Shaneh Woods is the founder of Prosperity First and Your Clients Decoded. Her mission is to empower business owners to take control of their finances and finally build the life of their dreams. She brings together the mundane world of business with high-level mindset practice to not only change her clients’ businesses, but transform every aspect of their lives.
What was a major challenge you had to overcome to get to where you are today?
My business was bringing in $700K a year. But to get there, I was working 80 or 90 hours a week. I worked myself into the ground. I wasn’t eating or sleeping well. I didn’t take care of myself.
Eventually I lost feeling in my hands and feet. What really scared me was when my husband saw me run my finger through a pot of boiling water on accident and I didn’t react. I couldn’t feel anything.
The doctors in Alaska put me through test after test trying to figure it out. At first they told me it was all in my head. Then it was ALS. Parkinson’s. Every diagnosis under the sun. I was worried it’d take too long to figure out and eventually I’d lose feeling permanently, so I packed up and moved to Ohio where I could get better medical care. My husband had to stay in Alaska so we could keep our health insurance, meaning I was completely alone in a new state.
Finally, I was diagnosed with MS, which I still don’t think is right. But it was the most helpful diagnosis I was ever given. It turns out I’m allergic to all the drugs for MS, so the only way the doctors said I could manage it was with lifestyle changes. The biggest trigger was stress. I read a book called The Upside of Stress and started implementing the exercises to change my mindset around stress. Within a week, I could feel my feet again. And in two weeks, I could walk pain-free.
Trying to “hustle” almost killed me. Now I’m running a prosperous business without working myself to death, so I know it’s possible. And I know that carrying that much stress doesn’t make your business — or your life — any better.
What did you change to help you find balance and be prosperous without sacrificing your wellbeing?
Mindset is huge. It’s not just my mindset around stress, but my mindset around my worth and money. I had to do a lot of deep dives into my subconscious to uncover the traps I was living in and the patterns I was falling into.
What drives you to keep working hard each day?
I don’t. Working hard is one of the mindset issues I had to give up. People believe that you have to work hard to be worthy as a person. But I don’t need to work hard to prove my worth. I’m worthy just by existing.What keeps me going is my impact goal. I want to touch 5 million lives. The look on someone’s face when they finally realize their inherent worth — that’s what keeps me coming back day after day. That’s what matters to me.