Scaling Up Success Podcast

Embracing Life's Mountains: Sean Swarner's Extraordinary Journey

• Ryan Van Ornum • Season 1 • Episode 13

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Imagine being told you have three months to live—then later, just 14 days—all before graduating high school. Now imagine not only surviving, but going on to achieve what no one in human history has accomplished. Sean Swarner’s extraordinary journey began with a dire prognosis and ended atop the world’s highest peaks. As the first cancer survivor to summit Mount Everest, and with only one functioning lung, Sean has since scaled the tallest mountains on every continent, skied to both poles, completed the Ironman World Championship, and run seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.

What drives someone to transcend such extreme limits? Sean shares a powerful philosophy: “Never go after the thing—go after the thing behind the thing.” He explores how chasing deeper meaning, rather than surface goals, has led him to unparalleled achievements and profound human connections. From being adopted into Tanzania’s Chugga tribe to developing a unique lens on fear, listening, and resilience, Sean’s perspective offers transformative lessons for anyone navigating personal, professional, or emotional challenges. Discover more of his story and speaking engagements at SeanSwarner.com.

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Speaker 1:

What's up everybody. This is Ryan Van Ornum with Scaling Up Success Podcast. I am here today with a good friend of mine, sean Swarner, and he has an amazing story and I can't wait to dive into it. Sean, how are you, man?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing great man. It's been interesting. I had a super long overnight trip yesterday. I'm here for two days in Boulder, colorado, giving a presentation, and then I'm taking a red eye the next day back to Puerto.

Speaker 1:

Rico. Oh, my goodness man, you were the you. You don't sleep in the same time zone in one whole week. It's incredible, dude. I, I, I love what you're doing, uh, with everything that you've built, uh, but uh, it it all starts from from where you came from. So, if possible, let people know a little bit about, let the audience know a little bit about how this whole what you've been building, how did it come from? How did it come to fruition?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely the whole thing that I've. You know, everyone has a story, right, everyone has a story. We all have two ears and one mouth for a reason, because I think you can learn something from everyone's story and mine's just a little bit different than most. I think my story shaped my future from when I was 13 years old I know I've mentioned it to you before, but just quickly. I was diagnosed with in my teens with two terminal cancers. They gave me three months to live the first time. They gave me 14 days to live the second time. My goodness, medically induced coma for a year of my life.

Speaker 2:

When I was 16, 17 years old, I was read my last rights. The hospital at the time wanted me to write out a living will, and I have a younger brother who's three years younger than myself, and at that time I remember laying in the hospital bed looking at my mom, my dad, like you know what's the hospital one, isn't my brother going to get my hand me downs anyhow? Like I didn't really understand what the hospital wanted. But I lost a function of the function of my right lung because of the treatments and the chances of me surviving both those cancers was pretty much a 0.000000001%. Oh my gosh. So that's that's where my story begins, and fast forward. 10 years later, I became the first cancer survivor to climb Mount Everest, and I've gone on to go do things around the world that no human in history has ever done before.

Speaker 1:

That is unbelievable, like I. I, every time I hear it gives me goosebumps. Every time I hear your story, bro, and it's just fascinating Like your willpower, your will to live, your, uh, just your mantra now going forward, man, I, I love everything that you're doing and being able to get your message out to the masses is just incredible. Because, I mean not, it really goes to like, you know, nothing's guaranteed and you know, take, take, take, don't take for granted what, what you have available to you, you and, and just the power of the human body itself. You are the prime example of this. Uh, you know, you were just telling me, like, a couple of months ago, just the incredible like you did seven marathons and seven days on seven continents. What is that?

Speaker 2:

you know it's it was I guess it's continuously pushing the envelope and I I want to continue proving to myself that I'm still alive, I'm capable of doing these amazing things, but I'm no different than anyone else, you know. I just think I may have a different perspective on my own abilities than other people. So after Everest, going back to your question, the 777, after Everest, climbed the highest mountain on every continent ski to the North pole. South pole didn't find Santa Claus, so if anybody's watching, sorry, he must have had his cloaking device on. Then completed the world championship Ironman triathlon in Hawaii, done a number of different things since then, and I guess it would be about an eight-year time span. And then recently, as you mentioned, I decided to run seven marathons in seven days on all seven continents.

Speaker 1:

I don't even know how you got to the place in seven days and set and ran, let alone running seven marathons, but like that's just unbelievable man, I mean. So now, now you've you've built this into many different, like different, types of businesses that you've kind of scaled up from it's. It's pretty amazing to see, because, I mean, people love hearing who you are, what you're about, what are some of the challenges that you faced with building out this speaking type of business that you're doing now?

