Shannon Janszen

I attribute my success to two core values: integrity and transparency. I think it's very important to always do the right thing, even if it maybe doesn't bring you the most amount of money - you always have to do what's best for your client or your customer. For me, in any role I've ever been in, it's all about explaining exactly what you're doing, why you're doing it, and then how that's going to benefit them. And then if the results are maybe not as satisfactory as the client was hoping, then you double down and figure out exactly what you can do to make it right. Whether that means you've got to stay up late one night, or a couple nights to do a little bit of extra research for that industry specifically, then that's what you do. I think those two values, especially, have led me in the right direction throughout my entire life, not just in digital marketing. I also live by the mantra 'live while you're living' - if you really want to be good at something, if you're really passionate about something, you've got to go after it and do it, because you only get one life to do it.

The best advice I ever received was from a good family friend, and his driving mantra was to live while you're living. For me, that wasn't just for personal, it was professional as well. If you really want to be good at something, if you're really passionate about something, you've got to go after it and do it, because you only get one life to do it. I think I was a little nervous to make the leap from a very established, well-known career to something that's completely different, but I absolutely fell in love with it, and I was like, you know what? I only get this opportunity one time, so let me go do it. And it's been probably the best decision I've made. When I'm 95, potentially on my last days, and I look back, am I going to be proud of myself? Are my children going to be proud of me? Is my community gonna be proud of what I was able to give back? And if the answer is no, then I didn't do it right.

I would say don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it because you don't have the certification. What I mean by that is, I think a lot of times people think, oh, I'll start later, or I'll do it once I get whatever piece of paper or certification they want. But the reality is, if you have passion, if you have the ability to understand information and apply it, and you truly want to help people, you can absolutely do digital marketing, you can do whatever industry you want, you just have to have those pieces. My biggest piece of advice is don't wait. If that's what you want to do, and that's what your passion is, go do it. There's no better day than today. Even if you can't afford college, or if college maybe isn't right for you, there's definitely a way to, if you're willing to put the time in and do things to learn, you can absolutely be an expert in any industry. It's just how much time you want to put into it.

The values most important to me are integrity and transparency. I think it's very important to always do the right thing, even if it maybe doesn't bring you the most amount of money - you always have to do what's best for your client or your customer, whatever you want to call them. For me, in any role I've ever been in, it's all about explaining exactly what you're doing, why you're doing it, and then how that's going to benefit them. And then if the results are maybe not as satisfactory as the client was hoping, then you double down and figure out exactly what you can do to make it right. Whether that means you've got to stay up late one night, or a couple nights to do a little bit of extra research for that industry specifically, then that's what you do. I think those two values, especially, have led me in the right direction throughout my entire life, not just in digital marketing. I also think about when I'm 95, potentially on my last days, and I look back - am I going to be proud of myself? Are my children going to be proud of me? Is my community gonna be proud of what I was able to give back? And if the answer is no, then I didn't do it right.