it something for us.
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And you know what's interesting about addiction
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and addiction recovery is, um, from the years that I
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worked in addiction recovery ministry as well, even before we had
20:41
our church, um, I worked in a Great Recovery Ministry in Trustful,
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and I helped start one at a particular church out there.
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And, you know, some of the things that I learned through that too is why
20:52
it's so important that people going through 12 steps say they're taking it
20:56
one day at a time. Because if not,
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it's very easy to start getting, um, you know,
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to start getting overconfident and be like, well, I've got a year,
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I've got 2 years, I've got 3 years. If you take it one day at
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a time Then you realize that, yes, God's gonna get
21:13
me through today, but I'm not gonna be so overconfident that I'm just gonna
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go and hang out with folks that maybe aren't in an environment I need to
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be in, you know? Right. But it is, addiction is cunning and
21:24
baffling. And I mean, you know, I, a lot
21:28
of folks that watch the Revolution of Purpose podcast are, you know, are people who
21:32
maybe are getting into personal development or mindset work or whatever,
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but you never know who may see this that is in addiction.
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And, and I believe that you're here for
21:44
a reason. It's funny, when I interviewed Rob, we went kind of a whole different
21:46
direction on, on things. But I really feel like
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your story is so powerful. And even through talking about
21:54
the relapse and, and things like that, if there is someone watching this
21:59
and they are struggling with addiction, they're struggling with some habit
22:03
they can't break. They're struggling with something that they know is keeping them
22:07
from living that next level of their life. What is your message for
22:10
them? Funny enough, I, I usually tell people all the time
22:13
that even I'm one decision away from going right
22:18
back to all of that. And so every single day,
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I take ownership of my day by talking
22:25
to the Lord and planning my day and really focusing
22:29
on what needs to get done. And there are some days that
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I still struggle. Just because I don't use drugs and
22:37
alcohol anymore doesn't mean I'm 100% perfect now,
22:40
because I still have many other struggles. We're human. And so
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my advice to anybody is don't let the
22:49
enemy isolate you. If you are having a bad day,
22:53
just reach out to someone who has been there,
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because Together we can do so many things,
23:00
but if we let the enemy isolate us, that is when he
23:04
can get us to fall the fastest. That's so true.
23:07
And you were saying earlier about, um, what did you say about
23:10
secrets? That was actually something I had not heard before, that term,
23:14
that we're only as sick as our secrets. I love that.
23:17
We're only as sick as our secrets. Well, and what I was about to say
23:21
is secrets thrive in darkness. And so if we're
23:25
only as sick as our secrets, and secrets thrive in darkness, then if
23:30
someone's listening to this and they've got some secrets that, that are holding them captive,
23:34
find someone that they trust, someone they can tell, and shine
23:38
some light on that. You know, if it needs to be a counselor, it needs
23:41
to be a therapist, if it's a trusted friend, whatever, because that's,
23:44
that's going to be a— that's going to be pivotal in getting help.
23:48
For sure. And there's, there's so much freedom in not
23:53
being held captive by those negative thoughts.
23:56
There's, there's even more freedom in knowing that
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I'm not the only one. I haven't done the worst or had
24:04
the worst done to me, that there are people that share many common
24:08
similarities as my story. But the enemy would have
24:12
us believe that our shame is worse than anybody's and we shouldn't tell
24:17
anybody. And how are people going to look at us if they know And
24:22
so Rob and I kind of laugh a little bit about our story
24:26
and putting it in print in The Long Way Still Gets You There,
24:30
because as we have become successful, we have
24:34
people from our past that look at us like we're imposters,
24:37
right? And so all
24:41
of us say we all have haters, right?
24:44
But our thought was we're putting it all out there,
24:47
the real raw version, so that we
24:51
take the power away from anybody who thinks they can tear us down
24:55
by telling our secret because we've already told our secrets.
25:00
That's, that's so true. And by putting it
25:04
all out there, that is a type of surrendering, you know? Yes. That is a
25:09
type of surrendering. And it's scary. It is. Being vulnerable is scary.