Speaker 2:

You know, I would say the biggest challenge that I face great question, because you're helping me with it. The biggest challenge that I have faced is I have done everything on my own and I have helped corporations around the world empower their employees, but, like my parents, you know, in many parents out there, we need to listen to our own advice. Right, I have never climbed to the summit of any significant peak by myself. I have never climbed to the summit of any significant peak by myself. And I got two book deals. I got an Amazon Emmy award-winning feature film on Amazon. I've accomplished all these crazy things. I just gave a TED Talk in Prague. I received an award with Archbishop Desmond Tutu when he was alive. I was just in Cairo for an award up there.

Speaker 2:

And the thing is, I've done all that on my own, but I've hit that glass ceiling and I haven't really utilized what I've done to monetize it. I've always looked at it from the perspective of I'm having a great time. I was once, as I mentioned, given 14 days to live and I'm like, okay, every morning I wake up today's the best day ever. How can we make it the best day ever? Well, we're going to go do this. We're going to go do that.

Speaker 2:

Well, now it's time to monetize what I've done and actually start reaching out to corporations as opposed to organically having them come in. Right Ending me, you can have the best story and the best website, the best anything in the world, the best jibbit, whatever it might be Right. You can have the best product in the world, but if nobody knows about it, you're going to be broke. So I'm not saying I'm broke, but you're helping me with that outreach, and we're going to be reaching out to thousands and thousands of decision makers to help empower others. So now I'm at a position where I want to give back and help as much as I can so people can see a different perspective. So the biggest challenge is not having the right people in the right places, and you're helping me fill those places.

Speaker 1:

So, when you're doing this because now it's like understanding the scaling process, like one of the things and I know I've met some of the people that you've been in business with as well as, like you, you definitely understand culture and like how culture can affect how you grow. What are some things that you look for in people that you're you're when you're winning, when you're when you're building out this, this phase of what you're doing.

Speaker 2:

Different perspectives, and I know you've mentioned meeting some people on my team. I'm going to mention one by name. His name is Braxton.

Speaker 2:

He's my manager and he's one of the very few individuals who and this is going to sound odd but who has the backbone to tell me no, right, because I come up with all these ideas. Hey, I want to do this, I want to do that, I take it back. My mom and dad have always said you know, sean, that's a crazy idea, I don't think you should do it, and I'm always like mom, dad, I'm still going to do it. My wife hey, babe, julissa, I'm going to go climb Everest again without supplemental oxygen. Are you crazy? I support you, but I don't think you should do it. But anyhow, braxton is the first person who has all my ideas flowing into him like a funnel and he's like no, no, this is a good one, we'll hang this one up. No, no. So that's probably key Putting those people to make the culture of understanding. Saying no is not bad, no, it could be a good thing.

Speaker 1:

Right, how. How do you manage, like you said, that you have a wife? You, you know like you have, you know, your, your parents are around, you have family still, like, how do you manage that work-life balance as a business owner, like and and what you do, cause you're constantly traveling, you're constantly. How do you manage that? I mean, it just sounds incredible what you do.

Speaker 2:

Interesting question and let me let me rephrase that too by saying work will always be there, family may not. You never know what's going to happen the next day. You know, granted, you need to allocate your time in a specific place, but understand that you create your time. You make time for what's important to you. So, for example, let's say you're sitting in your office and somebody comes in. You're working, you're diligently at work, sitting on the computer, super focused, and your son comes in and says dad, let's go throw the ball in the backyard. And you're like man, I don't have time for that. You know, give me some, give me some time. Same scenario he comes in. You're working diligently hard, you're so focused. He goes dad, I just stepped on a rusty nail. Your answer is not going to be the same, right, right.

Speaker 2:

So focusing on your personal core values helps you allocate where you want to spend most of your time, and also understanding that your summit right, whatever you're going for, whatever that goal is, is, more often than not, probably a false summit. So let's say you want the new Audi, whatever right. Why do you want that? It's not because you just want the car, because it's a cool thing to have. Go a little bit deeper and understand oh, it's probably because I favor and I have a value of personal growth or it means I'm successful. So if you go back to that core value of success now, you're allocating your time in the right places because you're not going after the thing. You're not going after the new shiny, sparkly syndrome thing. You're actually doing it for your family or for something you truly value. So you don't have to allocate your time.

Speaker 1:

You're doing it for those things that you value most your time, You're doing it for those things that you value most. I think that's a phenomenal understanding of where that comes from, and thank you for sharing that. One of the things that I like every time I ask different questions to you, it just like you come from such a different mindset. It's incredible, Cause like it's like just creating these opportunities out of nowhere, where most people may not have even thought of it, but you're like why not? So, like what are? What are some unexpected opportunities that you've had that have came from you know this decision to travel down what you're doing now.

