What Entrepreneur Shane Mitchell Taught Me About Perseverance

When most people imagine the idea of an established Entrepreneur they think of people like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, who had their career already mapped out by knowing what they wanted to do. The field of Entrepreneurship oftentimes gives off this false sense of hidden knowledge, health, stability, and confidence. It paints a false picture that being perfectly mentally stable and physically healthy is necessary in order to start your own company or business. Often times, that is not how an Entrepreneur or Business starts. Shane Mitchell is living proof of that.

Shane Mitchell started his brand by randomly partnering with a friend of his. Despite feeling totally unprepared, he took the first few steps to found his three social media lifestyle companies Desire, Travl, and Travel. Just as his companies started to take off, Shane faced the hardest moment of his life.

In October of 2018, Shane was hit with a random virus that sent his body into heart failure. His official diagnosis was Idiopathic Viral Cardiomyopathy. January 19th, 2019, he ended up getting an emergency heart transplant after humorously closing a business deal minutes before surgery. For the following 6 months, he lived in a small hospital room. Despite his urge to keep going, he had to put his businesses on hold while the doctors told him he couldn’t travel internationally for TRAVL until January 2020. After a long and tough recovery, Shane moved past the virus and began working again just recently.

Currently, Shane has garnered a social media following of over 1.3 Million active users across his 3 different and unique pages. His unique approach to advertising has attracted many different clients including Marriot International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Cooperation, Four Seasons, and Brookfield Asset Management LLC. He is also working on a project with one of hip hop’s biggest stars Akon. Although he has almost fully recovered, Shane wants to use his bounce back as a testimony. He says;

“Life will give you obstacles, but for an entrepreneur you must overcome anything it throws at you.”

-Shane Mitchell

And that is exactly what Shane Mitchell has taught me. As an entrepreneur, there are a plethora of things that could go wrong. But just as Shane said, you can truly overcome anything you put your mind to. Most entrepreneurs didn’t have an easy road getting to where they are today. From the very beginning, Shane’s odds were stacked against him. He is a living example of a surprise entrepreneur who has overcome tremendous obstacles. Although there is beauty in the struggle, all that matters is the final destination.

As the great Lou Holtz once said:

“Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.”
– Lou Holtz