April 24, 2025 • 24 mins
Imagine being told you have three months to live—then later, just 14 days—all before graduating high school. Now imagine not only surviving, but going on to achieve what no one in human history has accomplished. Sean Swarner’s extraordinary journey began with a dire prognosis and ended atop the world’s highest peaks. As the first cancer survivor to summit Mount Everest, and with only one functioning lung, Sean has since scaled the tallest mountains on every continent, skied to both poles, completed the Ironman World Championship, and run seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
What drives someone to transcend such extreme limits? Sean shares a powerful philosophy: “Never go after the thing—go after the thing behind the thing.” He explores how chasing deeper meaning, rather than surface goals, has led him to unparalleled achievements and profound human connections. From being adopted into Tanzania’s Chugga tribe to developing a unique lens on fear, listening, and resilience, Sean’s perspective offers transformative lessons for anyone navigating personal, professional, or emotional challenges. Discover more of his story and speaking engagements at SeanSwarner.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up everybody.
This is Ryan Van Ornum withScaling Up Success Podcast.
I am here today with a goodfriend of mine, sean Swarner,
and he has an amazing story andI can't wait to dive into it.
Sean, how are you, man?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm doing great man.
It's been interesting.
I had a super long overnighttrip yesterday.
I'm here for two days inBoulder, colorado, giving a
presentation, and then I'mtaking a red eye the next day
back to Puerto.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Rico.
Oh, my goodness man, you werethe you.
You don't sleep in the sametime zone in one whole week.
It's incredible, dude.
I, I, I love what you're doing,uh, with everything that you've
built, uh, but uh, it it allstarts from from where you came
from.
So, if possible, let peopleknow a little bit about, let the
(00:49):
audience know a little bitabout how this whole what you've
been building, how did it comefrom?
How did it come to fruition?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Absolutely the whole thing that I've.
You know, everyone has a story,right, everyone has a story.
We all have two ears and onemouth for a reason, because I
think you can learn somethingfrom everyone's story and mine's
just a little bit differentthan most.
I think my story shaped myfuture from when I was 13 years
(01:17):
old I know I've mentioned it toyou before, but just quickly.
I was diagnosed with in myteens with two terminal cancers.
They gave me three months tolive the first time.
They gave me 14 days to livethe second time.
My goodness, medically inducedcoma for a year of my life.
When I was 16, 17 years old, Iwas read my last rights.
(01:37):
The hospital at the time wantedme to write out a living will,
and I have a younger brotherwho's three years younger than
myself, and at that time Iremember laying in the hospital
bed looking at my mom, my dad,like you know what's the
hospital one, isn't my brothergoing to get my hand me downs
anyhow?
Like I didn't really understandwhat the hospital wanted.
But I lost a function of thefunction of my right lung
(02:00):
because of the treatments andthe chances of me surviving both
those cancers was pretty much a0.000000001%.
Oh my gosh.
So that's that's where my storybegins, and fast forward.
10 years later, I became thefirst cancer survivor to climb
Mount Everest, and I've gone onto go do things around the world
(02:23):
that no human in history hasever done before.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
That is unbelievable, like I.
I, every time I hear it givesme goosebumps.
Every time I hear your story,bro, and it's just fascinating
Like your willpower, your willto live, your, uh, just your
mantra now going forward, man, I, I love everything that you're
doing and being able to get yourmessage out to the masses is
(02:49):
just incredible.
Because, I mean not, it reallygoes to like, you know,
nothing's guaranteed and youknow, take, take, take, don't
take for granted what, what youhave available to you, you and,
and just the power of the humanbody itself.
You are the prime example ofthis.
(03:11):
Uh, you know, you were justtelling me, like, a couple of
months ago, just the incrediblelike you did seven marathons and
seven days on seven continents.
What is that?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
you know it's it was I guess it's continuously
pushing the envelope and I Iwant to continue proving to
myself that I'm still alive, I'mcapable of doing these amazing
things, but I'm no differentthan anyone else, you know.
I just think I may have adifferent perspective on my own
(03:45):
abilities than other people.
So after Everest, going back toyour question, the 777, after
Everest, climbed the highestmountain on every continent ski
to the North pole.
South pole didn't find SantaClaus, so if anybody's watching,
sorry, he must have had hiscloaking device on.
Then completed the worldchampionship Ironman triathlon
(04:06):
in Hawaii, done a number ofdifferent things since then, and
I guess it would be about aneight-year time span.
And then recently, as youmentioned, I decided to run
seven marathons in seven days onall seven continents.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I don't even know how you got to the place in seven
days and set and ran, let alonerunning seven marathons, but
like that's just unbelievableman, I mean.
So now, now you've you've builtthis into many different, like
different, types of businessesthat you've kind of scaled up
(04:42):
from it's.
It's pretty amazing to see,because, I mean, people love
hearing who you are, what you'reabout, what are some of the
challenges that you faced withbuilding out this speaking type
of business that you're doingnow?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You know, I would say the biggest challenge that I
face great question, becauseyou're helping me with it.