Speaker 2:

Interesting question. The first thing is knowing I constantly push myself out of my comfort zone, right I, I I'm not a dancer. I I have never been a dancer. I'm a white guy with two left feet. My wife, born and raised in puerto rico. She has the latin genes. Down in puerto they don't induce labor, they play salsa, music and music and the baby comes dancing. So they don't have to practice, they just know how to do it. So when I married her, she constantly pushes me out of my comfort zone. We have a towel in our kitchen that says the kitchen is not for cooking, it's for dancing. I love it. So she pushes me out of my comfort zone.

Speaker 2:

I surround myself with other people where, from the beginning, from the cancers, I have learned how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Because I'm not going to embarrass myself. You know, because just through definition to be embarrassed, I have to be the one who's embarrassed. If other people are making fun of me, great, then that's them. They're jealous that I'm not out here making a fool of myself Putting myself in those situations. Another big thing was I've climbed Kilimanjaro now 26 times. I take a group up every year, and it's an amazing trip.

Speaker 2:

It's a life-changing journey. You learn to conquer the mountain within. I'll just put it that way. I call it an expedition. It's an inward journey through an outward adventure. I've used the same guides, the same porters, the same everything the locals. Probably about eight years ago they adopted me into the local tribe called the Chugga tribe, which that is really cool. That is super cool. Stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something most people would never do has brought me to a situation where, literally, looking at different cultures have brought me into a situation where I am now a member of an African tribe, where I am now a member of an African tribe, literally a brother.

Speaker 1:

That is super cool, gosh man. I just love hearing everything that you do, man, it's it. It kind of leads into like, like I mean you're, you're kind of like this unique anomaly of of like how you operate and stuff like that. But like, what challenges do you come across? I mean, you know, is it, is it funding? Is it like I mean just, it's incredible the stuff that you do. Like how do you, how do you make these things happen?

Speaker 2:

I would. I would honestly say one of the biggest challenges is funding you know one of the biggest challenges is funding and corporate support.

Speaker 2:

So if you look at and I'm not a big conspiracy theorist at all but if you look at and after I said that people, people are thinking yes, just because you said that, now you are. I'm not. But if you look at what's on the news and you pay attention to the commercials, you know I've. I've been in the media enough times to understand how this works. I have friends who are news reporters. They're the ones who are paying for what you see on TV, right, right.

Speaker 2:

So let's hypothetically say that when I was training for Everest, I approached a car company. That car company came back and said, no, we don't sponsor things like this. But six months later they're now sponsoring a different group. Now it's me versus a giant conglomerate, right? And who do you think is going to get those spots in the media? Me or their team? Definitely not me. So over the years it's been this constant uphill battle trying to get into the. Don't want to say any names, but it would fit so well to other people. So the biggest issue is just getting it out there.

Speaker 1:

Man, and that's what we're going to be helping you with. I love hearing the story and I couldn't. I just honestly want to help you as much as I possibly can, cause I love what you're doing. Dude, how do you see the challenges with, like the social environment or economic environment that's happening, you know, like, do you? Do you see those as like challenges for for getting your voice out there even more, or do you see it as opportunities?

Speaker 2:

Yes, you know, cause if you look at, let's say what's happening in the Gaza Strip. Let's say what's happening in Ukraine. Let's say what's happening even in our own country, with sexism, racism, you know, ageism, whatever, whatever ism you want to put, whatever word in front of ism.

Speaker 2:

I honestly think that it comes down to lack of education on the part of the person who's afraid of the other person. Yeah, right, yeah. So looking at, let's just use my friends in Africa, at, let's just use my friends in Africa, you know, the color of their skin is very it's like the darkness of my shirt, you know super, super dark. And a lot of people would say, oh they're, you know, they could never do this, they can't do that, but they're afraid of that because they don't understand. Yeah, you know. So I think any ism comes from a lack of understanding.

Speaker 2:

And because I've been adopted into the Chugga tribe, I've been adopted into, you know, a family in Egypt where I love different cultures, I love the differences that people have, and when you can come together and actually discuss those differences without getting upset, but just looking at it, hey, how does life look like from the other person's point of view? Who just happened to be born in Jerusalem? Or somebody who just happened to be born in, you know, jerusalem, or somebody who just happened to be born in Moshi, tanzania? You know how does their perspective look. So it goes back to us having two ears and one mouth for a reason. If we step back from our own fears and just try to look at it and listen to other people, we could be educated on those differences. Besides, if we lived in a world where everybody thought and looked the same, that would be a boring world to live in. Oh a hundred percent.

