Shawn Harper Retired NFL Player, Best-Selling Author, Entrepreneur & Motivational Speaker Joins Us!!

welcome everybody to another great episode of the Allen Alfred Sports s show we got a fantastic show for you but today we're going to get started with thanking our wonderful sponsor Chef G's Florida barbecue sauce so delicious and addicting you may need a support grw please feel free to pick up any one of the four Great flavors classic Fusion honey mustard and of course Heatwave all atbbq sauce.com BBQ sauce.com and if you even more ambitious please go ahead and visit Chef G's right here in Tampa at 301 South 22nd Street let them know that the Allen Alfred Sports H show sent you thank you for watching today's great episode and thank you so much for being a great supporter of our show let's go ahead and get [Music] started welcome to another great episode of the Allen Alfred Sports Talk Show joined by a fantastic guest his name is Sean Harper former NFL player to two Time author bestselling author as well and also motivational speaker so want to start with that how you been so far I'm doing good how are you doing fantastic thank you so much for joining us here on the Allen Al for sports show so it all started from the NFL career at what point did you say to yourself you know what I want to be an NFL player you know what it it actually is interesting it was always a goal it was always a dream of mine there a difference to pull something from an actual dream into an act goal right you can dream all day and that's you know this is where I'm going this you know this you know the NFL that's where I'm going you know write the vision down and make it plain right and then probably my junior year in college uh one of my fraternity Brothers walked up to me and like man I got this feeling that you gonna go pro man like what and it's just crazy how your thoughts in your mindset can lead to Creation but once it gets into your heart it leads or turns into into what called manifestation and the rest is history yeah I mean you definitely put the hard work in I know a lot of players they always reach out to me to make it to the NFL what was that feeling like when your name was called up on that stage it was very interesting because I had an inkling had a really a really good Agent had a great agent and he said okay this is what we're looking at U maybe the Saints aren't interested in you you know third round or whatever and so you know draft day you literally don't know unless you're like a lock talk top 10 pick you don't know you don't know you know you don't know what's going to happen and so I'm sitting there and I get a phone call from the Rams you're like we're about to take you are you ready I'm like let's go and I promise you that conversation lasted for about 30 seconds and he said I got Harper on the phone let's go he hung up the phone it's like boom you're drafted and I did the funniest thing I looked at my friend because I was going to have a huge party right so I just looked at my friend he's like a lifelong friend and um of all places we went through Red Lobster right that was my celebration I'm gonna go to Red Lobster and uh yeah I went to Red Lobster and we sat down ate a great meal and that call changed my life changed the trajectory yeah that's an amazing time of your life and and making it to the NFL was you mentioned I've seen in a couple videos where it was tough when you was in the NFL because you had a fight every single day just to make it to the roster so tell people about that experience about hey when you make it to NFL It's Not Over You have to continue to fight to stay in the NFL right when you make to the NFL first of all the NFL is an amazing business in the facade of a sport you think it's a sport looks like it's all business and it is very ruthless it's very cunning extremely extremely competitive so every moment of the day you are being evaluated the moment you step on that field you are being evaluated and I will take a seasoned NFL scout and I'll put him or her up against any psychiatrist in the world because an NFL scout can watch you in practice watch your drills watch your body language and tell you what you have for breakfast you know because their job is to produce winners and to evaluate winners all day every day and so every practice every play is under severe scrutiny and it's interesting because I've kind of adopted the same philosophy now as a business owner I mean I just I just started it today when we would play football like Mo 90% of all NFL teams are off you know on the same days like Monday Tuesday those you know we have those days off and if you hang around the locker room long enough probably around midafternoon on Monday you'll see boatloads of people flying in to work out you know and they're working out for your job you know and the and the coaches are there and they're time in people's 40s and they and and promise you this it happens about four or five times every every team every year player comes in leaves their nice house and drive up their nice little fancy you know buatti bins and they'll walk and I'll watch it and these guys walk to the locker room and they'll see a little slip says coach wants to see you bring your playbook now bring your iPad it's over just like that just is that competitive I've seen guys who had a great games come in on Wednesday get cut so as a player how do you deal with that that monotonous hey someone's always after my job someone's always evaluating me what did you do mentally to say you know what I need to block this out and focus on the job so I think to be really fair I want to answer that um two ways looking on it back then is extremely stressful one of my models is do that Duty that is best leave unto the Lord the rest do thy Duty that is best leave unto the Lord the rest looking back on it now some years later hindsight 2020 I should have had more of a apocalyptic mindset and what I mean by that is one day Aaron Shan haror this train is going to end so you have to prepare for the inevitability that it's going to be over one day so how are you preparing your network how are you preparing just life and decision I mean the people that I've met playing professional football it is absolutely just extraordinary to be in contact with CEOs of Fortune 500 they have the CEO of a Fortune 100 company on speed down like that you never have those contacts again