A Journey from Setbacks to Success | Ep #113

A Journey from Setbacks to Success | Ep #113

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom in life or your career? Sometimes this is the wake up call you need in order to get up and start moving in the right direction.  On Episode #113 of the Second Act Success Career podcast,  host and career transition coach Shannon Russell chats with life coach Scott Ferguson. Scott explains how a person can not truly find happiness and success until he or she serves others.   He shares his personal experience with life and career struggles and setbacks, and how he uses this experience in his work today with his clients and on his Time To Shine Today Podcast.

Key Highlights:

1. Overcoming Setbacks:
   • Scott shares his incredible journey from being an orphan in the Philippines to serving in the military and later thriving in the real estate business.
   • Learn how Scott faced challenges, including a significant loss during the real estate market crash, and emerged stronger.
2. The Power of Serving Others:
   • Discover Scott's philosophy on happiness and success through serving others.
   • Understand the concept of overlapping happiness and finding joy in giving.
3. Launching "Time to Shine Today":
   • Explore the origins of Scott's podcast and how it started as a personal quest to meet inspiring people and share their stories.
4. Resilience and Harmony:
   • Get a sneak peek into Scott's upcoming book, "Harmonic Hustle," where he emphasizes the importance of harmony over balance.
   • Understand the role of resilience in Scott's life and coaching philosophy.

SHOW NOTES:
https://secondactsuccess.co/113

Connect with Scott Ferguson:
Website - https://timetoshinetoday.com/
Podcast - https://timetoshinetoday.com/podcast/
Shannon on Scott's Podcast Time To Shine Today - https://timetoshinetoday.com/podcast/shan

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https://secondactsuccess.co/careerchange

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Transcript

Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - A Journey from Setbacks to Success with Scott Ferguson
Episode - #113
Host: Shannon Russell
Guest: Scott Ferguson
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)


[00:00:00] Scott Ferguson: the way that you can become happy is to give more, all my clients that are stuck. I'm like, would you give to today, you know, stop by the homeless shelter, stop by doing something and do something that's going to make somebody else happy. Be open to the reciprocation, no matter what, if you do something nice for somebody.

You feel good. I don't care if it's you open a door for somebody, realize that everything's finite, everything ends just overlap that happiness and find something to be happy about on a consistent basis, because it's very easy. If you're searching for it 

[00:00:29] Shannon Russell: Hey you, are you feeling stuck? Desperate for a career change or thinking of starting a business but you're just not sure how to make your first move? I'm television producer turned career coach Shannon Russell and this is the Second Act Success Career Podcast. This is where you will not only get the career advice you've been craving but you'll get tips from career and business experts along with inspiration from others who have made a career transition to find second act success.

Let's get started.[00:01:00] 



[00:01:03] Shannon Russell: Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? Have you ever been smacked in the face with bad luck? 

Sometimes this is what you need to have happen in order to get up and move towards where you're supposed to be in life. ON this episode of the podcast, I sit down with Scott Ferguson and we discuss how you can't truly find happiness and success until you serve others. Scott was an orphan. He had an unstable family life served in the military, went to college at the age of 25 and then hit it big in real estate. 

It was when the market plummeted that he took a look in the mirror and wanted to make a change. Scott is now a life coach and host of the time to shine today, podcast where he helps others level up in life. 

Let's dive into my chat with my friend, Scott, Fergie Ferguson.



[00:01:54] Shannon Russell: All right. I'm here with scott ferguson my buddy scott. How are you? 

I'm, great. How are you [00:02:00] doing miss shannon's blessed to be here and thank you so much for having me I believe I had you on a episode 353 Which you got the mic 

I loved being on your podcast. I'm going to put a link to when I was on yours in the show notes and yeah, we just, we really hit it off. You have such a story, that I don't even know where to start with you, I guess.

Tell me, you know, a little about your childhood and growing up and kind of what you wanted to do that's like a huge kind of can of worms. Actually, my story was kind of sought after by some time talk shows and stuff like that. When I was born in the Philippines in 1972, so I'm 51 years old.

[00:02:38] Scott Ferguson: I was a bastard child. My father was an American GI. My mom was Filipino. And at that time they were taking. Male mixed breeds bastard children away from their mothers at birth because you know, I'm six one. I'm 240 pretty well Put together and they were worried that we're going to just, you know, half American members just going to start taking over the Philippine islands.

