Adèle McLay Successful Entrepreneurs' Stories : Meet Shannon Lea Reynolds

Shannon Lea Reynolds
Consultant, Coach, Speaker (aka The Well Heeled Coach)

Shannon grew up within an entrepreneurial family, so began working from the age of five years in her grandmother’s restaurant, and at 12 years old, she was doing the accounting and book keeping for various family businesses. After leaving school, Shannon moved into banking, and quickly moved up the levels to become the youngest officer they had in the bank. Shannon studied full-time at night while working full-time, and with this thirst for knowledge found herself quickly getting bored in the bank jobs she undertook. She would take on new roles, write the ‘how to’ manuals, and then move to the next role. During her maternity leave from the bank, Shannon worked part-time as an on-call officer, covering for management staff across the bank’s state network. Through that exposure, Shannon’s confidence and experience continued to develop such that after 20 years in banking she left to establish her own business. Shannon’s business quickly moved from book keeping to working with businesses that were in transition or financial difficulty, where she reconstructed their financial statements. By doing that type of work, Shannon ‘fell’ into management consulting.

One of the biggest challenges Shannon faced was the decision to leave banking after 20 years; it was a comfortable career and the staff were like her extended family. After much deliberation, she left to set up a business where she found that the telephone did not ring and she did not have a pay cheque coming in each month. As an analytical, introverted personality type, Shannon found the idea of selling herself and her skill set to potential clients very intimidating. To manage and bypass this fear of sales, she relied heavily on her extensive network, developed during her long banking career. Shannon focused on re-establishing her credentials with the CPAs and banking lenders, and in return they referred business to her. As well, Shannon learnt the benefits of networking and using networks to build business relationships. Shannon now laughs at how she initially went six weeks without receiving a telephone call for business, then after a lot of networking, she received nine business opportunity telephone calls in one day! “Whew”, she said!!

Since those early entrepreneurial days, Shannon’s business has significantly grown and evolved. She is an advocate of lifelong learning, and continuously has coaches and mentors supporting her business success. When seeking a mentor, Shannon looks for someone who is in a field that she is in, with the same philosophy, but with more experience so she can learn from them. When seeking a business coach, Shannon looks for someone who is going to push her in areas she is not comfortable in, so that she is stretched to move beyond her own mental barriers, therefore achieving at a new level.

To be successful in business, Shannon believes:

1) You should not be afraid of failure. Very often people are so afraid that they over-analyse and paralyse themselves into inaction, such that nothing is accomplished. Shannon believes that failure is a valuable tool.

2) Make sure you have focus. Set goals and go for them but be clear on what the big picture for your business is, as it is easy to get distracted by new ideas. When a new idea arises, create and implement action steps in your business plan, even if they are small ones, so that you have forward momentum.

3) Talk about your goals so that others know what you want to achieve and can support you – whether those people be employees, family, coaches and mentors, or your network of business contacts and friends – put it out there. They will support you and hold you to account when you are checking in with them.

Adèle’s Note:
I had the pleasure of interviewing Shannon Lea Reynolds for my book: BIG Profits – 12 Strategies To Substantially Grow YOUR Business Profits, in which Shannon features.

I really enjoyed interviewing Shannon. As it turns out we have similar backgrounds; trained accountants and former bankers turned consultants/business coaches. Given her personality type, perhaps one might think that Shannon is not a ‘natural’ entrepreneur, as they are often represented as highly outgoing/extroverted types. Shannon’s success has put paid to that stereotype! By using her networks, Shannon has built a tremendously successful consulting practice, and has substantial business goals in place going forward. In particular, Shannon wants to support more women in becoming successful entrepreneurs, and with that success to create a Foundation where her successful women clients mentor and support young women in high schools and colleges to feel confident, understand their worth, and consider entrepreneurialism as a fantastic career option. A wonderful community based add-on to her business; a real example of ‘giving back’.

You can listen to the original Interview with Shannon Lea Reynolds here:

To connect with Shannon Lea Reynolds:
W: www.shannonleareynolds.com

Adèle hosts an interview series entitled:

• Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews…..
• Business Success Tips : Adèle McLay Interviews …..

…where she interviews successful entrepreneurs from around the world, asking them to share their entrepreneurial stories, and other business ‘subject matter experts’ who share business success tips. If you would like to be part of Adèle’s success community and receive the interviews and much more directly to your inbox, please click here.

Listen to more Successful Entrepreneurs and be inspired in the Successful Entrepreneurs Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews….. YouTube and Podcast series:

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Seven Secrets of Super Successful Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship vs The Meaning of Life
Mega Entrepreneur Defined!
Supercharge Your Profitable Business!
Leadership Qualities
What Makes Great Entrepreneurial Leaders?
All Work + Little Play = Boring!
Entrepreneurial Success without Fulfilment: Who Wants That?
Millionaire Mindset
NZ Entrepreneurship Success

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