Meet Shawn Bagley Jr.

We recently connected with Shawn Bagley Jr. and have shared our conversation below.

Shawn , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

Finding my purpose was an interesting journey and process that started at 18 and took more than ten years to complete itself. I always knew that my purpose was to inspire others but I was afraid to lean into that gift. The part of myself that wanted to be in the spotlight was ego-driven and not very self-aware. That’s the beauty of the journey, it gives you opportunities to learn lessons that you can apply to your life to change your life. When I was 18, I was fresh out of high school and I was very clear about what my purpose was and what I was supposed to do in life. I wanted to be a lawyer and then I wanted to go into politics (thank GOD for changed plans). A family friend who owned a cleaning business would come by our house and we would talk about his business and how things were going. Thier business was struggling so I started to write marketing strategies and other plans to help them keep the clients they had and wow the clients that they were trying to engage. These were the beginning stages of my life as a consultant. I had no idea then, but I was taking the first steps into answering the call of my life and discovering my purpose.

I was going to school and working part-time and I was miserable. School was never my “thing” growing up. I found myself lost and bored in every class except English and History. Often times I spent my time daydreaming and lost in a world of my own. School was where I learned to go along to get along and to go through the motions. Experiences taught me that you can’t go through life on autopilot, my college years were no different. I wasn’t enthusiastic about any of the things I was involved in and it was starting to take a toll on me. I wasn’t aware of it at the time but my purpose was calling. I continued on this path until I finally made the decision to drop out of college and join the workforce full-time; I was content – at least for the moment.

Eventually I started working for our family’s friend as a part of their cleaning crew. My job was to go in and clean apartments after people moved out of them. It was disgusting work but I was learning the ins and out of the commercial cleaning business. I was also seeing the things that weren’t working and advising our friend on what they could do to change things. I was doing the work of a consultant and didn’t even know it. One day our friend told me that I should consider being a consultant. I told him that I didn’t know what that was and asked if I had to own my own business in order to do it? They told me that I didn’t have to open my own business, but that I should consider it. I wasn’t interested in that moment but I couldn’t get the thought out of my head. How would I get clients? What would I do? What skill did I have? These were all questions I was asking myself. For an entire year, it was all that I could think about : starting a business of my own.

A little over a year later, I was working full-time in my business. I quit my job at that time and called our friend to tell them that I quit my job and needed a new client, they agreed to sign with me but they couldn’t afford to pay me. Within that year, they had fallen on hard times and the business was losing money at a pretty rapid rate. This didn’t stop me from diving head first into doing my own thing. I spent my last $40 to buy a cheap desk from Walmart, rendering my bank account negative. I started that firm tucked away in a nook under the stairs of my one-bedroom apartment and didn’t look back! I went on to build that first firm into a six-figure consulting practice and had a nice run until my hubris got in the way, resulting in me losing everything and starting over. It was the greatest thing that ever happened for me!

Of course this is the heavily abridged version of my journey of self-discovery. Experience has taught me that the process of discovering one’s purpose is never-ending. Pursue your passion until your purpose reveals itself. I didn’t always know if I was going in the right direction and I’ve taken my fair share of shortcuts and wrong turns, but I’ve continued in faith and things have worked out. In many ways, this newfound clarity makes me feel like I am just getting started!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
BluLight Consulting began with a bold vision to change the way problems are solved and projects aremanaged in the business world. Initially focused on project development to help clients succeed, we refined our systems and processes through trial and error to better support our clients.

As we progressed, we learned what strategies worked and which did not, leading to changes in our approach. One thing we struggled with was clarity, prompting our shift from a project management firm to a branding agency. Although we had a focus, it needed fine-tuning.

We dedicated ourselves to improving our focus and delivering better results for our clients. This led us to explore disruptive branding and marketing strategies, seeking to be pioneers in our field. Through experimentation, we gained valuable insights that sharpened our focus and increased our impact. Our values center on inspiration and authenticity, showing that being genuine can drive improvement and innovation, helping us make a quicker impact.

We’re currently in the process of finishing up phase one of our rebranding. We are rolling out a new website and some new offers on May 01, 2024. Phase two of our rebranding will take place over the next few months while we work on designing our new logo and some new videos, and brand assets. Lastly, we are working on new content. I’m going to be writing more, doing more blog content and launching a new podcast. The most exciting thing about this transformation is our brand expressing itself authentically. Our goal is to introduce a new branding standard that connects brands with the personalities of the souls that work to support and drive the towards its mission.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

  1. My faith and believing that life was happening FOR me instead of TO me has helped me to keep going and find gratitude in my darkest times.
  2. My creativity and problem-solving skills have also served me on this journey as well. As a creative, I naturally don’t believe in thinking outside of the box because I don’t believe that the box exists in the first place. I’m always going to figure things out and find a way to make something work, especially for clients.
  3. My authenticity. This isn’t always something that I lived into over the years. I struggled with feelings of self-worth and low self-esteem. I only felt good about myself when I was serving others and/or being used by others. When I leaned into my authenticity, I realized that my personal freedom and creative freedom where the most important things to me as far as my work and life’s purpose were concerned. I was meant to influence the frequency, not match the whatever the current frequency may be. I am here to disrupt the status quo and inspire movements that empower, uplift and inspire others to live into their purpose and gifts.

The best advice that I can give is to BE YOURSELF!!!! You are a unique expression of whatever greater source you believe in (for me it’s GOD). There was no you before you arrived on this plane and there will never be another energy exactly like yours when you leave here for the next life. Lean into who you are and celebrate yourself even when others don’t. Love yourself and know your worth. Set boundaries (this is hard, but necessary) and lastly, learn to enjoy your own company first and see the company of others as a bonus. Enjoy everything and need nothing. Live in the moment and take it all in and no matter what you do…DON’T QUIT!!!!!

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I’m always looking for people to collaborate with as I believe that iron sharpens iron. I want to connect and collaborate with people who want to do one or all of the following: (1) change the world and make it a better place by raising the vibration and impacting the community in positive ways, (2) creatives who want to share their gifts with the world and (3) entrepreneurs, visionaries and brands interested in creating branding, brand experiences and content that are unique, authentic and creative.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Portrait created by Sammie. Property of BluLight Consulting LLC.

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