25:12
Yeah. And you know, like you said about haters, you know,
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um, if we don't have haters, we're not doing something like,
25:20
Right. If the only way to not have a hater is to not take any
25:24
action, and you're gonna have haters. But, you know, Gary Vee says this—
25:28
I just saw this a few weeks ago, and, uh, and I love it.
25:31
Gary Vee was like, yeah, there are people that question my motivation, but you
25:35
know what? I know my motivation, so I don't have to worry about what they
25:39
think about me. Of course, Gary Vee said it, so it was laced with a
25:42
lot of profanity, but it was, it was still very, very powerful.
25:45
And I, and that helps helps me. Like, it helps me in coaching because
25:48
there are bad coaches in the world that take advantage of people. It helps me
25:52
in, in real estate. It helps me in anything in my life because there's
25:56
always going to be people who are like, oh well, that reminds me of so-and-so
26:00
and they're a horrible person. I know my motivation. I know that I'm coming
26:04
from a true place of service. And, and so if everybody doesn't
26:08
get that, it doesn't necessarily matter. And so I think that's so important when you
26:12
think about sharing story and taking away the,
26:16
um, the secrets, you know, because you know your motivation
26:19
through sharing your story. You know why it's important. Yeah.
26:23
Um, yeah, I think that's, that's huge. Well, so to
26:27
transition a little bit from where you were to
26:31
where you are now, how, how did real estate
26:34
become part of that? Like, how did— like, that is amazing
26:37
to think about, not just where you were, that just you're clean and
26:41
sober, but now owning a brokerage, your own business and everything? Like,
26:44
what was the path that led you to real estate? So everybody knows
26:48
Rob is a flipper. He flips houses here in Birmingham,
26:52
and he got to the point where agents wouldn't
26:56
answer his phone calls because he would always make low offers for
27:00
potential flip opportunities. And so he started begging me
27:04
to get my real estate license. Well, I had no desire
27:09
to be a Realtor. I thought you had to be billboard
27:13
pretty to be a Realtor. Because what you saw on TV and
27:17
on the billboards were beautiful blonde-headed, thin women that
27:21
just looked like they had these bubbly personalities,
27:25
right? And I didn't see myself as that. And so I
27:29
fought him for about a year. And as
27:33
most husbands do, he wore me down. And I finally said,
27:37
okay, I will study for the exam and I will see if they
27:41
will give me a license. But based on my background, they may not
27:45
give me a license. And praise
27:49
God, they did. Like, I did have to submit lots of documentation
27:53
showing that I was not the same person, um,
27:56
that I used to be. I never even thought about that, Shannon. That's right.
28:00
Yeah, that's That's almost, that's kind of a miracle right there.
28:03
100%. Yes. That's amazing. I've never thought about
28:07
that. But it's part of God's plan. It's been part
28:11
of his plan since the beginning. And so of course that door was going to
28:14
open, right? And so once
28:18
I got my license, I thought I'll just help Rob find properties.
28:23
But what happened is a young man saw my number
28:27
on a sign. And he called and he said,
28:31
hey, look, I just want to tell you upfront, I have $30,000
28:36
in cash that my grandfather left me when he passed away.
28:39
And the only thing I want to do is find a place so that my
28:42
boys have a place to come to on the weekends when they come see
28:46
me. And I'm like, okay, we can do that. And so I put
28:51
a few houses in front of him, made an appointment to show him one in
28:55
person. When he pulled up, I got out
28:58
of the car and he just looked super confused. And I was like,
29:02
hey buddy, what's that look? And he said,
29:05
well, you showed up. And I was like, well, yeah, we had
29:10
an appointment. I'm supposed to show up. And he said, yeah,
29:13
well, I've had 3 other realtors tell me I'm not worth their time because
29:17
all I have is $30,000. Wow. And that
29:21
broke my heart because I remembered what it felt
29:25
like to not be worthy of somebody's time. And that
29:29
is the only thing we as humans have to give freely.
