Every Breath Counts

Jesse Stewart is the Founder of AM300 Solutions. He is a writer, best-selling author, speaker, consultant, and former U.S. Army Ranger. He retired at the rank of Major following multiple combat tours spanning every calendar year from 2003-2010.

You can only earn hard fought wisdom through experience. Jesse discussed his family history of military experience going all the way back to the French and Indian War. He followed in his grandfather’s and his father’s footsteps enrolling in the Army after high school, and his father stayed enlisted long enough to give him his first solute and pin his Ranger tab on his uniform.

Jesse was drawn to service but remembers the day that solidified his path to the Rangers. After having long at the top of the World Trade Center on September 10, 2001 with his aunt and uncle, he watched the towers fall the following day from the weight room at college and took the event as a direct attack on his family. He became an Army Ranger and spent almost 8 years deployed on and off fighting for the United States of America. After reaching the rank of Major and sustaining multiple injuries on the battlefield, Jesse was medically retired, in 2012, at the age of 31 and left “medically disabled.”

Jesse’s experience after leaving the military brought more clarity to his life and purpose. After battling depression and alcoholism, Jesse went through a transformation, similar to that of a Phoenix burning down to the ashes before being reborn.

Jesse founded AM300 solutions to train athletes with the Hard Fought Wisdom he acquired on the battlefield. One of the aspects of the program he is most proud of is the Warrior Athlete Program, where the athletes he works with visit with Veterans to help bring purpose to their lives. He now works extensively with the US Olympic Ski and Snowboard team, helping train their minds for the uncertainty of competition. As a consultant, many Olympic athletes are reaching peek performance and anticipating success in the coming games.

Jesse is a best-selling author, consultant, keynote speaker (check out his TED talk) and all around leader.

For more: http://everybreathcountspodcast.com/
https://everybreathcountspodcast.com/?p=27

Website: AM 300 Solutions
Buy the book – Un-Winnable Wars
The Phoenix Project (Coming 2021)
US Ski and Snowboard OlympicTeam
Lucas Foster

https://www.linkedin.com/in/am300phoenix/
https://www.instagram.com/am300phoenix/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyAKKZTcgYV3HwSdZB0xC6g?view_as=subscriber
https://twitter.com/am300phoenix

Episode 12 - Create a purposeful like with Claire Rogers

About Claire Rogers

Claire specialises in mindset coaching. With her private clients, she coaches them to rise to their highest level of personal and professional growth by developing a positive mindset and creating healthy, purposeful lives. She does this by aiding her clients to re-discover their passions and create healthy habits and empowering beliefs.
 
With her business clients, she trains and speaks on corporate wellness to support, improve and implement effective transformational change to enhance employee wellbeing, talent retention, productivity and employee engagement. She is passionate about driving business strategies and ensuring results while also maintaining employee health and wellness.

Notes about our discussion:

• Claire's history and success as an international model and in corporate America
• The moment she realized her life needed to change direction
• Anxiety and Panic attacks
• Finding and deciding to pursue a purposeful life as a mindset coach
• The coorelation between mind and body and how it affects your wellness

​

______________________________________________________________
References
Claire Rogers
Website: https://www.itopiacoaching.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itopiacoaching/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iTopiacoaching/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itopiacoaching/

______________________________________________________________
Ryan Shekell
Website: www.ryanshekell.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanshekell/

Episode 11 - Lead like a Lady with Gina Osborn

About Gina
Gina Osborn began her career in 1986 by enlisting in the U.S. Army as a Counterintelligence Special Agent.  She was assigned to a specialized team in Germany that investigated the highest profile espionage cases in the European Theater during the end of the Cold War and into the first Gulf War.   

In 1996, Gina became a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  In her  22 years of service oversaw numerous high profile cases including investigating Asian Organized Crime on a task force in the Little Saigon District of Orange County, California and supervising counterterrorism investigations in Southeast Asia. She went on to become Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Cyber and Computer Forensics Programs in Los Angeles where for 11 years, she led investigations relating to national security and criminal computer intrusions and retired from the FBI in 2018.

Gina is a leadership expert specializing in navigating Chaos, Crisis and Change.  Having responded to catastrophic terrorist attacks and cyber hacks as an FBI Executive and chasing Cold War spies in the Army, Gina knows that Crises can be managed, Chaos can be controlled, and Change is inevitable.  

 She brings a unique perspective about succeeding and leading as a woman, in a male dominated field.

_____________________________________________________________

Show Notes:
We discuss:

• The skills and traits are required for success as a counter intelligence agent 
• Finding common ground and building trust for effective collaboration
• Having empathy for your adversaries, even in criminal situations
• The parallels between The Spy Game and the Business Game
• How technology has affected our ability to build meaningful relationships in personal and business life
• Managing employees in the digital age
• The importance of being able to adapt as an operator as well as a leader
• Dealing with chaos and failure in life or death situations

______________________________________________________________

References
Gina Osborn
https://ginalosborn.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginalosborn/

Podcast: Lead Like a Lady
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lead-like-a-lady-with-gina-l-osborn-a-real-life-podcast/id1557136702

Podcast: Behind the Crime
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-crime-scene/id1510421892

______________________________________________________________

Ryan Shekell
www.ryanshekell.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanshekell/

Episode 10 - My guest today is Jonathan Pritchard, founder of the international consulting company "The Hellstrom Group" which has trained teams to improve their sales, negotiation, and presentation skills on six of the seven continents. 