The biggest challenge that Ihave faced is I have done
everything on my own and I havehelped corporations around the
world empower their employees,but, like my parents, you know,
in many parents out there, weneed to listen to our own advice
(05:19):
.
Right, I have never climbed tothe summit of any significant
peak by myself.
I have never climbed to thesummit of any significant peak
by myself.
And I got two book deals.
I got an Amazon Emmyaward-winning feature film on
Amazon.
I've accomplished all thesecrazy things.
I just gave a TED Talk inPrague.
I received an award withArchbishop Desmond Tutu when he
(05:42):
was alive.
I was just in Cairo for anaward up there.
And the thing is, I've done allthat on my own, but I've hit
that glass ceiling and I haven'treally utilized what I've done
to monetize it.
I've always looked at it fromthe perspective of I'm having a
great time.
I was once, as I mentioned,given 14 days to live and I'm
(06:04):
like, okay, every morning I wakeup today's the best day ever.
How can we make it the best dayever?
Well, we're going to go do this.
We're going to go do that.
Well, now it's time to monetizewhat I've done and actually
start reaching out tocorporations as opposed to
organically having them come in.
Right Ending me, you can havethe best story and the best
website, the best anything inthe world, the best jibbit,
(06:25):
whatever it might be Right.
You can have the best productin the world, but if nobody
knows about it, you're going tobe broke.
So I'm not saying I'm broke,but you're helping me with that
outreach, and we're going to bereaching out to thousands and
thousands of decision makers tohelp empower others.
So now I'm at a position whereI want to give back and help as
much as I can so people can seea different perspective.
(06:48):
So the biggest challenge is nothaving the right people in the
right places, and you're helpingme fill those places.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
So, when you're doing this because now it's like
understanding the scalingprocess, like one of the things
and I know I've met some of thepeople that you've been in
business with as well as, likeyou, you definitely understand
culture and like how culture canaffect how you grow.
What are some things that youlook for in people that you're
(07:17):
you're when you're winning, whenyou're when you're building out
this, this phase of what you'redoing.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Different perspectives, and I know you've
mentioned meeting some people onmy team.
I'm going to mention one byname.
His name is Braxton.
He's my manager and he's one ofthe very few individuals who and
this is going to sound odd butwho has the backbone to tell me
no, right, because I come upwith all these ideas.
(07:46):
Hey, I want to do this, I wantto do that, I take it back.
My mom and dad have always saidyou know, sean, that's a crazy
idea, I don't think you shoulddo it, and I'm always like mom,
dad, I'm still going to do it.
My wife hey, babe, julissa, I'mgoing to go climb Everest again
without supplemental oxygen.
Are you crazy?
I support you, but I don'tthink you should do it.
But anyhow, braxton is thefirst person who has all my
(08:07):
ideas flowing into him like afunnel and he's like no, no,
this is a good one, we'll hangthis one up.
No, no.
So that's probably key Puttingthose people to make the culture
of understanding.
Saying no is not bad, no, itcould be a good thing.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Right, how.
How do you manage, like yousaid, that you have a wife?
You, you know like you have,you know, your, your parents are
around, you have family still,like, how do you manage that
work-life balance as a businessowner, like and and what you do,
cause you're constantlytraveling, you're constantly.
How do you manage that?
(08:46):
I mean, it just soundsincredible what you do.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Interesting question and let me let me rephrase that
too by saying work will alwaysbe there, family may not.
You never know what's going tohappen the next day.
You know, granted, you need toallocate your time in a specific
place, but understand that youcreate your time.
(09:13):
You make time for what'simportant to you.
So, for example, let's sayyou're sitting in your office
and somebody comes in.
You're working, you'rediligently at work, sitting on
the computer, super focused, andyour son comes in and says dad,
let's go throw the ball in thebackyard.
And you're like man, I don'thave time for that.
You know, give me some, give mesome time.
Same scenario he comes in.
(09:35):
You're working diligently hard,you're so focused.
He goes dad, I just stepped ona rusty nail.
Your answer is not going to bethe same, right, right.
So focusing on your personalcore values helps you allocate
where you want to spend most ofyour time, and also
understanding that your summitright, whatever you're going for
(09:57):
, whatever that goal is, is,more often than not, probably a
false summit.
So let's say you want the newAudi, whatever right.
Why do you want that?
It's not because you just wantthe car, because it's a cool
thing to have.
Go a little bit deeper andunderstand oh, it's probably
because I favor and I have avalue of personal growth or it
(10:20):
means I'm successful.
So if you go back to that corevalue of success now, you're
allocating your time in theright places because you're not
going after the thing.
You're not going after the newshiny, sparkly syndrome thing.
You're actually doing it foryour family or for something you
truly value.
So you don't have to allocateyour time.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
You're doing it for those things that you value most
your time, You're doing it forthose things that you value most
.
I think that's a phenomenalunderstanding of where that
comes from, and thank you forsharing that.