Speaker 1:

I love. I love being able to meet different cultures. That's, you know, like part of what we do with Synergist, our, our virtual assistant company. I love like assimilating to what they do Like we're you know we, we understand their holidays and I, and you know, like you, work with us and I'm like they're getting their independence day off not our independence day, like you know, like they're you know their festivals that they get to be a part of. I want them to live their life while still enriching ours, like I, you know, just understanding those types of things.

Speaker 1:

And that's what the military taught me as well as, like you know, like for me, when I went and served overseas at the start of the war in 2003, it was to me it was less about like actually protecting our freedoms, but protecting everyone's freedoms, like understanding that as a role in a cause, was much different than just like it's an American thing. That's the way that I looked at it. It's like just being able to help others. So I know this sounds kind of kind of interest, or I guess you're going to have to be a little bit more introspective, because you're you're kind of unique. You're the only one on the planet to ever do what you've done. But if somebody has some sort of unique journey, like you've been on, but doesn't know how to engage it with the masses, how would you give them advice to start that journey?

Speaker 2:

them like advice to start that journey. Start by understanding why you want to do it. You know, have a deeper purpose behind it. Because, like I said, with most mountains, with most goals, oftentimes you're chasing the false summit. You get to the top and you look around and you're like, oh my God, I made it. And then your eyes kind of catch the distance that follows the ridge line and you realize, man, that spot's hot higher than where we are now.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's because you were chasing the false summit and you will never find happiness and you'll never be satisfied. Chasing the false summit the real summit is actually one of your values. So understand why you want to do it. So when you reach that summit, you're appreciating the journey. So, if you look at it from a deeper perspective, never go after the thing, go after the thing behind the thing. So when you're first starting, figure out what that is, why you want to do it, attach emotion to that and then you're going to continue forward because once you understand the true meaning behind your actions, you're never going to be stopped.

Speaker 1:

Man that's, that's phenomenal and and understanding like enjoy the journey. You know, like every day, gosh, that stuff is like just priceless, because if you're just focused on an end result, you're going to always, you know, either be yearning for more or you're going to not. Not appreciate the opportunities that you have on those daily basis is when the struggle happens, during those times anyway. So I really appreciate you sharing that with us, if you can. I don't know if you have NDAs on some of the stuff that you're doing or anything like that, but like what's next in your journey, man?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, what's next? You know it's funny. You ask. I'm contemplating Everest, again without oxygen. I'm putting. Yeah, with my one loan, I'm putting together some online projects. Yeah, with my one long, I'm putting together some online projects, projects to help people get that, that deeper understanding, and take people through this whole class of things. It's actually pretty cool, but I was thinking about what we were talking about earlier about enjoying the journey and kind of my mind works a million miles, a second Right.

Speaker 1:

Tell that to a guy who is circling Chicago O'Hare Airport and can't land because of bad weather. Right, right, no, I there's, there's always. You know different perspectives on these things and how you know how you look at things, so I definitely appreciate that. If you could summarize your journey in like one sentence, how would you do that?

Speaker 2:

In one sentence. Can I take a script?

Speaker 1:

of what we've just mentioned, plug it into chat, gpt and get back to you. I love that. I love that man, and you know I think to to a certain extent it's just enjoy the enjoy the journey is really really kind of how you live your almost like your mantra, almost Cause like every day I just see what you're doing and I'm like geez man, it's like. But also the thing that I kind of look at is like you can't, um, compare your insides to other people's outsides. You can't compare your insights to other people's outsides, because, like what you do, I, you know, I'm envious of what you do, but I also love my life.

Speaker 2:

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, absolutely you know. Different again thinking make make the most of every day, celebrate the small wins, keep moving forward with passion, but also take time for yourself. If you need a time out, take a time out.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, man. I could talk to you all day long and you know, like it is just, you're just a phenomenal person to have in my world. I appreciate you, my friend. If people are interested in knowing more about your story or being a part of a corporate event, some of your speaking engagements how can they get ahold of you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Easiest question you've asked Sean myfirstandlastnamecom SeanSwanercom. Sean, my first and last namecom Sean Swinnercom.

Speaker 1:

Perfect, perfect, sean, it is an absolute pleasure to have you on. Uh. Thank you so much for being a part of things today and uh, best of luck in all of your, your next, uh, uh future endeavors. You are an amazing person and uh, I'm just appreciative to have you in my life, my friend.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate that as well. You know, appreciate you and what you do, not just for myself, but for so many others too. So thank you Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

All right. Well, take care, sir. Have a wonderful day.

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