Ina Coveney Excited to get to talk to Sean Cannell. Hi, Sean, how are you?

Sean Cannell Hey, Ina, I'm so excited to be on the podcast with you. Thank you so much for having me. I love talking about YouTube and just life and business.

Ina Coveney Well, we're gonna be getting more into life here because this is the podcast where we're gonna find out all the things that you don't regularly get to talk about in podcasts. So why don’t you start by telling everybody—what is it that you do right now, and who do you serve?

Sean Cannell Yeah, so I am the founder of a company called Think Media, and we help people build their influence with YouTube. We help business owners and entrepreneurs get more leads, clients, sales, and build their personal brands with YouTube.
We also help aspiring creators or people who want to do a side hustle get into the YouTube creator world. At this moment, Think Media is a team of around 20 employees and 10 contractors. I'm the acting CEO, and honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing. I'm just a small-town kid and a college dropout trying to figure out how to grow a company. I've moved through the seasons of being an entrepreneur, a side hustler, and now trying to scale. Life is just really weird, and I'm grateful for every new day and challenge. It's exciting.

Ina Coveney We do a lot of research for this podcast, and when I saw the progression of your career, I was like, "It seems like everything just kinda worked out and fell into place." I thought, "What am I going to ask about? Everything seems so ideal." But then I dug deeper, and there's a lot to uncover here. There's a lot of drama back there. Sean, are you the drama? Because that's what I’m finding.

Sean Cannell One hundred percent. In fact, all I’ve done is struggle. There have been some incredible successes, but the majority has been failures. I've learned that failures are the stepping stones to success. If you fail a lot and fail forward, maybe eventually you’ll end up someplace cool. So yeah, it’s been a bumpy road, and there’s a lot packed in there.

Ina Coveney And we’re going to uncover it. But first, can you tell us—where were you born? Where did little Sean grow up?

Sean Cannell I was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in the Pacific Northwest. By the time I was in first grade, we had moved to a rural area, Arlington, Washington. We moved onto six acres. My parents wanted to escape city life, so I grew up with horses, goats, and quads in a kind of farm environment.
But I actually wanted to be in a much more urban environment. I got into skateboarding, underground hip-hop, and snowboarding, so I gravitated toward urban culture even though I found myself in farm life. I stayed in the Seattle area until I was 27, and then we moved to Vegas.

Ina Coveney What were your parents like?

Sean Cannell My mom and dad got divorced when I was three, so I had a really bumpy early childhood. My dad was emotionally abusive, maybe a little physically abusive, and got into cocaine and drugs. My mom, out of wanting to protect me, was trying to escape that situation. From around three to six, she was a single mom. We lived in a basement apartment, renting from another family in Shoreline, Washington. She worked extra hours at a hospital.
Eventually, she met my stepdad, Phil, who’s an incredible human being. But when they first met, there was conflict, as there often is in blended families. I actually joke about writing a book someday called Creative Dad and Hard-Ass Dad because my biological father, John, was an artist—a woodworker and a starving artist. He’s where I got my love for music and culture. On the other hand, my stepdad was a polar opposite, very disciplined and structured, which balanced me out.

Ina Coveney You started your career working at your church. Coming from a Christian household, when did religion come into your life? Was it a big part of your life growing up? How did you start working at the church and eventually become "the video master," starting your video career?

Sean Cannell I was raised in a Christian home, primarily through my mom’s faith. My dad was Catholic by tradition but not religious in practice. My mom has always been a woman of prayer and faith, which was a blessing. However, there were challenges growing up, and as a teenager, I rebelled hard against all of it.
My mom sent me to a Christian high school, but I got expelled between junior and senior year. I ended up finishing high school at Everett Community College. By that point, I wasn’t on good terms with my mom and was hanging out with progressively worse friends. Long story short, I went through a “prodigal son” phase and found myself in a dark place.
At 18, my stepdad suggested I go to Bible college in Canada, where some of my uncles had gone. I agreed, and that decision set me on a new path. Studying the Bible for myself and meeting Christians who truly lived their faith helped me own my beliefs. That’s where my faith became real to me.

Ina Coveney Thank you for sharing that. It really paints a picture beyond the polished image of a successful influencer. I’d love to fast-forward a bit to your time working at the church. Tell us how video came into your life and became such an important part of your story.

