May 27, 2022 By: Jasmyn Camp

(Image by Loren Hansen Photography)

Shana Bull is a woman with many hats. Apart from being a mom, she has an extensive entrepreneurship career. Since starting in 2009, she worked as a social media marketing consultant and educator. Currently, she teaches classes on social media marketing for small business owners and marketers who have exceedingly small teams (mostly in the wine industry, but she has branched out to work with women-based small businesses in many industries). 

When asked how she started her career in the marketing industry she stated, " I have always wanted to work in marketing. I grew up in the eighties loving cereal commercials and knew I wanted to create different characters when I grew up. Before starting as a small business owner, I worked random jobs, and at a PR agency and marketing agency. 

When I was laid off in early 2009, I started teaching classes on social media to local Hospitality businesses in the Bay Area. From there I started consulting and taking over social media accounts for wineries, restaurants, and tech companies. 

I took that knowledge and started teaching more classes once my son was born. " 

Growing up, Shana's father owned a carpet company. He would pick up Shana and her sister from school and sometimes run in-home sales calls. She and her sister would sit in the truck and listen to CDs while he would run into a potential customer's home to measure for carper. 

Bull's experience watching her dad has shaped how she approached entrepreneurship. Even though it was a small business, she saw how much he enjoyed the work he was doing. He loved being his own boss and having the flexibility to make his own schedule. Shana saw firsthand how owning your own business gives you the freedom to create your own schedule. He taught her that you can own a business and pick your kids up form school. 

"That's something that has always been important to me, and it's one of the reasons why I became an entrepreneur myself. Having the ability to set my own hours and work around my kids' schedules is priceless. It is something that I am grateful for every day," Shana shared. 

"As I became a parent - I wanted the same for my kid. To be available for them." 

Shana's childhood has been a pivotal part of her entrepreneurial endeavors. In addition, Bull is a freelance writer (wine, food, parenting & mental health), and a best-selling children's book author of three picture books that she co-wrote with her six-year-old son. The series is called Randall the Blue Spider & Friends. "It’s so rewarding to be able to share my stories about bugs, big feelings & friendship," Bull exclaimed. 

Not only is Shana a marketing expert, but she is as empathetic as they come about the struggles that women in business face, especially moms. A lot of her focus is on helping them find the time and energy to create content and engage with their audiences on social media. Anyone can google the basics of social media tools online. What Shana does is inspire confidence in creating content while getting in front of the camera to create videos for a small business Instagram channel. 

Shana jokingly says that her customers for her social media classes and for her children's books are one in the same, moms who like wine. This is true in many forms for Bull. Most of the small business owners and marketers that come to her classes are moms. Even though the two industries would not normally intersect, for Shana, this is a reality. 

She thoroughly enjoys working with small business owners or one-person marketers that need a little extra help with confidence in creating content for social media. 

Over the past few years, Shana's role on social media has had a significant impact on her personal mental health. When her son was born, she struggled with comparing herself to other small business owners who did not have children, or who had older kids. She wrote about thus struggle to help other moms who find themselves in the same situation. 

Take Social Media With a Grain of Salt (https://www.cff.org/community-posts/2022-02/take-social-media-grain-salt). 

"In addition, the pandemic has been a pain in the butt for me.” Shana explained. Worrying about the health of her loved ones and the state of the world was added to her mental health struggles. She also found out that she had anal cancer during the summer of 2020. 

After months of radiation and oral chemotherapy, in addition to being bedridden for a month and a half, Shana's body was able to get rid of any tumor in her pelvis. While she was bedridden, Bull had to give up all her clients, and work. She was sleeping most of the day, but during the time she was awake, Shana was trying to figure out what she wanted to do next in her life. "I knew I didn't want to just go back to writing and teaching. I knew I wanted to share a children's book that was sitting in my note’s app on my phone for three years prior," Shana expressed. 

The children's book Shana reference was written by her son when he was 2 years old. When asked how the book came about, Shana explained, " Long story short we went to the beach in Long Beach and he was rambling on about the Surfers, asking questions and talking about how he would be super nervous if people were watching him. From there he started telling a story about a little spider named Randall and a surfing competition. He was just in the backseat of the car and rambling on as an adorable two-year-old does. 

I decided to write down what he was saying and ask him questions. Pretty soon I realize that I had a foal story. With a beginning, obstacle, action, and an ending. " 

When Bull was bedridden, she wanted to publish the book. She did not fully comprehend the important concept of coping skills for children. 