29:34
It just depends on how important it is if you want to give up your
29:37
time for something else, right? And so that just
29:42
lit a fire in me and I'm like, I am going to help as
29:45
many people as I can. And then
29:49
as, as I began to kind of build a
29:53
database. I learned that the Lord was using me
29:56
and my experiences to minister to consumers who
30:01
either were struggling or knew someone who was struggling.
30:05
And I've always been very open about where
30:10
I came from, because I do think it's powerful that the
30:14
Lord can use people even like me. To spread the message
30:18
of love and forgiveness, right? And so I
30:23
just have been growing that, that database
30:27
of people that I get to serve every day.
30:31
The joke used to be that people used to never let
30:34
me in their houses, but now I have a license to obtain
30:39
keys to everybody's house.
30:44
That is a, that's a beautiful story. And it sort of perfectly
30:49
shows how you serve people. Yeah, like you're serving people
30:53
through real estate. And people think, oh, a realtor, that's a
30:56
job. No, that is a service. Like, yeah, helping people
31:00
find where they are going to live is one of the most important
31:04
decisions that people are going to make. Helping people find a way to
31:08
invest in real estate so that they can plan for their retirement
31:13
or have passive income. That's one of the most important decisions people are going to
31:16
make. And the reason I believe you're so successful— oh,
31:20
there's a couple that jump out. One has always been your authenticity.
31:23
You're very forthcoming and, and honest about who you are and
31:27
where you're from. But also, it is because you approach things with
31:30
a service mentality. And I do believe that's
31:34
why you are so successful in what you do.
31:37
And I love that you got your license just so that you could help Rob
31:41
find houses to flip. But, but at some point, your own
31:45
story just blossomed out of that. Yeah. And, and came out
31:49
of that in such a huge way. Please pardon this interruption to your podcast episode.
31:53
This will not take but a minute. Before we continue, I want to ask you
31:57
something. Do you know that you're capable of more, but your life right now just
32:00
isn't fully reflecting the person you know you can become,
32:04
then I want to personally invite you to schedule a Shift Mindset call with
32:08
me. This Shift Mindset experience is something that I created
32:12
to help you identify one decision that you can make that
32:16
will shift your life. And when I say that this is a call with me,
32:19
I mean exactly that. This is a live, one-on-one personal
32:24
call between you and I. This is not prerecorded. This is
32:28
not a member of my team. It is you and I having a real coaching
32:31
conversation about your life. And it does not cost you any
32:35
money. It is a 45-minute exchange of time. I'll give you 30
32:39
minutes of my best mindset coaching to help you identify a decision that will create
32:44
a real shift in your life. And in exchange, I just ask you give me
32:46
about 15 minutes to show you the coaching experiences that I offer.
32:51
There's no obligation. But there is an opportunity to
32:54
create a meaningful shift in your life just from this call.
32:58
You can schedule yours today at johnstreet.org/coaching.
33:01
Just click on the button that says schedule your shift call. And also,
33:05
if this podcast is helping you, please subscribe, please like,
33:09
and please share it. Every time you do that, every time you
33:13
engage, you are helping to spread this message and inspire someone else
33:17
to create their best life through also living their own revolution of purpose.
33:21
Now let's get you back to the Revolution of Purpose podcast.
33:25
So how difficult was it to
33:28
get past imposter syndrome? Did you have imposter syndrome?
33:32
Oh yeah, a ton. Like the first few
33:36
years of me being in this business,
33:39
like I just kind of stayed back in the shadows. I rarely
33:43
went to any networking events. I just worked.
33:47
I just served people. I just looked at properties.
33:50
Um, and I was satisfied with that, but it took a
33:54
few people in this industry to see something more in me.