[00:03:00] So they're literally taking the kids and shipping them to Spain. Cause Spain controls the Philippine islands. That's how it was back then. It's not like it is now, but so I had an air force couple that. Wanted to adopt a third child they had two of their own they wanted to adopt so they started the process And the lady that was going to adopt me her father got sick in california So they got like a temporary passport for me to travel with them to cali her father died.

She goes schizophrenic The father's like I can't raise a third child You know, I don't think he was really ever down with adopting as much as the mom was. And so I ended up in an orphanage and kind of did my time there. And I got adopted by my family, who's my family now. but they were alcoholics.

My dad, my best friend in the world, he was a Vietnam vet. Heavy drinker. My mom was a heavy drinker. So when they adopted me, they couldn't raise me. So I was passed around from family. So I had no identity fell, abandoned all that other jazz. So, you know, went to school and luckily I had cousins and [00:04:00] friends that were really into sports and athletes.

And I kind of went down that route and I got offers from colleges, 1. 8 grade point average. Right. So my dad's like, listen, dude, you're not staying at the house without paying. Rent. So literally I went to talk to a recruiter and 15 days later I was in bootcamp and, I did seven years in the Navy, I got 30 some countries I did six tours, Persian, Gulf War, Somalia, Afghanistan, whatnot.

I built a family there. but you know, I got out and it was like, oh, right back to where I was. And so that's kind of like a second act. Right. So I'm like, okay, so I get out. my dad worked on the line at General Motors, great guy, love him.

He quit drinking, but there was never any prosperity mindset in the family. So I'm like, I'm just going to make money. So basically got into the real estate business and printed money. And, but I was that douche bag that would show up at family. And the reunions and 100, 000 car, just everyone's like, Oh, great.

Here's Scott. I'm a God fearing man, Christian dude. and, 2009 breaks on you, dude, [00:05:00] and we're going to crash the market. And, you know, I did not listen to my advisors and lost pretty much everything. And started reading The Traveler's Gift by Andy Andrews the whole premise is that you take a hundred percent responsibility for your stuff. and that you stay happy even in times of adversity and continue to gain wisdom.

Basically, he goes back in time and. All these people give them lessons. That's when I launched Time To Shine Today. My mom was my first subscriber in 2010 and we're at 170, 000 plus subscribers now 

So that's my kind of childhood up to now. I know you can only asked about childhood, but it's kind of broken into three segments in 51 years.that's just an incredible story, Scott. I love that kind of serving is like the thread that kind of goes through everything if you think about it, right?

You served in the military, you serve your clients now, your listeners now, it's just incredible to see how much you're giving back and how much you have given back kind of all throughout your life.[00:06:00] it's kind of like the law of value is giving more than what you kind of get back, but still being open to reciprocation, you know, if you, you have a plant behind you, right.

And you're breathing in what? Oxygen, you breathe that carbon dioxide. The plant has no choice, but to accept the carbon dioxide and pull out, put out action, oxygen, right? So that's how we have human beings have to be. I mean, give, give, give till it hurts so good, but. Be open to that reciprocation. It doesn't monetary form.

It could be my goddaughter calling me to chat and not hit me up. So it's like, it can come in everything, just be open to it, you know, and also have responsibility for everything. Right. You know, like that's the biggest thing with my coaching clients. A lot of them come to me and they're not taking responsibility.

And to me, responsibility is the ability to respond, right? So to anything that you are going through, it's rooted in the word. If you can respond and not react. you can really get to where you need to be. So let's go back then. So you were in the military, you [00:07:00] came out and you, that was your family.

You said you built a family while you were abroad. And then, so how did you get, into real estate from that point? What drove you to that point? was it the money? Was it knowing that you can, grow some wealth through that? That's an awesome question. I was a 25 year old freshman. At

Western Michigan University, right? You know, got out in 1997, and, you know, here I am, I'm a 25 year old, and so I rushed to fraternity, because I'm like, I'm gonna do everything in life. I'm 25 years old, and my nickname was Pops and stuff. Older than everybody by like seven years, six, four, five, seven years.

