For most, the lowest point in your life would arguably be when
you had a near fatal accident robbing you of your career, dreams and use
of your legs. In TShane’s case, when your life has had many flavours of
lows, there’s a wide array to pick from.
“There I was, freezing in 20 degree weather at a bus stop,
homeless, and watching other homeless people fighting over a six pack of
beer”. That was the turning point for TShane Johnson, an entrepreneur
who’d hit rock bottom.
After realising he was only one or two decisions away from
being in that exact spot – the only thing keeping him from it was the
good fortune that he didn’t drink.
A far cry from that bus stop, TShane now spends his time
running across America raising money for veterans, sharing his inspiring
story of determination to prove nothing is impossible.
A Marine With A Stolen Dream
Before he was an entrepreneur, TShane joined the Marine Corps
in 1998. “It was my lifelong ambition to become a bodybuilder like
Arnold Schwarzenegger” he tells me. So even as a Marine, he did regular
personal training sessions and spent extra hours in the gym building up
the specific physique required to compete. Given his lifestyle, he was
in peak mental and physical shape when his
TShane In The Marines TShane Johnson
Upon returning home from his Marine Corps base on his
motorcycle, a car in front changed lanes suddenly causing him to slam
into the side of the car, and go flying into the road ahead at 35mph
hitting a brick house, chest first.
His survival was nothing other than a miracle, suffering a
flailed chest, both lungs punctured, a broken collar bone, cracked
shoulder blade, and all his ribs shattered. “I had a sliced liver,
spleen, kidneys, my left bicep cut wide open, and a broken right hand”,
he tells me, nonchalantly.
“I got up, confused and bleeding out, unable to breathe. No one
would help me. I managed to walk two blocks by taking only small
shallow breaths and holding my sliced open bicep as a weak attempt to
try and slow the bleeding. I walked by a local fire station, where there
happened to be an off-duty doctor who was visiting”, he recalls.
They rushed to help him, bayflighted him to a local hospital
but he flat-lined once in the helicopter and twice when he arrived at
the hospital and had to be brought back to life with electric paddles –
technically, medically dying three times. In the helicopter they had to
(without anesthesia) cut three holes into his chest to insert tubes to
allow all the blood and fluid to drain out of his lungs, they had been
filling up rapidly, and he was drowning.
Unsurprisingly, he was told by doctors that he would never physically
be the same again, but after returning to his spiritual home in the
Marine Corps, he slowly healed and was discharged without any major
issues. He had zero physical therapy from the military and did it all
himself, “It was an amazing recovery” he fondly recalls. “I went on to
compete and actually won 4th place in a bodybuilding competition”.
Giving Arnie A Run For His Money TShane Johnson
The Homeless Entrepreneur
In the years that followed the incident, he turned his
attention to business, and built up a Multi Million dollar company,
unfortunately in the mortgage lending industry. “The irony isn’t lost on
me”, he explains.
As someone who himself had a home, a mortgage, and in this
case, a mortgage lending business, everything went up in smoke during
the mortgage crisis that caused the 2007 global meltdown.
Having lost his business, home, and assets, he tried to get
some odd jobs before attempting to get back into the mortgage industry,
but he had been helping his sister pay her bills to keep a roof over her
young son’s head because her husband, a veteran, had committed suicide,
so he felt like he was her only hope.
“I lost my home, and my car, but all that mattered was that I
could afford to keep them warm”, he tells me. “In the meantime I was
wearing socks on my hands to keep them warm, and when I saw that group
of homeless men fighting over beer, I did indeed think really hard about
just giving up”.
TShane In Work Mode Image by Ray Tharaldson
Mindset Matters
Fortunately, his training as a Marine caused him to take a
different attitude. Rather than wallow, he filled his mind with books
from entrepreneurs and inspiring quotes from great thinkers, which
eventually took him back onto a more steady path.
Having recovered mentally and physically, he started up again,
had a child, and started running across America to raise money for
Veterans – sort of like a real world Forrest Gump, with less of an
accent. His mission is to inspire others that they can come back from
anything, no matter what, and create a positive future for themselves
and their community.
“So, what next?” I asked the ex-marine. “I will break the
current Guinness’ Book of World Records for the ‘fastest marathon
completed while carrying a 100 pound pack’ in less than 6 1.5 hours. To
do so I need to complete 1,100 Miles with 100lbs on my back but aim to
raise $1,000,000. Proceeds will go to the
Gary Sinise Foundation later this year”, he replies determinedly.
So, if you think you have some challenges ahead of you this
month, take it in your stride, and take it from TShane, you can bounce
back from almost anything. As for the record he’s looking to beat? Well,
I certainly wouldn’t bet against him accomplishing just that.
I
write a weekly 3 minute summary on 'brain food' with my take on the
best of psychology, neuroscience, & nutrition for the mind - to
support mental wellbeing: www.trydawn.co
Co-Founder of Dawn, Host of The Secret Leaders Podcast & previously Grabble, the UK's top shopping app.
I write about entrepreneurship, building communities & the power of the mind. Follow me @danmurrayserter on all platforms