One of the things that I likeevery time I ask different
questions to you, it just likeyou come from such a different
mindset.
It's incredible, Cause likeit's like just creating these
(11:02):
opportunities out of nowhere,where most people may not have
even thought of it, but you'relike why not?
So, like what are?
What are some unexpectedopportunities that you've had
that have came from you knowthis decision to travel down
what you're doing now.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Interesting question.
The first thing is knowing Iconstantly push myself out of my
comfort zone, right I, I I'mnot a dancer.
I I have never been a dancer.
I'm a white guy with two leftfeet.
My wife, born and raised inpuerto rico.
She has the latin genes.
Down in puerto they don'tinduce labor, they play salsa,
(11:43):
music and music and the babycomes dancing.
So they don't have to practice,they just know how to do it.
So when I married her, sheconstantly pushes me out of my
comfort zone.
We have a towel in our kitchenthat says the kitchen is not for
cooking, it's for dancing.
I love it.
So she pushes me out of mycomfort zone.
I surround myself with otherpeople where, from the beginning
(12:07):
, from the cancers, I havelearned how to be comfortable in
uncomfortable situations.
Because I'm not going toembarrass myself.
You know, because just throughdefinition to be embarrassed, I
have to be the one who'sembarrassed.
If other people are making funof me, great, then that's them.
They're jealous that I'm notout here making a fool of myself
Putting myself in thosesituations.
(12:29):
Another big thing was I'veclimbed Kilimanjaro now 26 times
.
I take a group up every year,and it's an amazing trip.
It's a life-changing journey.
You learn to conquer themountain within.
I'll just put it that way.
I call it an expedition.
It's an inward journey throughan outward adventure.
(12:51):
I've used the same guides, thesame porters, the same
everything the locals.
Probably about eight years agothey adopted me into the local
tribe called the Chugga tribe,which that is really cool.
That is super cool.
Stepping out of my comfort zoneand doing something most people
(13:11):
would never do has brought meto a situation where, literally,
looking at different cultureshave brought me into a situation
where I am now a member of anAfrican tribe, where I am now a
member of an African tribe,literally a brother.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
That is super cool, gosh man.
I just love hearing everythingthat you do, man, it's it.
It kind of leads into like,like I mean you're, you're kind
of like this unique anomaly ofof like how you operate and
stuff like that.
But like, what challenges doyou come across?
I mean, you know, is it, is itfunding?
(13:49):
Is it like I mean just, it'sincredible the stuff that you do
.
Like how do you, how do youmake these things happen?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I would.
I would honestly say one of thebiggest challenges is funding
you know one of the biggestchallenges is funding and
corporate support.
So if you look at and I'm not abig conspiracy theorist at all
but if you look at and after Isaid that people, people are
thinking yes, just because yousaid that, now you are.
(14:18):
I'm not.
But if you look at what's onthe news and you pay attention
to the commercials, you knowI've.
I've been in the media enoughtimes to understand how this
works.
I have friends who are newsreporters.
They're the ones who are payingfor what you see on TV, right,
right.
So let's hypothetically say thatwhen I was training for Everest
, I approached a car company.
That car company came back andsaid, no, we don't sponsor
(14:39):
things like this.
But six months later they'renow sponsoring a different group
.
Now it's me versus a giantconglomerate, right?
And who do you think is goingto get those spots in the media?
Me or their team?
Definitely not me.
(14:59):
So over the years it's beenthis constant uphill battle
trying to get into the.
Don't want to say any names,but it would fit so well to
(15:31):
other people.
So the biggest issue is justgetting it out there.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Man, and that's what we're going to be helping you
with.
I love hearing the story and Icouldn't.
I just honestly want to helpyou as much as I possibly can,
cause I love what you're doing.
Dude, how do you see thechallenges with, like the social
environment or economicenvironment that's happening,
(15:57):
you know, like, do you?
Do you see those as likechallenges for for getting your
voice out there even more, or doyou see it as opportunities?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yes, you know, cause if you look at, let's say what's
happening in the Gaza Strip.
Let's say what's happening inUkraine.
Let's say what's happening evenin our own country, with sexism
, racism, you know, ageism,whatever, whatever ism you want
to put, whatever word in frontof ism.
I honestly think that it comesdown to lack of education on the
(16:32):
part of the person who's afraidof the other person.
Yeah, right, yeah.
So looking at, let's just usemy friends in Africa, at, let's
just use my friends in Africa,you know, the color of their
skin is very it's like thedarkness of my shirt, you know
super, super dark.
And a lot of people would say,oh they're, you know, they could
(16:53):
never do this, they can't dothat, but they're afraid of that
because they don't understand.
Yeah, you know.
So I think any ism comes from alack of understanding.
And because I've been adoptedinto the Chugga tribe, I've been
adopted into, you know, afamily in Egypt where I love
different cultures, I love thedifferences that people have,
(17:27):
and when you can come togetherand actually discuss those
differences without gettingupset, but just looking at it,
hey, how does life look likefrom the other person's point of
view?