And, they burned down the house. I wasn't there. I was actually working at Olive Garden one day at, Hey, you know, your family burned down the house, you know, the fraternity house. So

I was like, okay, so the only an alumni and he saw me, he's like, Hey, you're older. Why don't you help me find another house for you guys? And so I helped him. I'm like, dude, this is it, [00:08:00] man. This is awesome. And I like three semesters. It was never for me because much structure from the military that going to school just, literally I dropped out of school and help this guy.

acquire proper boxes on houses, put signs in yards and stuff like that. Again, that douchebag that had big billboards on the side of the expressway with my arms folded power poses. I mean, it led me to be like the.

Realtor for the Detroit Lions, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings, the Pistons, so I was that guy and did a lot of business and stuff and I was kind of preyed on other people's misfortunes Oh, you're losing your house so I can help you. I buy their house for super cheap person I was supposed to be serving I was serving to my own no matter what you have a karmic debt to pay and I got checked and yeah, that's what happened so then you're at this kind of low point and what makes you decide to launch Time To Shine Today?

I stayed in the real estate business during that time. I'm even in it to this [00:09:00] day.real estate to me is kind of like your High school girlfriend, right?

Where, oh, she's your first love, your first,everything, right? But I'm not in with her anymore, but we'll always be that, you know, something that I'm close to something that I'm good at. And so with that being said, that's where kind of time to shine today kind of started to come into focus with regards to hey, there's people out there that need more than just finding a Plumber finding something like that, finding, some woman had like, you know, ovarian cyst, right? Wanted holistic stuff to go.

I looked so hard founder, something, and it worked. And I was like, man, I'm giving, but this lady started referring people without, you know, expecting anything,

so, yeah, that's where it came in. Time to Shine Today really just started as digital products sent to people that I personally use to help me level up. And started building a list off of that and, you know, a lot of people are big on social and I love [00:10:00] the people that are, but like, you know, Instagram, Facebook, they can turn you off tomorrow, today, where my email list, unless I spam them, they can never turn me off, you know, and they're expecting to hear from them.

So that's where it really kind of came down to. dO you feel like that you changed your mindset? You started motivating yourself to be maybe quote unquote, this better person, this better version of yourself. And you wanted to pay that back to others by really helping them level up, as you say, with the podcast and with just bringing more motivation to people.

Absolutely, man. and, you know, that's where people kind of lose the, they might have discipline, they, they might have, hard work ethic and stuff like that, but the motivation can wait, and motivation like Zig Ziglar used to say is like bathing. You have to do it every day.

That's the, where I wake up every day with an enthusiasm to change the, then, you know, you can ask my fiance, you can ask anybody that's just how I am. I'm up, I'm ready to rock, you know, I'm, I'm getting mine every [00:11:00] day. You know, I've earned, I get, but I get mine every day.

It's like, what can I give to keep up with what I'm getting? At this point where I've gotten to,, we just believe that everybody knows what they want. They just don't know how to talk themselves into it. Right. And you being a consultant in,people moving into the second act, they know. they don't know how to do it or how to talk themselves into it And there's it's gonna be like this look at me, you know, I was in the hollywood world, you know I'm crushing it on this side. It's like you can really do that. So I Believe that any problem what he has resides in them, but so is the answer so i'm not a consultant I'm not going to tell you to do something because you could be like well fergie I tried that and it's junk, you know, but if you come up with the idea Right?

Then you're going to see it through a heck of a lot more. So that's where I'm gifted with curiosity. It's my superpower. And, and I'm able to get people to, you rock and roll and take that action. Right. Cause so many times people feel stuck and they just need that person to help [00:12:00] motivate them.

So talk to me about your clients then and really what you do with your, one on one clients? Tell me about your coaching yeah. Most of my stuff is one to one. I do have, high schools, here in, South Florida, where I'm building masterminds, you know, because, you know, five years from now, I want at least, three or four of the people in that mastermind to come back and get back.

I do a lot of the pro bono work. I do pro bono work at the Palm Beach County Jail. The short timers, they allow me to come in there and coach them for their vision when they're getting released, you know, in a short time, you know, so I do, that's the only time I really do group, but most of my stuff's one to one.

I'm blessed to have professional athletes, actors, actresses. I'm blessed to know that I'm not there to tell them what to do. I'm there to really, motivate them to do to live with options, not obligations.

Right? So that's my thing is like, listen, there's options out there. Let's, let's get after them do that. The coaching is, really one to one. I always do an hour of power with them free, started to set a baseline. And then from there, you know, if it's a [00:13:00] fit. Great. If not, I've interviewed 400 plus coaches that I can set them with and refer them to.