33:59
And approached me about becoming an owner of
34:02
a franchise. And so as with everything,
34:07
I took that to the Lord and I said,
34:09
okay, Lord, if this is a door that you're opening for me,
34:13
then this will happen and I'll just know that this
34:17
is the right path. And so that thing happened and
34:22
I said, that could have been a coincidence. So, so Lord,
34:25
if you really mean for me to like be this
34:30
kind of leader, then you'll help me figure out how to get this building
34:34
at this price. And that happened as well.
34:38
And I was still not convinced. I still wanted to bargain with
34:41
the Lord, right? And so eventually Rob said,
34:45
hey Shannon, when are you going to quit bargaining with the
34:49
Lord? Like he's obviously telling you this is what
34:52
he has for you. And so as
34:55
we opened our own brokerage, I really
34:59
felt that imposter syndrome because there were people
35:02
in this industry in Birmingham that I looked up to who
35:07
were the business owners and the brokers and, and the team leaders.
35:11
And I didn't think I was anything like them. I didn't think I was as
35:15
smart as them or as able to
35:20
lead a big team. But the Lord has shown me
35:24
over the last 5 years that people don't follow
35:28
leaders from what they can get from them always.
35:31
It's also how that leader makes people feel,
35:34
and it's also how that leader invests back into their
35:39
associates or their team members to show them
35:43
that they can do so much more than they allow themselves
35:46
to believe about themselves. And so a lot
35:51
of the feedback that I get from our agents is that they
35:54
100% know that I care about them.
35:58
I don't necessarily care how many transactions they close a year,
36:02
how much money they're bringing in. I do encourage that because I
36:06
want to see them successful. But we live in
36:10
a world that's broken, full of hurt and pain and
36:14
life lives for everybody. And so
36:17
most of my associates that work here know that
36:22
if they're having a bad day, they can text me and go, hey, can you
36:26
just please pray for me? And I will. And so
36:30
I want to always be a leader that leads by example and
36:35
that leads with my heart first, and then we'll pull
36:39
in the other stuff. But I truly believe that Because
36:42
I meet people where they are, because I
36:46
needed people to meet me where I was, that,
36:49
that is what makes the biggest difference.
36:53
That's so huge. And that's truly, that's why you're
36:56
on this podcast. So the people that I interview, no matter what industry
37:01
they're from, they're flowing in their purpose, you know? And so that's,
37:05
that's it because you do that, you're flowing in your purpose.
37:09
Your industry is real estate, but your purpose
37:12
is service and meeting people where they're at. And you flow in
37:16
it so amazingly. And, and that's awesome. One way that you do
37:20
that, and I think is really cool, was how you were recognized by the National
37:25
Association of Realtors as a Fair Housing Champion. You know, that is,
37:28
for those who may not know, that's more than just a production award. That is
37:32
a recognition that is connected to advocacy
37:35
and and making sure that other people have access and opportunity.
37:40
And, you know, you're based in Birmingham, Alabama, and in Birmingham,
37:43
Alabama, which is where I'm from as well, we don't have always the best track
37:48
record when it comes to fair housing from our history. And I'm
37:53
so thankful that we have someone that is recognized
37:57
nationally as an advocate for fair housing here. So why has fair
38:01
housing become so important to you and what did it mean
38:04
to you to receive that recognition? Recognition? My gosh, it, it was so humbling,
38:09
first of all. Um, and our VP
38:13
of Government Affairs at the Birmingham Association of Realtors is the
38:16
one who actually nominated me, and I had no idea
38:20
that he had done that. Um, and so when the
38:25
National Association of Realtors called me to tell me that they were
38:29
going to recognize me, I was like, how did this happen?
38:33
Because I just feel like I'm just serving and I'm just working every day.
38:38
But for me, what is so important is thinking back to
38:42
that first client that I had who said he didn't feel worthy
38:45
of somebody's time. And because here in Birmingham,
38:49
we do have such a stigma on our history racially,
38:55
like, that's where I thrive. Because I
38:59
don't see everybody's color or ethnicity or
39:03
handicap or whatever. I see a human who has the
39:08
same struggles that we all have. And so just being able
39:11
to treat everyone equally and giving everybody a
39:15
fair shot, no matter if they have $30,000
39:19
or $3 million, it's all the same because
39:22
we're all humans who are looking for true connection
39:26
and true interaction and somebody that's going to look out for their best interest.