Who just happened to be born inJerusalem?
Or somebody who just happenedto be born in, you know,
jerusalem, or somebody who justhappened to be born in Moshi,
tanzania?
You know how does theirperspective look.
(17:49):
So it goes back to us havingtwo ears and one mouth for a
reason.
If we step back from our ownfears and just try to look at it
and listen to other people, wecould be educated on those
differences.
Besides, if we lived in a worldwhere everybody thought and
looked the same, that would be aboring world to live in.
Oh a hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I love.
I love being able to meetdifferent cultures.
That's, you know, like part ofwhat we do with Synergist, our,
our virtual assistant company.
I love like assimilating towhat they do Like we're you know
we, we understand theirholidays and I, and you know,
like you, work with us and I'mlike they're getting their
independence day off not ourindependence day, like you know,
(18:31):
like they're you know theirfestivals that they get to be a
part of.
I want them to live their lifewhile still enriching ours, like
I, you know, just understandingthose types of things.
And that's what the militarytaught me as well as, like you
know, like for me, when I wentand served overseas at the start
of the war in 2003, it was tome it was less about like
(18:56):
actually protecting our freedoms, but protecting everyone's
freedoms, like understandingthat as a role in a cause, was
much different than just likeit's an American thing.
That's the way that I looked atit.
It's like just being able tohelp others.
So I know this sounds kind ofkind of interest, or I guess
you're going to have to be alittle bit more introspective,
(19:17):
because you're you're kind ofunique.
You're the only one on theplanet to ever do what you've
done.
But if somebody has some sortof unique journey, like you've
been on, but doesn't know how toengage it with the masses, how
would you give them advice tostart that journey?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
them like advice to start that journey.
Start by understanding why youwant to do it.
You know, have a deeper purposebehind it.
Because, like I said, with mostmountains, with most goals,
oftentimes you're chasing thefalse summit.
You get to the top and you lookaround and you're like, oh my
God, I made it.
And then your eyes kind ofcatch the distance that follows
the ridge line and you realize,man, that spot's hot higher than
where we are now.
(20:10):
Right, it's because you werechasing the false summit and you
will never find happiness andyou'll never be satisfied.
Chasing the false summit thereal summit is actually one of
your values.
So understand why you want todo it.
So when you reach that summit,you're appreciating the journey.
So, if you look at it from adeeper perspective, never go
(20:32):
after the thing, go after thething behind the thing.
So when you're first starting,figure out what that is, why you
want to do it, attach emotionto that and then you're going to
continue forward because onceyou understand the true meaning
behind your actions, you'renever going to be stopped.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Man that's, that's phenomenal and and understanding
like enjoy the journey.
You know, like every day, gosh,that stuff is like just
priceless, because if you'rejust focused on an end result,
you're going to always, you know, either be yearning for more or
you're going to not.
Not appreciate theopportunities that you have on
(21:12):
those daily basis is when thestruggle happens, during those
times anyway.
So I really appreciate yousharing that with us, if you can
.
I don't know if you have NDAson some of the stuff that you're
doing or anything like that,but like what's next in your
journey, man?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, what's next?
You know it's funny.
You ask.
I'm contemplating Everest,again without oxygen.
I'm putting.
Yeah, with my one loan, I'mputting together some online
projects.
Yeah, with my one long, I'mputting together some online
projects, projects to helppeople get that, that deeper
understanding, and take peoplethrough this whole class of
(21:50):
things.
It's actually pretty cool, butI was thinking about what we
were talking about earlier aboutenjoying the journey and kind
of my mind works a million miles, a second Right.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Tell that to a guy who is circling Chicago O'Hare
Airport and can't land becauseof bad weather.
Right, right, no, I there's,there's always.
You know different perspectiveson these things and how you
know how you look at things, soI definitely appreciate that.
If you could summarize yourjourney in like one sentence,
how would you do that?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
In one sentence.
Can I take a script?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
of what we've just mentioned, plug it into chat,
gpt and get back to you.
I love that.
I love that man, and you know Ithink to to a certain extent
it's just enjoy the enjoy thejourney is really really kind of
how you live your almost likeyour mantra, almost Cause like
every day I just see what you'redoing and I'm like geez man,
it's like.
But also the thing that I kindof look at is like you can't, um
(22:59):
, compare your insides to otherpeople's outsides.
You can't compare your insightsto other people's outsides,
because, like what you do, I,you know, I'm envious of what
you do, but I also love my life.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, absolutely you know.
Different again thinking makemake the most of every day,
celebrate the small wins, keepmoving forward with passion, but
also take time for yourself.
If you need a time out, take atime out.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Absolutely, man.
I could talk to you all daylong and you know, like it is
just, you're just a phenomenalperson to have in my world.
I appreciate you, my friend.
If people are interested inknowing more about your story or
being a part of a corporateevent, some of your speaking
engagements how can they getahold of you?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, Easiest question you've asked Sean
myfirstandlastnamecomSeanSwanercom.