His expertise comes from his background traveling the world as a Mentalist, a unique type of entertainer specializing in mind reading tricks

We discussed his journey of growing up poor in the mountains of North Carolina, to majoring in art in college and eventually becoming an international keynote speaker and consultant. 

He shared stories about how he got into mentalism and mind reading, and how that understanding of the human brain has allowed him to advise Fortune 500 companies in sales, marketing and other deliverables.

We also discuss how he learned Kung Fu at record speed and the importance of how discipline and effort  best correlate to success in every aspect of life.

Speaker
Jonathan Pritchard
https://www.hellstromgroup.com
https://www.elite.university/about/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/the_pritchard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanpritchard/


Ryan Shekell
www.ryanshekell.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ryan-Shekell-103564051701441
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanshekell/

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Episode 9 - Heather quit her job as an Anesthesiologist Assistant to start a software company focused on offering a streamlined continuum of care for surgical patients. But when Covid hit her, company and dreams took a backseat while she did her part serving her community and saving lives, intubating patients in the ICU. 

This desire to serve others led her to a new business opportunity. She joined Wellness 4 Humanity and opened Covid testing sites in Atlanta and New York. Here, she rolled out a new concept of healthcare that she refers to as “Concierge Medicine.”

Heather is on a mission to make the world a better place. We talk about her experience in the ICU, he tools she uses to deal with stress and adversity and what she is doing with her new company to make the world a healthier place.

Speaker
Heather Repp
www.w4humanity.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heath_n_wellness/?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-repp/


Ryan Shekell
www.ryanshekell.com

Episode 8 - DB and I discuss how Reflecting, remembering, reconnecting and rebooting can help anyone create purpose in their life. After his second divorce and being diagnosed with Kidney disease, DB realized he needed to find meaning and purpose in his life. He found the 4 actions needed to have appreciation and move forward. Now his pursuit of love inspires others to find the same appreciation in their lives.

__________________________________________________________________
Speaker:
DB Marshall
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lovespursuitatl
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dammeon-marshall-812860188/
https://lovespursuitatl.net

Ryan Shekell
LinkedIn:
www.ryanshekell.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanshekell/

___________________________________________________________________
Show Notes
00:00 Intro – About the book Love Pursuit by DB Marshall

 01:27 Love yourself 

“Came about, you know, one day I was sitting down in my bedroom and I was trying to think of different titles to kind of come up with my business. And so love pursuit came to mind and I kept saying it kept saying it and processing it. 

00:03:56 Second Divorce

“No. So believe it or not. That was my, [00:04:00] that was my second divorce of 10 years. I don't know what it is with me and 10 years in divorces, but that was the second divorce. 

 06:00 Balance in marriage

“But there's also this balance because. There's a lot of sacrifice in a marriage and, and I've been married for over 10 years. I love my work.But also, because we have like this, this together purpose, I think, and I feel like we have just this idea that we have created this life together and having children has a lot to do with that as well that we want to create this family 

 00:09:06 Purpose can change

“That's an interesting perspective. I've never thought about the fact that your why can change. 

 13:30 Growing up poor

“You know, what you said was exactly right. That is not purpose. However, at the time that was my purpose. And I'm gonna tell you why that was my purpose. It was my purpose because I grew up poor

 19:45 The 4 “R’s”

“And I call it the four, our motto and the four. Our motto is just the first thing that you have to do is just sit down and you have to reconnect with yourself. Just reconnect, whatever it is, bad, good in friendship, reconnect, you know, just find out what it is that makes you feel good. And I thought I reconnected. The next thing I wanted to do was just remember, and this, the beautiful thing with remembering, I call them golden little nuggets.  The third thing I did was to reflect, reflect as a few stages. So once you have reconnected with yourself you remember all those beautiful momentsI created some type of journal and I jotted those things down and I used all that information of the different stages that I went through to reboot my life. 

 28:50 Kidney Disease

“And I really wanted to understand what impacted the kidneys and what do I need to feed my body and also feed my mind. And so that started the physical wellness. The emotional wellness actually started, like I said, after divorce emotionally, I started working on myself because that impacted everything in my life.

 31:47 Chaos

“And I went to this third doctor and I walked in and I told her what was going on. I was like, how can I fix it? And he looked at me and he was like, you can, your kidneys are gonna fail.

 37:29 New Purpose

“I just want to be that beacon of hope to say, you know what? I did it and I'm not comparing it to myself and said, your situation is similar to mine or mine is similar to yours. What I'm saying is that we all are human beings. 