39:31
And so I have just kind of stood on that.
39:34
And it didn't matter if I was selling houses
39:38
in the hood or in the prosperous places, like they're all
39:42
the same to me because they're human and we're all beautifully
39:46
created by one creator. And I just think that
39:50
is important for us to remember and to walk in that every
39:53
day. You know, that's one thing that I've noticed about you and
39:57
Rob too, for the many years that I've, I've known you guys professionally
40:01
and more recently as your friend. But I— you treat
40:04
everybody the same. They don't have to look like you,
40:08
they don't have to believe like you, they don't have to vote like you,
40:11
they don't have to love like you. You just treat everybody as
40:14
a child of God. Yeah. And I think there is so much,
40:18
um, power in that because people need
40:22
to be seen. Like, people need to be seen for the humanity.
40:26
And right now we live in sort of a time where it's very much
40:31
us versus them. Like, there's a lot of powerful people that
40:35
are telling us to hate each other, right? And I think the people who are
40:38
transcending that and loving people who may be different from
40:42
themselves are the people that are really making a difference right right now.
40:45
Absolutely. I think it's, it's so true with, with you and Rob,
40:48
and it's— it makes your recognition for the Fair Housing Award
40:53
even more powerful because you live that in every area of your life,
40:56
even in your brokerage. The people that make up your brokerage, I mean, it is
41:00
amazing. It is the United Nations up in there. I love it.
41:03
There's so much diversity. Yes. I think
41:07
that's just amazing, and I'm so, I'm so proud of you for, for leading by
41:11
example in that So one question that I
41:14
want to ask you on a little bit different subject is just about the book
41:18
in general. Um, and I talked a good bit on the Rob Malcolm episode.
41:22
So if you have not seen the Rob Malcolm episode, you definitely need to do
41:25
that. And I'm going to tag that, um, in the show notes here. But let
41:29
me ask you about writing a book that is so biographical in
41:33
nature. What, what fear did you have to overcome to
41:37
put everything out there like that? Like, Was that something you,
41:40
did you know going into it you're going to be able to just share everything
41:44
or did it, did you get more bold as you went through the process?
41:47
Um, so for me, I was con— my
41:51
biggest concern was my family. Like, how would
41:55
it affect them if I put that out in the world?
41:59
And so as Rob and I were, got the
42:02
first draft back, we actually sat in our living room and
42:06
I read my chapters and he read his chapters in front of
42:09
my mom and my daughter. And I would
42:13
not have put it out there had they not given me their blessing.
42:17
And for those that have read the book, chapter, my first
42:21
chapter's pretty hard about just my, my mom and my,
42:25
our relationship and the things that happened to me
42:30
under her care. And so after I
42:34
read that chapter out loud to her,
42:37
She was very quiet and she had a lot of
42:40
emotion, but she stood up and she said, hey,
42:44
so it's hard, but it's hard because it's true.
42:49
And she had to leave the room and kind of compose
42:53
herself, but she came back. And as,
42:57
as our book is written and our story changes,
43:00
you know, we come out of the gate talking about how hard life was.
43:04
And we take people on a journey so that hopefully
43:08
they see how the Lord took the worst of the worst in our
43:11
lives and used that to build a foundation
43:15
so that we could become the people that we're becoming.
43:20
That's amazing. And it is, it is a really great read.
43:24
It is a, I listened to the audiobook, um,
43:27
and I love the audio because it is actually read by you and Rob.
43:32
Um, and I think that makes it even more special. Um, and I'm gonna
43:35
link it to the show notes here too, but it's The Long Way Still
43:39
Gets You There, right? That's, that's correct. Yeah, it is.