Sean, my first and last namecomSean Swinnercom.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Perfect, perfect, sean, it is an absolute pleasure
to have you on.
Uh.
Thank you so much for being apart of things today and uh,
best of luck in all of your,your next, uh, uh future
endeavors.
You are an amazing person anduh, I'm just appreciative to
have you in my life, my friend.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I appreciate that as well.
You know, appreciate you andwhat you do, not just for myself
, but for so many others too.
So thank you Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
All right.
Well, take care, sir.
Have a wonderful day.
What's up everybody.
This is Ryan Van Ornum withScaling Up Success Podcast.
I am here today with a goodfriend of mine, sean Swarner,
and he has an amazing story andI can't wait to dive into it.
Sean, how are you, man?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm doing great man.
It's been interesting.
I had a super long overnighttrip yesterday.
I'm here for two days inBoulder, colorado, giving a
presentation, and then I'mtaking a red eye the next day
back to Puerto.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Rico.
Oh, my goodness man, you werethe you.
You don't sleep in the sametime zone in one whole week.
It's incredible, dude.
I, I, I love what you're doing,uh, with everything that you've
built, uh, but uh, it it allstarts from from where you came
from.
So, if possible, let peopleknow a little bit about, let the
(00:49):
audience know a little bitabout how this whole what you've
been building, how did it comefrom?
How did it come to fruition?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Absolutely the whole thing that I've.
You know, everyone has a story,right, everyone has a story.
We all have two ears and onemouth for a reason, because I
think you can learn somethingfrom everyone's story and mine's
just a little bit differentthan most.
I think my story shaped myfuture from when I was 13 years
(01:17):
old I know I've mentioned it toyou before, but just quickly.
I was diagnosed with in myteens with two terminal cancers.
They gave me three months tolive the first time.
They gave me 14 days to livethe second time.
My goodness, medically inducedcoma for a year of my life.
When I was 16, 17 years old, Iwas read my last rights.
(01:37):
The hospital at the time wantedme to write out a living will,
and I have a younger brotherwho's three years younger than
myself, and at that time Iremember laying in the hospital
bed looking at my mom, my dad,like you know what's the
hospital one, isn't my brothergoing to get my hand me downs
anyhow?
Like I didn't really understandwhat the hospital wanted.
But I lost a function of thefunction of my right lung
(02:00):
because of the treatments andthe chances of me surviving both
those cancers was pretty much a0.000000001%.
Oh my gosh.
So that's that's where my storybegins, and fast forward.
10 years later, I became thefirst cancer survivor to climb
Mount Everest, and I've gone onto go do things around the world
(02:23):
that no human in history hasever done before.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
That is unbelievable, like I.
I, every time I hear it givesme goosebumps.
Every time I hear your story,bro, and it's just fascinating
Like your willpower, your willto live, your, uh, just your
mantra now going forward, man, I, I love everything that you're
doing and being able to get yourmessage out to the masses is
(02:49):
just incredible.
Because, I mean not, it reallygoes to like, you know,
nothing's guaranteed and youknow, take, take, take, don't
take for granted what, what youhave available to you, you and,
and just the power of the humanbody itself.
You are the prime example ofthis.
(03:11):
Uh, you know, you were justtelling me, like, a couple of
months ago, just the incrediblelike you did seven marathons and
seven days on seven continents.
What is that?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
you know it's it was I guess it's continuously
pushing the envelope and I Iwant to continue proving to
myself that I'm still alive, I'mcapable of doing these amazing
things, but I'm no differentthan anyone else, you know.
I just think I may have adifferent perspective on my own
(03:45):
abilities than other people.
So after Everest, going back toyour question, the 777, after
Everest, climbed the highestmountain on every continent ski
to the North pole.
South pole didn't find SantaClaus, so if anybody's watching,
sorry, he must have had hiscloaking device on.
Then completed the worldchampionship Ironman triathlon
(04:06):
in Hawaii, done a number ofdifferent things since then, and
I guess it would be about aneight-year time span.
And then recently, as youmentioned, I decided to run
seven marathons in seven days onall seven continents.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I don't even know how you got to the place in seven
days and set and ran, let alonerunning seven marathons, but
like that's just unbelievableman, I mean.
So now, now you've you've builtthis into many different, like
different, types of businessesthat you've kind of scaled up
(04:42):
from it's.
It's pretty amazing to see,because, I mean, people love
hearing who you are, what you'reabout, what are some of the
challenges that you faced withbuilding out this speaking type
of business that you're doingnow?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You know, I would say the biggest challenge that I
face great question, becauseyou're helping me with it.
The biggest challenge that Ihave faced is I have done
everything on my own and I havehelped corporations around the
world empower their employees,but, like my parents, you know,
in many parents out there, weneed to listen to our own advice
(05:19):
.
Right, I have never climbed tothe summit of any significant
peak by myself.
I have never climbed to thesummit of any significant peak
by myself.
And I got two book deals.
I got an Amazon Emmyaward-winning feature film on
Amazon.