you know so I think I would have did a better job networking talking to people knowing that I know the CEO of this Fortune 500 company we were hanging out laughing together you know being able to understand and to be in different Circles of St I mean there are stars if I told you who these individuals were you like oh I know that person that yeah I knew I went to their parties but I I didn't have the foresight to properly network with these individuals you know major major super producers and stars I know them I knew them yeah so definitely networking sound like it's it's a big part and and now you use those Network skills to get yourself to becoming a motivational speaker how has that transition been uh that has been absolutely awesome one of the things I've learned in business that has really helped me is that the riches are in the niches you know so there's not a lot of NFL speakers there's not a lot of NFL speakers that brings certain transformational tactics methodologies and strategies to Corporate America there's not out there not a lot out there so I've learned to have you know to create the niches uh so that I could have the riches and I've learned that just by playing sports I mean imagine years ago I think it was the Chicago Bears and they came out with the 46 remember remember the 46 bear defense that's the first year it freaked everybody out they're successful Bill Wash West Coast offense like what is that what is that so you have to you know be unique and then blow it out the window yeah so that's great advice and and you have the culture now the culture of winlist talk about culture of monologist to people it was it was interesting once I retired you I start getting these emails you know basically in a really nice way you're retired now it's time for you it's time for you to become corporate it's time for you to have the corporate mindset right think corporate you use terms like best practice and you know all those corporate lingos that I know I said wait a second 0.2% of any person makes it to the NFL for one year 0.2% makes it for one year and coupled with the fact that I studied the greatest players that played The Game Jerome Bettis was on the ramps I know Jerome I I studied him Marshall Faulk I studied Marshall Faulk Zack Crockett was my roommate you know Tim Lester you Jackie Slater I played behind Jackie Slater Bruce Matthews these are all pros and I studied them I watched them and I watched what they did that was different and I said but wait a second you're not going to teach me how to become you I'mma teach you what I learned and then I'm going to merge it into the into Corporate America I'm G to bring that winning mindset into corporate America because corate America they're geared towards success but success is a man-made construct when you get to a certain level in Corporate America your SE Suites okay they don't think about success they're already successful they think about winning so what's on a se's mind make our numbers make what is that it's either win or lose when you do a corporate when the corporate comes out with the earnings report either you miss the numbers or you made the numbers it's win or lose a guy like Mark cubin is already successful he wants to win so I'm bringing that winning mindset merging it into corporate and it's been a challenge for me with my own company because I move at a certain level that you know sometimes I I kind of slow down and it and it just and it just keeps me up at night because I'm like I I'm used to moving at a certain speed and you know in my office you know somehow they'll just slow me down and I be even you know I'll even get passive you know I'm like what you know but then every once in a I wake up I'm like Noah I'm that dog let's go let's go let's win so right now I'm in that I'm that dog let's go let's win mode so I plan on staying here I know I'm gonna run some people off but I'm like hey it's all right let's go yeah in fact that that brings up that what type of business you have now to help you that people can support you with I have two I I have a security firm located in Columbus Ohio we have unarmed and armed security officers we do very little executive work but a lot of it is unarmed and armed officers and yeah that will soon be expanding throughout all of Ohio I'm plotting on that right now I'm looking for individuals that can kind of anchor it and maybe give a little larger cut of the pie or earning share and then uh I travel as a speaker I'm I am an inspirational and motivational speaker I I teach I coach I motivate people how to win and what I'm doing now is on top of that is I'm coaching people through trauma it's it it's really interesting because 90% of all motivational speakers they teach you how to get to okay but there's not a lot in our culture that teaches you how to go through and and I went through a lot of losses I don't know four or five people in the last six or seven years and it's like getting through that is tough and I'm noticing that whenever there's a loss there's a process you have to go through and our culture doesn't teach us how to go through that process yeah and a lot of times people get stuck in the process they get stuck in the past there's a loss of a job there's a loss of a career there's a loss of an opportunity you have to go through the morning process to make it out the other side hole if not you'll get stuck in the process and you will begin to manifest the failures and losses all the way through it'll shift you I know certain athletes who went through a major loss and they were never the same they were never the same some of the best athletes in the world uh they go through a death they go through a divorce and they're and they're never the same because they because they don't know how go through the process so I'm teaching people how to do that yeah what advice can you give people you're right we all meet you know have met somebody who get stuck something has happened in the past they they can't kind of like move past that trauma that hurt that pain disappointment yeah what advice you give to those people that hey it happened in the past but life does go on one of my models is is that if you live in the past you'll die in the present if you live in the past you'll die in the present period and I'm extremely mindful because I listen I've learned to listen to people and I listen to body language I listen