So I'm not able to not give, you know what I'm saying? If I say, sorry, dude, I'm not the right guy. I wouldn't feel good about walking away from it, but I'm like, Hey, you know what? You're starting another career. Hey, I got Shannon here that, that I think that would be a great fit for you. So that's the thing is I've set up my podcast, set up everything to serve masses, but I still on a very micro influencing scale where I'm not like, boom, look at me.

I'm like, okay, I'm zoned in. I'm blessed to have the amount of subscribers I have, but at the same time, it's not giant. It's I'm able to still be intimate with them. And I love that. And I love that we have kind of that Hollywood connection in a sense of like I used to work with them.

You're working with them one on one. Why do you think that some celebrities, athletes that are on this grandiose level and scale still need that motivation? do you find something that's common in a lot of your more high prestigious [00:14:00] clients, if you will, why are they all looking for a little extra leveling up power from Fergie?

Because all those people, they want to Plant trees that they're never going to sit in the shade of right and there's not that many of them I mean you got the guys out there like Me and like, you know, and i'm blessed to coach one of them, too they want that and that's one of the biggest.

I guess compliments that I get It's like you're letting me make a difference in the long term, they want to be able to have their name live on in a sense, and to be remembered.

And it, you can look at it as an ego, but I don't, I'm like, you are talented , on huge screens in front of all of us. they have staying power, that they leave a legacy for those people. Now I have housewives that I coach, and they want to be a legacy to their children.

They want to be a legacy to their family. They want to be the only woman that her husband looks at. You know, so it's this kind of still the same thing is they [00:15:00] want to leave something behind that's better and greater than what they're giving you right now. Wow. We all, no matter what level we're on, we.

All need that push. We all need that person to go to and I always say I'm a coach. I have a coach, everyone has someone to go to, right? Oh, yeah. it's just that we're all lifelong learners and learning from someone else 

and we all have so much. Great information and experience in our past to share to other people who might not have that and, and it's paying it back like you've said.

Oh, yeah. How do you think, Scott, that everything you've been through, has led you up to today? Like, what have you taken from the military, from your family life when you were younger, just all of these different aspects, kind of made you what you are today with what you're doing?

I believe that knowing that everything is finite, you know, we're all gonna die, so everything's finite and I speak on stage and one of my most requested speeches is, [00:16:00] overlapping your happiness.

Right. So if you and your hubby were to come to South, be like, Oh man, we're going, it's December. It's cold here. We're going to visit Fergie. Awesome. Come down here. You're here for a week. We have a blast. I give you the best seafood. You guys are exploring South Florida, but guess what? That week ends.

You go home to the cold, right? So you have got to. Figure out ways and that's what my clients do and they come up with it to overlap their happiness So doing stuff every day That makes them enthusiastic that makes them happy and the way that you can become happy is to give more, all my clients that are stuck. I'm like, would you give to today, you know, stop by the homeless shelter, stop by doing something and do something that's going to make somebody else happy. Be open to the reciprocation, no matter what, if you do something nice for somebody.

You feel good. I don't care if it's you open a door for somebody, realize that everything's finite, everything ends just overlap that happiness and find something to be happy about on a [00:17:00] consistent basis, because it's very easy. If you're searching for it if you're a blaming person, which a lot of my clients when I first meet them are But like where you place the blame is where the power goes, right?

So it's like, you know, you want them to keep their power and keep the blame on themselves and the way you can do that is just think of things, you know, that can make you happy. It's not hard once you get into that exercise. Like my clients, there's a process and I've been in martial arts since I was young.

So I put them in belt rankings, if you will be, you know what I'm saying? As I'm coaching them. People like, Oh, you're just trying to get more money out of them. No, I'm not. Because I've had people go from white to black belt in a month. Like they get it, they hop on, they're all in and they just come back to me for refreshers.

But there's other people that have never been coached. They don't know what it's about. And I'm able to help them in through their levels and get them to the point where, you know, no one's happy all the time, but you can make the choice to be happy. I find the most. Happiness comes is when I'm serving.[00:18:00] 

And you're just helping them figure it out too. I think some people will go to a coach and just expect them to fix it for them. And it's not what we do. We're there to, to help give you the ways to make your life better or to get to your end goal, but we can't do it for you.

So you have to is.