I've accomplished all thesecrazy things.
I just gave a TED Talk inPrague.
I received an award withArchbishop Desmond Tutu when he
(05:42):
was alive.
I was just in Cairo for anaward up there.
And the thing is, I've done allthat on my own, but I've hit
that glass ceiling and I haven'treally utilized what I've done
to monetize it.
I've always looked at it fromthe perspective of I'm having a
great time.
I was once, as I mentioned,given 14 days to live and I'm
(06:04):
like, okay, every morning I wakeup today's the best day ever.
How can we make it the best dayever?
Well, we're going to go do this.
We're going to go do that.
Well, now it's time to monetizewhat I've done and actually
start reaching out tocorporations as opposed to
organically having them come in.
Right Ending me, you can havethe best story and the best
website, the best anything inthe world, the best jibbit,
(06:25):
whatever it might be Right.
You can have the best productin the world, but if nobody
knows about it, you're going tobe broke.
So I'm not saying I'm broke,but you're helping me with that
outreach, and we're going to bereaching out to thousands and
thousands of decision makers tohelp empower others.
So now I'm at a position whereI want to give back and help as
much as I can so people can seea different perspective.
(06:48):
So the biggest challenge is nothaving the right people in the
right places, and you're helpingme fill those places.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
So, when you're doing this because now it's like
understanding the scalingprocess, like one of the things
and I know I've met some of thepeople that you've been in
business with as well as, likeyou, you definitely understand
culture and like how culture canaffect how you grow.
What are some things that youlook for in people that you're
(07:17):
you're when you're winning, whenyou're when you're building out
this, this phase of what you'redoing.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Different perspectives, and I know you've
mentioned meeting some people onmy team.
I'm going to mention one byname.
His name is Braxton.
He's my manager and he's one ofthe very few individuals who and
this is going to sound odd butwho has the backbone to tell me
no, right, because I come upwith all these ideas.
(07:46):
Hey, I want to do this, I wantto do that, I take it back.
My mom and dad have always saidyou know, sean, that's a crazy
idea, I don't think you shoulddo it, and I'm always like mom,
dad, I'm still going to do it.
My wife hey, babe, julissa, I'mgoing to go climb Everest again
without supplemental oxygen.
Are you crazy?
I support you, but I don'tthink you should do it.
But anyhow, braxton is thefirst person who has all my
(08:07):
ideas flowing into him like afunnel and he's like no, no,
this is a good one, we'll hangthis one up.
No, no.
So that's probably key Puttingthose people to make the culture
of understanding.
Saying no is not bad, no, itcould be a good thing.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Right, how.
How do you manage, like yousaid, that you have a wife?
You, you know like you have,you know, your, your parents are
around, you have family still,like, how do you manage that
work-life balance as a businessowner, like and and what you do,
cause you're constantlytraveling, you're constantly.
How do you manage that?
(08:46):
I mean, it just soundsincredible what you do.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Interesting question and let me let me rephrase that
too by saying work will alwaysbe there, family may not.
You never know what's going tohappen the next day.
You know, granted, you need toallocate your time in a specific
place, but understand that youcreate your time.
(09:13):
You make time for what'simportant to you.
So, for example, let's sayyou're sitting in your office
and somebody comes in.
You're working, you'rediligently at work, sitting on
the computer, super focused, andyour son comes in and says dad,
let's go throw the ball in thebackyard.
And you're like man, I don'thave time for that.
You know, give me some, give mesome time.
Same scenario he comes in.
(09:35):
You're working diligently hard,you're so focused.
He goes dad, I just stepped ona rusty nail.
Your answer is not going to bethe same, right, right.
So focusing on your personalcore values helps you allocate
where you want to spend most ofyour time, and also
understanding that your summitright, whatever you're going for
(09:57):
, whatever that goal is, is,more often than not, probably a
false summit.
So let's say you want the newAudi, whatever right.
Why do you want that?
It's not because you just wantthe car, because it's a cool
thing to have.
Go a little bit deeper andunderstand oh, it's probably
because I favor and I have avalue of personal growth or it
(10:20):
means I'm successful.
So if you go back to that corevalue of success now, you're
allocating your time in theright places because you're not
going after the thing.
You're not going after the newshiny, sparkly syndrome thing.
You're actually doing it foryour family or for something you
truly value.
So you don't have to allocateyour time.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
You're doing it for those things that you value most
your time, You're doing it forthose things that you value most
.
I think that's a phenomenalunderstanding of where that
comes from, and thank you forsharing that.
One of the things that I likeevery time I ask different
questions to you, it just likeyou come from such a different
mindset.
It's incredible, Cause likeit's like just creating these
(11:02):
opportunities out of nowhere,where most people may not have
even thought of it, but you'relike why not?
So, like what are?
What are some unexpectedopportunities that you've had
that have came from you knowthis decision to travel down
what you're doing now.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Interesting question.
The first thing is knowing Iconstantly push myself out of my
comfort zone, right I, I I'mnot a dancer.
I I have never been a dancer.