Sean Cannell After Bible college, I returned home for summer break and started volunteering at my parents’ new church. They handed me a Canon HV30 camera and Adobe software and asked me to make videos for the youth ministry. The videos were terrible at first, but it was the beginning of something. That was in 2003.
Through that experience, I learned leadership, teamwork, and how to use video for something bigger than myself. By 2007, I started my first YouTube channel for the church, just two years after YouTube launched. Those skills became the foundation for everything I do today.

Ina Coveney And then 2008 hit—a financial crisis combined with your wife’s health struggles. Can you walk us through that time and how you managed everything?

Sean Cannell That era was incredibly tough. My wife got very sick, throwing up 10-15 times a day, and we couldn’t figure out why. The economic crash hit us hard too. We had two houses and couldn’t afford them when the market collapsed. On top of that, the church we were part of fell apart.
Eventually, my wife was down to 82 pounds and had to get a feeding tube. One night, the feeding tube malfunctioned, and food started filling her body cavity instead of her stomach. I had to rush her to the hospital. That was a wake-up call for me. I realized I needed to take my side hustle seriously and turn it into something that could support us. I started working on YouTube and building a business with the skills I had.

Ina Coveney I could spend hours unpacking each of these dramatic turning points in your story because there’s so much depth there. What really stands out to me is how, in the middle of all this, you leaned into your side hustle instead of saying, “I need to find a more stable corporate job.” You trusted yourself that this was going to work. That’s so impressive.
But I want to dive into a fear I hear a lot from entrepreneurs—something I struggle with myself. It’s the fear of growth. The idea that the more you grow, the more responsibilities you have, the more people depend on you, and the more eyes are watching. Essentially, it feels like growth can create a cage around you.
Recently, Vanessa Lau shared on Instagram that she walked away from her business because she built herself into overwhelm. I wonder—did you ever struggle with that fear of growth? And if not, what would you say has been your biggest fear in business?

Sean Cannell That’s such a deep question, Ina. And yeah, I’ve absolutely wrestled with that fear. Honestly, dealing with success is harder than dealing with failure. Failure is a beginner’s challenge, but success? It can destroy people. Success blows up marriages, character, and even mental health if you’re not prepared for it.
I’ve felt the fear of, “Am I enough? Can I handle this?” Success brings pressure, and that pressure can break you if your character hasn’t grown enough to handle it. For a time, my business and platform were growing faster than I was on the inside. That imbalance forced me to realize I needed to work harder on myself than on my job.
The biggest misconception people have about me is that everything I do is about money. When people see a 15-second ad or a clip of me on social media, they might lump me in with “those internet marketing guys.” But at my core, what I care about most is making a real impact and helping my customers succeed.

Ina Coveney I love that you brought up the idea of working on yourself. For people who see you as a role model, someone whose life and business they aspire to, what would you tell them they need to do in the next 24 hours to take their first step?

Sean Cannell First, grab a blank piece of paper or a journal. Set the mood—light a candle, make some tea or coffee, and create a quiet space for yourself. Then ask yourself this simple question: “What do I want?” Get as clear as possible about your ideal future. What does your ideal life look like? What are your goals for your family, your finances, your business?
Chances are, you’re not as clear as you think you are. Vision is everything. Once you clarify your vision, you’ll start to see what actions you need to take, what resources you need, and who you should surround yourself with.
If your vision includes starting a YouTube channel, for example, invest in that. Buy a book like YouTube Secrets, sign up for an event like Grow With Video Live, or start watching videos that teach you how to get started. The key is to align your actions with the vision you write down.

Ina Coveney That’s such great advice. Thank you, Sean, for being so open and sharing your story with us. Can you tell everyone where they can connect with you and learn more about your content and programs?

Sean Cannell Thank you, Ina. I’ve never had a conversation quite like this—it’s been an incredible experience. You can find me on all social media platforms as Sean Cannell—that’s Cannell, which rhymes with “YouTube Channel.” Our main YouTube channel is Think Media, and for anyone who wants to dive deeper, check out the Think Media Podcast. We cover everything from starting a YouTube side hustle to growing a business with video.
And for those who want to take things to the next level, you can learn more about our annual event at GrowWithVideoLive.com. Thanks again, Ina, for having me on. This has been such a unique and meaningful conversation.

Ina Coveney Thank you, Sean. Wishing you all the best, and I hope everyone listening checks out your content and your event. This has been amazing!