43:43
Uh, it is a really powerful book, and I, I won't spoil it,
43:46
but there are some, some very moving, moving,
43:49
uh, parts of that book. And I, I was very fortunate. I remember being at
43:53
the gym listening to it and texting Rob because I was especially
43:56
angry by one, one story. Yes, somebody got killed
44:00
the book, I'm like, no, Pee-wee. Yeah. Pee-wee story.
44:04
Pee-wee. Yeah. And so I, yeah, so it is, uh,
44:07
it is an amazing story of redemption and what
44:11
can happen when we surrender and when
44:15
we shift our identity. And I think that's amazing. So what
44:19
is next for Shannon Malcolm? What is on the horizon?
44:22
Oh gosh. So I don't know. I keep, um, stepping into different
44:26
leadership roles. As I have gotten older
44:30
and wiser and more confident that I am equal
44:34
to my peers and not less than,
44:39
it's opened a lot of doors and it's opened my eyes to all
44:42
the different places where I can make a difference just by having
44:46
a seat at the table. One thing that
44:49
I talk to our agents about all the time is I don't want to hear
44:53
you complain. Unless you're willing to pull up a chair and sit at
44:57
the table and voice those concerns and make a difference.
45:01
Because if we just stay in a world where everybody just
45:05
complains and never takes any action to change
45:09
the course, then you're just wasting
45:13
time. And so to make a difference,
45:16
you've got to put yourself in the rooms that make you uncomfortable.
45:21
And Lord knows there are some rooms that I've been stepping in recently
45:24
that make me a little uncomfortable. Comfortable because I put
45:29
a lot of people still very much above myself as far as
45:33
just abilities, right? But I'm learning
45:37
every day that those same abilities are within
45:41
me. I just have to give it to God and let him use me as
45:44
a vessel. And hopefully I will make a difference and leave a legacy
45:49
that will just tell people it doesn't matter where you come from.
45:52
It doesn't matter what you've done or what's been done to
45:56
you. You can change the trajectory of your life with
45:59
just small steps every single day.
46:03
Ah, that's so huge. And, you know, people feel like we have to take
46:07
giant leaps. You know, we feel like I've got to change immediately. And when
46:11
we get caught up into that loop, that's when we start getting down on
46:15
ourselves or having shame because we haven't done as much as we think we
46:19
can, you know. Right. And there's a really good book called The Gap in the
46:23
Gain. And it talks about— oh, I love that one. Isn't it such a great
46:26
book? Yes. Yeah, you know, talks about how are we living in the gap
46:30
or living in the gain. Like, we cannot think about what we haven't done yet.
46:33
We have to think about how far we have come. And, you know,
46:37
comparison is the thief of joy. If we're always comparing ourselves to everybody
46:41
else, then, you know, then we're not going to— we're not
46:45
going to be happy. It isn't about what anyone else is doing. It's about what
46:49
we can be, our own and living the best life that we can live.
46:52
And so thank you for that legacy that you are building for your
46:55
community, for your family, for your friends, for your brokerage, for your industry,
46:59
for every— everything. Um, you're, you're a testament
47:03
to someone who is absolutely allowing God to
47:07
use you to flow in your purpose, and it's, it's amazing. So thank you.
47:10
We're about to wrap things up, but I, I want to do a quick
47:14
lightning round. So this lightning round, um,
47:18
I, I want you to answer first thing that comes to your mind.
47:22
Um, okay. Uh, so what is your idea
47:26
of a perfect date night? Really good steak dinner.
47:29
Oh, yum. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I could see that.
47:33
Um, what is your favorite movie? What Dreams May Come
47:37
with Robin Williams. It's very powerful and
47:41
it's, it's, it ties into my story a little bit.
47:45
Yeah, that's awesome. Uh, what is your
47:49
favorite vacation? I haven't had it yet.
47:53
Oh, gotcha. I know y'all talked about renting an Airbnb for a month
47:57
somewhere. Yes, he wants— pretty awesome. Yeah, Rob wants
48:01
to take me. I've always wanted to go to Ireland, um, just as part of
48:05
my heritage, and I think the landscape there is beautiful,
48:08
and he keeps promising he's gonna do that for me, and so We haven't gone
48:12
on my favorite vacation yet. Oh, that's awesome. Well,
48:15
good. Hey, I love to dream and plan vacations.