I'm a white guy with two leftfeet.
My wife, born and raised inpuerto rico.
She has the latin genes.
Down in puerto they don'tinduce labor, they play salsa,
(11:43):
music and music and the babycomes dancing.
So they don't have to practice,they just know how to do it.
So when I married her, sheconstantly pushes me out of my
comfort zone.
We have a towel in our kitchenthat says the kitchen is not for
cooking, it's for dancing.
I love it.
So she pushes me out of mycomfort zone.
I surround myself with otherpeople where, from the beginning
(12:07):
, from the cancers, I havelearned how to be comfortable in
uncomfortable situations.
Because I'm not going toembarrass myself.
You know, because just throughdefinition to be embarrassed, I
have to be the one who'sembarrassed.
If other people are making funof me, great, then that's them.
They're jealous that I'm notout here making a fool of myself
Putting myself in thosesituations.
(12:29):
Another big thing was I'veclimbed Kilimanjaro now 26 times
.
I take a group up every year,and it's an amazing trip.
It's a life-changing journey.
You learn to conquer themountain within.
I'll just put it that way.
I call it an expedition.
It's an inward journey throughan outward adventure.
(12:51):
I've used the same guides, thesame porters, the same
everything the locals.
Probably about eight years agothey adopted me into the local
tribe called the Chugga tribe,which that is really cool.
That is super cool.
Stepping out of my comfort zoneand doing something most people
(13:11):
would never do has brought meto a situation where, literally,
looking at different cultureshave brought me into a situation
where I am now a member of anAfrican tribe, where I am now a
member of an African tribe,literally a brother.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
That is super cool, gosh man.
I just love hearing everythingthat you do, man, it's it.
It kind of leads into like,like I mean you're, you're kind
of like this unique anomaly ofof like how you operate and
stuff like that.
But like, what challenges doyou come across?
I mean, you know, is it, is itfunding?
(13:49):
Is it like I mean just, it'sincredible the stuff that you do
.
Like how do you, how do youmake these things happen?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I would.
I would honestly say one of thebiggest challenges is funding
you know one of the biggestchallenges is funding and
corporate support.
So if you look at and I'm not abig conspiracy theorist at all
but if you look at and after Isaid that people, people are
thinking yes, just because yousaid that, now you are.
(14:18):
I'm not.
But if you look at what's onthe news and you pay attention
to the commercials, you knowI've.
I've been in the media enoughtimes to understand how this
works.
I have friends who are newsreporters.
They're the ones who are payingfor what you see on TV, right,
right.
So let's hypothetically say thatwhen I was training for Everest
, I approached a car company.
That car company came back andsaid, no, we don't sponsor
(14:39):
things like this.
But six months later they'renow sponsoring a different group
.
Now it's me versus a giantconglomerate, right?
And who do you think is goingto get those spots in the media?
Me or their team?
Definitely not me.
(14:59):
So over the years it's beenthis constant uphill battle
trying to get into the.
Don't want to say any names,but it would fit so well to
(15:31):
other people.
So the biggest issue is justgetting it out there.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Man, and that's what we're going to be helping you
with.
I love hearing the story and Icouldn't.
I just honestly want to helpyou as much as I possibly can,
cause I love what you're doing.
Dude, how do you see thechallenges with, like the social
environment or economicenvironment that's happening,
(15:57):
you know, like, do you?
Do you see those as likechallenges for for getting your
voice out there even more, or doyou see it as opportunities?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yes, you know, cause if you look at, let's say what's
happening in the Gaza Strip.
Let's say what's happening inUkraine.
Let's say what's happening evenin our own country, with sexism
, racism, you know, ageism,whatever, whatever ism you want
to put, whatever word in frontof ism.
I honestly think that it comesdown to lack of education on the
(16:32):
part of the person who's afraidof the other person.
Yeah, right, yeah.
So looking at, let's just usemy friends in Africa, at, let's
just use my friends in Africa,you know, the color of their
skin is very it's like thedarkness of my shirt, you know
super, super dark.
And a lot of people would say,oh they're, you know, they could
(16:53):
never do this, they can't dothat, but they're afraid of that
because they don't understand.
Yeah, you know.
So I think any ism comes from alack of understanding.
And because I've been adoptedinto the Chugga tribe, I've been
adopted into, you know, afamily in Egypt where I love
different cultures, I love thedifferences that people have,
(17:27):
and when you can come togetherand actually discuss those
differences without gettingupset, but just looking at it,
hey, how does life look likefrom the other person's point of
view?
Who just happened to be born inJerusalem?
Or somebody who just happenedto be born in, you know,
jerusalem, or somebody who justhappened to be born in Moshi,
tanzania?
You know how does theirperspective look.
(17:49):
So it goes back to us havingtwo ears and one mouth for a
reason.
If we step back from our ownfears and just try to look at it
and listen to other people, wecould be educated on those
differences.
Besides, if we lived in a worldwhere everybody thought and
looked the same, that would be aboring world to live in.
