Why I Fail at Failure

It was 2008 when this picture was taken.  I was at the top of my game being an entrepreneur and growing a number of companies that I had started from scratch and others with my then partner Kansas City Chiefs WR Eddie Kennison 13 yr NFL vet.  I owned a branch of Eagle Nationwide Mortgage Company employing 10 full time loan officers. Kennison & Brown Real Estate "The Official Real Estate Company of The KC Chiefs" with 25 licensed agents and 2 office locations. Above & Beyond Title Company with 3 title agents in 2 locations and a joint venture with a national company. Pious Appraisals with 2 appraisers. Pious Pest Elimination employing 1. I was also an investor in 810 Zone located in the prestigious Country Club Plaza in KCMO.  Needless to say I was very busy daily but with all of the relationships that I had formed I decided to take things a step further.  I had designed a company called Real Estate All Stars, it was designed to become a one stop shop for customers nationwide and designed to give professional athletes the education, development, and implementation needed to not just be an investor in a company but an active owner. This would allow the professional athlete to start preparing for life after the game.

We attended the PNE (Players Networking Event) put on by now friend Guy Troupe owner of Troupe 21 during the Super Bowl in Arizona 2008. I was so excited to finally be in a position to get ready to launch Real Estate All Stars. All of the risk taking was finally paying off and things were getting ready to go to a new level.  I wasn't aware that the next level would be a downward spiral in the economy putting myself in a situation which would lead to not ever getting Real Estate All Stars off of the ground, but also lead to shutting down all of the other companies.  Like so many others that were hit hard during that time it left a large void in our lives and I found myself searching for new ways to provide for my family. One decision was to relocate to Arizona to get a fresh start. Well that decision was not the greatest due to the housing market in Arizona being one of the hardest hit areas in the nation. and to top it off my father Herman Brown Jr. passed away 2 months into our move to Arizona and did not have life insurance to help maintain my mothers way of life.  

This was one of the most difficult times of my life. I had gone from a successful business owner to working at a cemetery during the day and pest company at night because no one wanted to hire anyone who worked in real estate or lending. Now I am not knocking anyone who works at a cemetery or for a pest company. I am just stating the fact that I worked my way up to owning these companies and now I am working two jobs  just to make ends meet and I gave a whole new meaning to JOB (Just Over Broke) because that's exactly what we were, but I had my faith, and family and we were all healthy that became enough as I ask for guidance from my Lord and savior. The financial stress from the companies took a personal toll on me as well leading me to a personal bankruptcy.  Now the reason I titled this I Fail at Failure is after loosing and closing down all of my companies that provided me a great living. Working two jobs for an income in a year that I was use to making in a month. To loosing the wisest man and the first man that I ever loved my father Herman Brown Jr. To receiving a call one day from Ford Motor Credit Company stating that they are outside and there to pick up our vehicles and my children were home. Trying my best to keep what was happening from them I asked Ford if I could meet them at a local grocery store up the street and we would bring the vehicles to them at that time and they said yes. So my wife and I drove our vehicles to the local grocery store and placed the keys under the mat.

With all of the praying we were doing and needing a break through during this difficult time. I found myself at the lowest point I had ever been in my life. My wife and I were walking back home after the repossession of our vehicles and as a man I had to look my lovely wife in her eyes and say everything will be OK.  This was a true test of faith and will and there is a lot more to the story but for the sake of not writing a short novel I will stop there. The reason I Fail at Failure is because I always believed in my Why. My why was to be someone my family could be proud of. My why was to change a trend in my families life. My why was to leave a legacy and start something that had never been done before in my immediate family. My why was if I was able to get up, get out, then I had to get some. My why was to be who God intended me to be and that was a leader someone who could use their test as true testimonies to help others going through storms in their lives. My why is to tell you that no matter what you are going through or what you have been through you only lose when you give up. Don't worry about what others say or what others think, and when you cry don't cry to give up, cry to keep going like Eric Thomas says.

I will close with this I am a sales manager in the financial services industry. This business is not for everyone because it takes time to build and it is not a popular topic that people want to discuss until they have a life changing event. Well out of everything that happened the thing that's led me to what I do today was the passing of my father. That is the motivation behind what I do and I do my job very well because I prepare my clients, friends, and family for things unseen like the passing of a loved one. I talk to and will continue to talk to everyone I can about the importance of leaving a legacy. As a sales manager I recruit, educate and develop new agents to have a passion for helping people. When they are having second thoughts because things are tough I have been in their shoes and know how to lead them out. Words of wisdom don't follow anyone who has never been where you are or where you want to go. My success came from a $13,000 personal loan that I grew to multi-millions in sales only to loose everything to things I couldn't control. What I can control is how I just will not give up even though I have been beat up, stepped on, talked about, judged, lied too and lied on I just keep keeping on. Les Brown says "if you are going through difficult times and you find yourself falling be sure to land on your back because if you can look up you can get up"!!! Be sure to Fail at being a Failure. I hope this helps one person.

Shawn T Brown