Episode 7 - Eric Strand, COO of Drury Hotels shares his story of raising over $40,000 for frontline hospitality workers during the Covid pandemic. He set the fastest time running the Katy Trail, start to finish, a 245 mile rail trail spanning the entire width of Missouri.

He dicusses leadership and management strategies using lessons from his ultramarathon experiences, as well as work/life balance and fatherhood.

Show Notes:
Intro
Background -
MBA,
First Marathon Grandma's Marathon https://grandmasmarathon.com, Duluth MN
Training and inspiration
Chicago Marathon success https://www.chicagomarathon.com
Boston Marathon qualifier https://www.baa.org
5:50
Interest in Ultra-marathon after running with Dean Karnazez (https://ultramarathonman.com)
Leadville 100 Trail Race, Race across the sky
7:22
Balance Training and COO Drury Hotels
Support Network, amazing wife
Getting it in early before 7:00 meetings
10:50
Being your best self when you run
Running as an addiction
13:16
Drury Hotels
How Covid affected Hospitality industry
How you deal with adversity like a pandemic
Pivot strategy
Coming out stronger
Strength of the team having overcome adversity
Process improvements
21:08
Raising money for frontline hospitality workers
Running the Katy Trail, rail trail the width of Missouri (245 miles) in 3 days, 14 hours and 6 minutes
Why the Katy Trail?
25:14
Preparation nd mindset
Goal setting and chances of success
Describing the trail, terrain and run
Sleeping and Eating during an ultra
Running with Halucinations
Discipline
Eating Solid Foods and burning calories
31:49
Hardest race ever? Leadville 100 2014
Confidence and wanting to finish faster than before
First 6 miles falling over and over and getting a busted nose, ribs and extremities
How to keep going
36:12
Strategies and inner dialogue to keep going
Enjoy the suck
38:24
Applying these lessons to fatherhood and leadership
Lessons from Leadville
Running with your kids
42:00
Questions
Running with Dean Karnazes
Mom is biggest inspiration
Pete Kostelnick, best runner to run with
Where to find Eric




Ryan Shekell
www.ryanshekell.com



Speaker:
Eric Strand
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eric.strand.378
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-strand-38aa12152/

Eric's Website
www.leadfeet.com

Drury Hotels
www.druryhotels.com

Theme Music:
Piano Rock Instrumental by Hyde - Free Instrumentals | https://soundcloud.com/davidhydemusic
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_U

Episode 6 - Jermane is full of energy and passion and you can feel it in his voice. He believes there's two types of people in the world - creators and there's victims.

He joined me from Singapore, where he's been living since the beginning of Covid to talk about how growing up half-black without a father made him question his identity. He found later on that he needed to take action to create that identity, not relying on the opinion of others or being defined by his possessions.

We discuss fitness, books, perspective and his on life.

Jermane Cheathem
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jermanecheathem/
http://www.daofinancialsolutions.com/

Ryan Shekell
www.ryanshekell.com

My guest today is Donald James. Donald joins me to speak about his 35 year career at NASA and how he applied the lessons he learned from his Mom to successd He used the knowledge from that experience to write a book titled, "Manners will take you where brains and money won't." We discuss leadership, management, family, and even aliens!

Show Note:
Intro
-NASA Career
-Leadership and Respect for other cultures
-STEM in education and replacing it
-Honesty versus politeness
-Interviewing and hiring for a team - authenticity
-Teamwork and collaboration
-Pink Suits and being uncomfortable
-NASA compared to surgery
-Power dynamic and race relations - police brutality
-Aliens


Speaker
Donald James
www.donaldgregoryjames.com
Author:
Manners will take you where brains and money won't
Ryan Shekell
www.ryanshekell.com

My guest today is Lesley Cortright. Lesley set out to prove to herself and her daughters that you can do anything you put your mind to and that girls can do insanely hard things. She completed the Leadville 100, a 100-mile race through the heart of the Rocky Mountains, in 28 hours and 23 minutes, under the 30-hour minute time cap (something that only about 1/2 of the runners crazy enough to attempt are able to do). The experience changed her outlook on life and human potential. An outlook that has helped her build a photography business, capturing life’s moments for others!

Speaker
Lesley Cortright
Wander Photography
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/lesleycortright
Photography - https://www.facebook.com/wanderphotographyatlanta/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-cortright-a39a504/
Website - wanderphotgraphy.com


Ryan Shekell
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ryanshekellspeaker
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ryanshekell/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanshekell/
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK4n1_pdUpZ-MTL-itdDZmA
Website - https://www.ryanshekell.com

Show Notes:

1:00 - Introduction and Growing Up In Colorado

4:00 - First 10k Race  at 9-years old (Boulder Boulder)

10:00 - Philosophy about Quitting

12:30 - Running in school, back-to-back state championships as a freshman and sophomore

23:00 - Transition to College and running for enjoyment

30:00 - Post college and running with appreciation

34:30 - Leadville 100 ultra-marathon, pacing and registering

50:00 - Training and preparation for an ultra-marathon

1:00:00 - The worst leg and the community of ultra running

1:09:00 - The Finish Line

1:14:00 - Life - Becoming a professional photographer