Oh a hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I love.
I love being able to meetdifferent cultures.
That's, you know, like part ofwhat we do with Synergist, our,
our virtual assistant company.
I love like assimilating towhat they do Like we're you know
we, we understand theirholidays and I, and you know,
like you, work with us and I'mlike they're getting their
independence day off not ourindependence day, like you know,
(18:31):
like they're you know theirfestivals that they get to be a
part of.
I want them to live their lifewhile still enriching ours, like
I, you know, just understandingthose types of things.
And that's what the militarytaught me as well as, like you
know, like for me, when I wentand served overseas at the start
of the war in 2003, it was tome it was less about like
(18:56):
actually protecting our freedoms, but protecting everyone's
freedoms, like understandingthat as a role in a cause, was
much different than just likeit's an American thing.
That's the way that I looked atit.
It's like just being able tohelp others.
So I know this sounds kind ofkind of interest, or I guess
you're going to have to be alittle bit more introspective,
(19:17):
because you're you're kind ofunique.
You're the only one on theplanet to ever do what you've
done.
But if somebody has some sortof unique journey, like you've
been on, but doesn't know how toengage it with the masses, how
would you give them advice tostart that journey?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
them like advice to start that journey.
Start by understanding why youwant to do it.
You know, have a deeper purposebehind it.
Because, like I said, with mostmountains, with most goals,
oftentimes you're chasing thefalse summit.
You get to the top and you lookaround and you're like, oh my
God, I made it.
And then your eyes kind ofcatch the distance that follows
the ridge line and you realize,man, that spot's hot higher than
where we are now.
(20:10):
Right, it's because you werechasing the false summit and you
will never find happiness andyou'll never be satisfied.
Chasing the false summit thereal summit is actually one of
your values.
So understand why you want todo it.
So when you reach that summit,you're appreciating the journey.
So, if you look at it from adeeper perspective, never go
(20:32):
after the thing, go after thething behind the thing.
So when you're first starting,figure out what that is, why you
want to do it, attach emotionto that and then you're going to
continue forward because onceyou understand the true meaning
behind your actions, you'renever going to be stopped.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Man that's, that's phenomenal and and understanding
like enjoy the journey.
You know, like every day, gosh,that stuff is like just
priceless, because if you'rejust focused on an end result,
you're going to always, you know, either be yearning for more or
you're going to not.
Not appreciate theopportunities that you have on
(21:12):
those daily basis is when thestruggle happens, during those
times anyway.
So I really appreciate yousharing that with us, if you can
.
I don't know if you have NDAson some of the stuff that you're
doing or anything like that,but like what's next in your
journey, man?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, what's next?
You know it's funny.
You ask.
I'm contemplating Everest,again without oxygen.
I'm putting.
Yeah, with my one loan, I'mputting together some online
projects.
Yeah, with my one long, I'mputting together some online
projects, projects to helppeople get that, that deeper
understanding, and take peoplethrough this whole class of
(21:50):
things.
It's actually pretty cool, butI was thinking about what we
were talking about earlier aboutenjoying the journey and kind
of my mind works a million miles, a second Right.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Tell that to a guy who is circling Chicago O'Hare
Airport and can't land becauseof bad weather.
Right, right, no, I there's,there's always.
You know different perspectiveson these things and how you
know how you look at things, soI definitely appreciate that.
If you could summarize yourjourney in like one sentence,
how would you do that?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
In one sentence.
Can I take a script?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
of what we've just mentioned, plug it into chat,
gpt and get back to you.
I love that.
I love that man, and you know Ithink to to a certain extent
it's just enjoy the enjoy thejourney is really really kind of
how you live your almost likeyour mantra, almost Cause like
every day I just see what you'redoing and I'm like geez man,
it's like.
But also the thing that I kindof look at is like you can't, um
(22:59):
, compare your insides to otherpeople's outsides.
You can't compare your insightsto other people's outsides,
because, like what you do, I,you know, I'm envious of what
you do, but I also love my life.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, absolutely you know.
Different again thinking makemake the most of every day,
celebrate the small wins, keepmoving forward with passion, but
also take time for yourself.
If you need a time out, take atime out.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Absolutely, man.
I could talk to you all daylong and you know, like it is
just, you're just a phenomenalperson to have in my world.
I appreciate you, my friend.
If people are interested inknowing more about your story or
being a part of a corporateevent, some of your speaking
engagements how can they getahold of you?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, Easiest question you've asked Sean
myfirstandlastnamecomSeanSwanercom.
Sean, my first and last namecomSean Swinnercom.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Perfect, perfect, sean, it is an absolute pleasure
to have you on.
Uh.
Thank you so much for being apart of things today and uh,
best of luck in all of your,your next, uh, uh future
endeavors.
You are an amazing person anduh, I'm just appreciative to
have you in my life, my friend.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I appreciate that as well.
You know, appreciate you andwhat you do, not just for myself
, but for so many others too.
So thank you Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
All right.
Well, take care, sir.
Have a wonderful day.
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