Hard at first messy in the middle it's gorgeous at the end, right? You know, it's hard dude to get started and then it gets really messy. 

You know, that's just what I'm just blessed to be able to be here for. What's your favorite thing? Is it your podcast? Is it working one on one? Is it being on the stage speaking? Or writing your book. We've got to talk about your book. What is your favorite way to spend the day?

I said it before, but living with

options and not obligations. like this right here is a highlight of my day. This isn't work. 

The best part is the serving. I love my podcast. My podcast started as a selfish endeavor, I want to meet people like you which will help level up my coaching,[00:19:00] 

So I got some. Big, big names, you know, that will be coming on. But those aren't the people that I learned the most from. I learned the most from people like you and learn those from other people. And it just allows me to give back if it aligns, right.

Some people they come on, they're not right for sending business, but they still have a right to get their platform out there and noticed by people. And I love, love being able to give them a small little micro platform for me. You know, they're going to get at least 15, 000 people to listen to them, you know, and hear their story.

So yeah, I'd say it feels really good. Well, you're just doing so many great things. 

Name one thing that these different chapters in your life have taught you.

I guess the answer is to be resilient.

and serve. Would you re a leap into ch friend?

If it serves them is one piece of advice th to someone who's starting today? Hire a coach, [00:20:00] thank 

coach, get the right

pe Don't do it alone. Yep. S act look like for you Ferg

I'll never plateau, but I will be on a bigger scale, which I'm not comfortable with being Bigger scale yet, but I've hired the people to make sure that I am more comfortable because it's inevitable. You know, I've been getting speaking and engagement offers and stuff like that, that I've turned down. I don't feel I'm ready for yet.

Like I'm more of kind of, I joke around and say I'm a fluffer speaker. but people want me to start keynoting big events and I'm not ready for that. It's going to happen, but I have to build the right team for that to happen. Oh, I mean, it can happen tomorrow if you are ready for it. Honestly, you're fantastic.

let's talk about your book as the next act too, though. You've got a book coming out.

Yeah. Thanks for bringing [00:21:00] that up. It's the name of it is the working name is Harmonic Hustle. I think balance is zero and I think harmony is what you have to have. I believe that even with my coaching clients, they're like, I want balance. I'm like, balance is junk.

It's zero. You want harmony so basically the book is about a fable or a parable of a real estate.

An agent that loses a huge deal wants to quit the business And he goes to his smart ass of millennial broker to quit and the millennial brokers whole demeanor changes like listen If my dad said if I ever wanted to quit the business to talk to these five people Five people are just kind of people that i've met through my journey that poured the lessons into me You know, they're the shoulders of giants that I stand upon right now and basically Lessons that are learned from that and to be able to pay it forward.

There's a lot that goes into it, so it's going to be, going to be fabulous because it's kind of a diary of my life, played out through, you know, a fable.

but the stories that I've learned is basically the, the stuff that I coach from. So [00:22:00] it's going to be a lot of fun to get that out there and have something that actually give out at speaking engagements. Because right now, like people will reach out to me like, Hey, Fergie, we can pick three grand to rock the stage.

But Hey, if you have a product budget, we'll give you a 1, 500 more. I'm like, really? You know, like for books and I'm like, crap, I don't have anything. So that'll be out there. but just to have something that, that it will be evergreen, whether one person reads it or a million people reads it's pretty cool.

On that. And I think that's going to be just so entertaining and just an incredible accomplishment. so where can my audience connect with you? Where are all the places to find you, listen to you, all the things? Yeah, everything's at Time To Shine Today.

Our direct cell is 561-440-3830 I have give a shout out, for our suicide life prevention hotline at 888 577 2232.

you know, if you're having any issues, you know, please reach out to them. It's huge for me. I lost four buddies, [00:23:00] that I served with that have taken their lives. And also my little brother took his life as well. So, yeah, like that's how they can reach us. 

Absolutely. I'm going to put that all in the show notes as well. Cause that's such an important cause. if anyone out there that doesn't align with secondhand success coaching looking for a different type of coaching, mindset, something like that, then we do have a free hour power that we offer as well.

Absolutely. And I'll link to that too. We both love to help and serve, but in different ways. So happy to send anyone your way. I've just loved getting to share your story. It really is so incredible.

So thank you. and if there's anything I can do for you, be of service, you please let me know. Absolutely. 



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