Navigating Setbacks with Dr. Claudia Beeny
Recently, Equalman was featured on the What’s Your Shine Podcast, hosted by Dr. Claudia Beeny (AKA Dr. Shine) founder and executive director of House of Shine. And now, we’re reposting that episode here on the Super U Podcast. What’s Your Shine is a podcast that explores creative ideas, and thoughtful books, and inspires people who are making a difference in their corner of the world. Erik and Dr. Shine discuss navigating setbacks, building resilience, and finding your path to excellence.
Need a sneak peek? Below are the main takeaways from the episode.
Navigating Setbacks with Dr. Claudia Beeny
Episode Preview:
“And a lot of times, when moments happen in the moment, it’s very easy for us to say, “I can’t believe this is happening to me.” But then when you look back, you’re able to see “oh, wait, this is happening for me.” So a lot of you out there when you get your first email address, it’s your first initial, last name. So mine happens to be Erik Qualman. So first initial last name is “Equalman”. And I didn’t like it for the first 15 years of my career because it’s good-natured bullying but… I grew up in Detroit, I work at Cadillac as an intern, you’re in a meeting [and they run] out of coffee. But they’re like, “Equalman, will get us coffee. You got that superhero name, you must be super fast. Why don’t you run down to the corner, and get us some coffee at 7-11? So we have some coffee for this meeting.” So good-natured ribbing, but I didn’t really like Equalman, the moniker. So I thought it was happening to me, not for me.
But then in a moment of time… My third book, What Happens in Vegas Stays on YouTube was doing pretty well. And so they wanted us to sit down for an interview for a magazine and they wanted to take a cover shot for the magazine. And they go, “Hey, we want to have some fun with this cover. You’ve got this unique email address with Equalman. Do you mind wearing some Superman glasses? I’m like, “Sure. Yeah, we’ll have some fun.” Or they go well, it’s our St. Patty’s edition. Do you mind if they’re green? I go, “Yeah, all for it. Let’s do it.” So we take that shot. And then a couple of weeks later, I fly to Kenya. First time I’m in Kenya. And the night before part of the engagement I was [going to] go adopt a baby cheetah from this local rescue shelter, obviously not to take home, but just to support the rescue shelter. And on the way over the woman who was showing me around Kenya, she said, “You know, Usain Bolt, the Olympic sprinter was here two days ago, he adopted from the same litter that you’re going to adopt from, we filmed him. And if it’s okay, we’d love to film you, and marry that footage together to raise more awareness for the shelter.” And of course, I’m like, “By all means, yeah, whatever it takes, let’s do it.” And then she pauses and looks at me and goes, “But of course, when we’re filming, we want to make sure that you’re wearing your green glasses.” And I look back at her and “I go, I don’t wear those around all the time. I’m from the Midwest, people were staring at me, I wouldn’t like that. It’d be kind of weird.” And then the look of disappointment on her face. I never wanted to see that again. But also, when that look happened, it was that “aha” moment for me. I was like, “Oh, my gosh, this isn’t happening to me. This is happening for me. It’s time for me to step into becoming Equalman.
And the only way I was able to have the courage to do that was to know that if it helped one other person out by wearing these glasses, then by all means it’s worth any discomfort that I need to walk through wearing these. And then to your point over time, I had no idea that all of a sudden, this becomes a thing. And so now we sell glasses. We used the glass on the cover of my latest book. And so it’s become a part like you mentioned earlier, Barbara Walters, all of a sudden, it’s a piece of distinction, that if they want someone on stage, like “…We can hand out 2000 pairs of green sunglasses and we’re in Scottsdale, Arizona, it’ll be perfect. I’ll put the logo on the side.” And so it’s been a wild ride. But yeah, that’s why that’s where the green glasses came from.
Learn More About The “What’s Your Shine?” Podcast:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-beeny-04997b6
Website: https://www.houseofshine.com/
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The Super U Podcast is hosted by #1 bestselling author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman.
