We had the good fortune of connecting with Shannon & Shirley Austin and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Shannon & Shirley, what do you attribute your success to?
At Marriage Inc. we have an acronym that we stand by and its, H.O.T which stands for “Honest Open & Transparent”. God has shown us over the years after working with countless couples that their freedom, healing and growth stemmed not from the book knowledge we possessed but exponentially more from the experiences we’ve expressed with courage and honesty. When we committed to the process of changing lives we made an agreement that our challenges, experiences and years of living in hell were not going to be in vain but the building blocks by which we present ourselves to the world and our brand.
Over the years we’ve been able to connect our success to our commitment to being H.O.T by the conversations clients would have with those they would refer to us. Most couples said they were sold when they heard how honest we were about our brokenness and the baggage we brought into our marriage and how that affected us for many year as well as our hardcore no nonsense yet compassionate approach. Our process has become so trusted that eventually we began to get referrals to some of Atlanta’s top influencers, worlds most inspirational speakers and celebrity moguls. Although all of our clients are equal in the level of commitment they get from us being able to work with such high value clients speak to the level of trust they have in us as well as the results of our process.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
So one of the tools that sets Marriage Inc apart is the system we created which gives people a whole view into why they are the way they are, do what they do, respond how they respond by giving them an assessment, its a 33 page report that literally breaks down every aspect of a human. With that information we are then able to customize the information in the assessment to your actual real life events and experiences and show you based on how you are wired what adjustments you need to make to be the healthiest you can possibly be. Now, other people are offering this or this type of assessment to their clients be it in therapy or in the corporate world but most are not bringing in the level of transparency we bring to make the connection to, yes this is who you have been but you do not have to stay here. The other thing which sets us apart and that I am really excited about because it truly is a cutting edge approach to marriage that many will be able to connect with is we utilize business principles for marital success.
We started out owning a Cake company together and learned so much about business, one of the things we learned is that the success and failure in business was just about equal to the success and failure in marriage using the same principles. So this means that if I can succeed in business then I surely can succeed in my marriage and if I can succeed in marriage then why cant I create and build a business utilizing those same principles that led to marital success. SO we have taken business principles and created a blueprint for marital success and we are seeing our clients winning. it helps them to understand the level of power and control they actually have, its not some ethereal concept, its real its tangible and its absolutely doable.
Was it easy to get to where we are, not at all and we are no where near where we want to be or where we know our gifts and purpose can take us. We cant even breathe at this point, we are in a place where its everything or nothing, there is no in between for us. We cant afford to be afraid and stuck if we are going to be afraid we must push past it and get the job done. That’s the part that is not easy, pushing through the fears but we do it because our why is bigger than us. There are people counting on us to use the gifts and anointing God has given us to help save their marriage, to help get them unstuck, to get them out of the mindset of taking their own life, to help their employee moral and production, people are counting on us, and that is our why.
Oh wow, we have learned more lessons than we can count, our work is based on the lessons we have acquired throughout our life’s trials, pains, wins and losses. A few of the lessons and principles we stand on, 1. Extreme ownership, this means whatever happens in your life you must take responsibility for, even if you can pass the buck, what decision(s) could you have made that would have produced a different and better outcome. Many people fight against that idea because its more comfortable to pass blame on someone else especially for the more obvious offenses. 2. Perspective is everything. So many times we are stuck simply because of how we see the thing which many times isn’t as bad as we make it seem. Our thoughts and feelings have a way of expanding the severity and if we do not take control of our thoughts, manage our perspective about it we actually end up making things worse. 3. Things can get done but nothing we do will be in alignment with our purpose without God. We understand our place in this world and the gift that is granted every time God chooses to use us. Stay humble, understand the connection between God and your purpose and never take credit for what you didn’t and cant create.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well being that we are neophytes in this amazing city we are still learning and surveying the land ourselves. We moved here the end of 2018 and 2020 the pandemic came along. We are foodies so I can say there have been a few spots we visited but we have many on our bucket list. Being from Jersey & Philly we know good pizza, we have eaten at so many spots here in search of the pizza from home, there is a spot in Duluth called “O4w” and their pizza is so bomb, come to find out they are from Jersey (That explains it). The Dekalb Farmers Market is one of the fav spots, can literally go there everyday, we enjoy visiting the other farmers markets in the various town centers. Lady Belle has the best Macaroons I’ve ever had and In my fillings has the best cake I’ve had so far and I’ve tried all the “Hot” spots and she kills these larger more popular spots. Yall, seriously, go check her out. One of the things i love about ATL is all the food trucks, Triton Yards, The MET and Prep Atlanta you are sure to find some really good eats in anyone of those spots on any day of the week.
We are still learning the city but we are excited about the journey and all that we have yet to experience.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We want to shout out our business coaches Jeremy & Traci Anderson. before they were our business coaches they believed in us deeply and at times more than we believed in ourselves. We coached them long before we were known for this work simply because we had a passion for healthy relationships. By the time we had moved to Atlanta in 2018 Jeremy & Traci had built a successful Motivational Speaking platform with Jeremy traveling all over the world and at the same time he was quickly becoming one of the top young entrepreneurs in Atlanta going on to build a successful trucking company. Jeremy & Traci were so passionate about the world seeing in us what they saw in us, they took us under their wing and coached us from two people who were passionate about helping everyone we could to taking that passion, building a solid brand and getting compensated. Jeremy & Traci have literally been our biggest support, consistently encouraging, mentoring, using their influence, resources and network to help us build ours. They are the super coaches !
Website: www.marriageinc.us
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