to everything that they say and that they don't say and it has helped me out tremendously but the key word there is if you live in the past you'll die in the present I think it's important that we revisit the past just don't live there revisit the past and walk through that process walk through that griev morning process I mean I say this and I'm not ashamed I am I'm a Christian I love God period okay and I'm not ashamed of that and I know people might you know but when you look at the Bible over and over and over again I had to mourn for 30 days I mourned I mourned I mourn it's it's it's there it's everywhere mourning is a part of the process and if you don't complete that process if you don't have that conversation with the individual whatever then you'll get stuck in a loop and it will hold you there and if you're not careful you'll begin to manifest that same thing over and over again true story um my son and boy I tell you I love my boy love him that is my boy um his one of his favorite aunts died it it was years ago and right after that happened then things started to break around me there was an incompleteness there I recognized that and I was able to sit down say okay we need to have a conversation and you need to walk through that entire process and then he was able to move past that and then they keep going and keep growing a lot of us are stuck we're stuck stuck with divorced parents now we don't trust I mean there's a lot of grieving and we need to complete that especially with athletes especially with athletes yeah and that that's exactly right that's some beautiful advice and I know some of the players that meet me they're going to want me to ask you this as an offensive lineman what advice can you give to them that are trying to make it to that next level what advice would I give to an inspiring offensive lineman or player trying to get to the next level and get drafted yeah interesting my advice to them would be to live in the 212 is and you know the you know the story of water being water at 21 degrees and at 212 degrees water boils right well boiling water has changed the world one degree so and I actually learned this from a guy named um Jackie Slater he played like 20 years All Pro right and he would make me go outside every day at 2:45 with him practice started at 3:10 why am I out here holding this bag with this all pro offensive tackle at 245 well he's doing the same rudimentary moves you know this and he's jumping through the cones but everyone else is in the locker room Jackie is on the field 20 years All Pro he's on the field training that's living in the 212 and you expect to be you expect to be extraordinary doing doing the ordinary you got to have extra in that ordinary to equal the extraordinary so guess what you got to do a little bit more you know you got to just get into that 1% more each and every day and if you live a life like that pushing yourself into Excellence which I'm kind of like learning how to do now man that's how you get there because they're always looking for something different they're always looking for something that stands out you got to stand out winners learn to stand out when we're younger they teach us Conformity right they teach us sit in the line wear the same uniform you know blah blah blah but when we're older we praise people who are different embrace it learn to stand out and train when everyone else is sleeping that's awesome and then people can definitely pick up your book The Winner Winning Edge yeah man uh you can get The Winning Edge off of Amazon I got the wiist out there I don't promote that much uh I heard it was even better than the um other book but I got the wiist out there as well and then I'm working on uh an entire curriculum for you know doing the whole grieving process and then I have a course out there called winning by Design and you can get a hold of that if you go to my uh Facebook group I have a Facebook group called winning by Design you can become a member there and you know there a lot of a lot of interaction there and stuff like that so yeah and people can reach out to you also for motivational speaking as well yeah so you can go to Shan Harper winds Shan Harper winds.com there's a a place where you can contact me um on there as well and what I'll do is this you know if you are a um aspiring athlete whatever you just you know you know you just want to talk about some things or whatever it's really a mind freak to train since the second grade like like I was training football since the second grade right and you know everyone's like you're this you're you know you're going to be the man you're amazing you know in high school everyone loves you you know and then one day it's over I mean it it doesn't even slow down one day it stops or you're playing at the collegate level and one day it's over now you've been you've been training since you're like two uh second grade everyone knows you as the athlete everyone wanted to be around you all the groupies loved you and then one day it's over that and then at the professional level is even worse how do you manage that how do you I mean I still have football dreams to this day I have dreams that's 20 years like 20 something years later like how do you navigate that that's tough that's tough these are things that people don't talk about you know and if you're out there and you're struggling man I'm not gonna say I'm gonna talk to you every single time but you know just give me a call we'll set up some time where you know and let's kind of walk through that process awesome awesome and also they can follow you on social media too oh yeah just Sean Harper speaker Instagram it's under Aaron Shan Harper on Facebook yeah we'll just stick with those two right now yeah definitely will make sure that follow you on all social media platforms that's that's amazing it was this is an awesome time make sure we support those books too yeah yeah day love the background the Colts I see that oh yeah oh yeah I love that too it's a nice little stadium and if people need security work too they can find you as well in Ohio where are you out of I'm right here in Tampa Florida oh really yeah yes so let's talk afterwards okay because I really kind of like Tampa I really like Tampa we'll do that I appreciate you joining us on the Allen Alfred Sports Talk Show thank you so much Sean Harper yes sir be blessed good [Music] bless