Getting that one book published led to a series, and now Shana and her son have published three children's books. Each book in the series offers insight into how kids can cope with social-emotional issues-like sharing, fear of failure, bullying, picky eating, and overcoming conflict -that can sometimes be difficult for parents and educators to discuss with young children. 

Publishing a book during a pandemic has not been easy. Events and book signings have been canceled, and many people are spending more time at home than ever before. With social media, there are still ways to reach potential readers. With her expertise in social media marketing, Shana has used this to advantage. "I'm grateful to have the skills and knowledge to be able to promote my books online. It would be a lot harder if I did not have that background in social media marketing," Shana exclaimed. Platforms like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook offer a wide reach and allowed her to connect with fans directly. 

The children's books were never a goal of Shana's. It was just a happy accident after such a traumatic experience. Since her books came out during the pandemic, she has not had a chance to get out in public and do book readings, signings, or anything of that nature. For her 40th birthday, Shana had a few friends meet her at their favorite Mexican restaurant, and one of them brought their 4-year-old daughter. His daughter brought the "Randall the Blue Spider Goes Surfing" book for Shana to sign. His daughter explained how much she loved the book. It was the first time that Shana was able to see how excited her story made the children who reads it. To Shana, which is what matters. 

The biggest challenge for Shana Bull regarding balancing running her business, motherhood and healing her mental health was her anal cancer diagnosis. Cancer treatment can be incredibly hard on a person's body and mind. The physical side effects can be debilitating, and the mental health issues that often come along with them can be just as thought to deal with. What has stuck with Shana are the side effects like being thrown into menopause at 39, muscle pain, and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

To overcome these obstacles, Shana is working on all three of them simultaneously, including getting on hormone replacement therapy, working with a physical therapist and acupuncturist, and working with a therapist to address her mental health issues. 

Since her treatments, the mental health issues have been the hardest to get support for. Unlike follow-up appointments like CT scans, her healthcare team does not automatically focus on post-cancer mental health and menopause. 

Shana had to go out of her way to fight to be seen by healthcare professionals. During some of her visits, she felt like her doctors were trying to put a band aid on small symptoms and not looking at the overall picture. 

Bull has spent months after her cancer treatments in a mental fog, thinking that it was "chemo brain." When she started on hormone replacement therapy, she stated that she, "Felt like I drank a cup of coffee for the first time in a year and a half. 

The side effects of menopause were impacting her overall life, both for her family and career. Shana sought help outside of her medical provider, and now is on the path for healing. Her PTSD treatments have a long road ahead, but she has been given the necessary tools to aid her n getting past some of the mental blocks. 

Shana has days where she struggles, but she in on the verge of recovery. "I still have days where I struggle, but I am getting better. I know that there are others out there who are going through similar struggles, and my hope is that by sharing my story, I can help them feel not so alone. And that one of the best things anyone can do for their trauma is to ask for help (even though taking that first step is often the hardest)," Shana Bull explained. By sharing her story, she is hopeful that it can become a guide to those dealing with similar obstacles. 

Here at Jay's Intuitive Life Coaching and Inspired Healing, LLC we have a saying that we like to use. "Healing is a journey, not a destination." 

We asked Shana if she could give moms who aspire to start those businesses and continue their healing journey any advice, what would it be? She offered this, 

"Being diagnosed with cancer, I had a forced time for healing and personal development. Since then, I have tried to focus on the small goals - and scheduling time for healing into my day. 

Moring stretching, afternoon walks, and taking personal days off after a big launch (like I did the day after my latest children’s book release in April). 

If I do not set myself up for success and prioritize things for myself, they will not get done during the day. And that is my advice for moms -- especially moms --- taking care of yourself is not a luxury - it is a necessity. 

With everything moms have going on - work, kids, stress, etc. - it is easy to let our mental health fall by the wayside. As a result, we are overworked and underappreciated. 

When moms prioritize their mental health *WE* are sending a powerful message to the world that we matter. That moms & women matter. And that makes others believe it as well. And that’s when change can happen." 

If you are interested in Best Selling Children Books, online Digital Marketing Classes or would like to collab with Shana Bull, you can connect with her at the following: 

Website: ShanaBull.com & RandalltheBlueSpider.com 

Twitter: Sharayray 

Instagram: Sharayray