48:19
So if you need help, I'll help you. Perfect. I have
48:23
planned many a vacation. That is a good way I motivate myself with this
48:27
carrot of this vacation in front of me. I don't always take it, but I
48:31
love planning it. There you go. It works. It definitely
48:34
works. Um, so this question,
48:37
this This is the last question I'm going to ask you, but it's one that
48:40
I ask everybody on, on the podcast. And I think it tells us a lot
48:43
about purpose in general. But Shannon, what do you feel like is one thing
48:47
about purpose that maybe people are missing?
48:50
That it doesn't have to be polished.
48:54
That if you just be you,
48:57
then the people the Lord has in mind for you to
49:01
touch will be in front of you. And so
49:05
we, you know, I always think to the old song,
49:09
Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls,
49:11
right? Just stand there
49:15
and be you. And the Lord is going to present so many opportunities
49:19
for you to make a difference if you just get out of your own way.
49:23
Oh, wow. That's awesome. I love that. That's really good.
49:27
Well, Shannon, thank you so much for being here. One of the things that I
49:30
hope people take away from your story is that where
49:34
you have been does not have to dictate where you're going.
49:38
It is not the final vote in who you become. The long
49:42
way really does still get you there. That's right. And sometimes the road that
49:45
we would never have chosen becomes that very road that develops the
49:49
strength, the compassion, the faith, and the perspective that we
49:53
need to fulfill our purpose. Um, Shannon and Rob's book,
49:57
The Long Way Still Gets You There, uh, will be linked in the show notes.
50:01
And also you can learn more. We didn't talk a lot about the Rise Up
50:04
coaching program that they have, but they have this amazing Rise Up coaching program
50:08
to help those who are getting into house flipping that want to do that.
50:12
Shannon, if someone wants to find you online
50:16
or follow you, what's the best way to do that? So all of
50:19
my social media channels are Moved by Malcolm.
50:23
And so I'm really easy to find if you just Google my name.
50:28
All the articles that people have written about me and
50:32
the awards and all my social media channels will pop up
50:36
immediately. Oh, that's wonderful. Well, Shannon, thank you
50:39
so much for being vulnerable and for sharing, you know, the chapters
50:43
of your story that weren't pretty, you know,
50:46
because I think that that is, is just so important for people to understand
50:51
that you can be successful in your current life
50:54
even if you started in a place far, far behind
50:59
other people. You know, that's it. Equality is when
51:02
we are all at the same place and we all start
51:06
at the same place. Equity is when someone started
51:10
way behind, but they have still found that place to be equal.
51:13
And, and that's your story. And it's amazing. You've come just
51:18
leaps and bounds. And so, I'm so glad. So for anyone
51:22
watching this, your past is part of your story, but it does not have to
51:24
define your future. Um, it does become part of your identity, and you
51:29
can surrender that. You can learn from it. You can grow from it. And until
51:32
next time, I'm so glad you tuned in. Please keep living your
51:36
own revolution of purpose. Thank you so much for spending this time
51:40
with me today. If this episode encouraged you, if it challenged
51:44
you, or if it helped see your life a little bit differently,
51:47
would you do me a favor? Subscribe to the podcast, leave a
51:51
rating or review, and share this episode with someone who
51:55
needs to hear it. Every share helps us reach more people who are searching
51:59
for hope, purpose, and a life of greater meaning.
52:03
And if you're ready to stop wondering what's next and start living
52:06
with greater clarity and purpose in your own life, I would love
52:10
to meet with you personally. Personally, visit johnstreet.org right
52:14
now to schedule your complimentary live Purpose and Clarity call with
52:18
me. Until next time, remember, your purpose is not something
52:22
you find. It is something you awaken to,
52:26
and then you choose to live it. Go make today another step
52:30
in your own revolution of purpose.