In this deeply emotional episode of What Makes the Cow Guy Cry, host Jim Dedelow sits down with Scott Shellady for one of the most raw conversations yet — about anger, guilt, grief, and the lifelong pain of losing a child.

Scott opens up about the death of his 17-year-old daughter in the John Hancock Center in Chicago after a heroin overdose — a tragedy he often describes as being "bullied to death." What began as severe middle school bullying spiraled into isolation, toxic friendships, drug experimentation, and ultimately a fatal accident.

This episode explores:

• The anger parents feel after losing a child

• Feeling guilty for moments of relief after tragedy

• The emotional stages of grief (shock, anger, depression, acceptance)

• Heroin overdose awareness and teen drug use

• The long-term psychological impact of bullying

• Parental trauma and complicated grief

• Choosing happiness after devastating loss

• Mental health for fathers and men

• Faith, forgiveness, and resilience

• Living with a "hole in your heart."

• Surviving cancer while carrying grief

Scott speaks candidly about:
• Being angry at his daughter after her death
• Feeling guilt for not having to "worry anymore"
• Watching her struggle after intense bullying in junior high
• The danger of vulnerable teens gravitating toward toxic peer groups
• The haunting memory of seeing his daughter on a gurney
• Praying not to wake up during the darkest 60 days of grief
• Losing his brother to brain cancer
• Fighting prostate cancer himself
• Becoming an adjunct professor at DePaul University as part of his healing journey
• Choosing to live with purpose instead of bitterness

This is not just a story about child loss — it's about:

✔ Parental grief and trauma recovery
✔ Coping with the death of a teenager
✔ The effects of bullying on mental health
✔ Addiction and accidental overdose
✔ Grief counseling insights
✔ Post-traumatic growth
✔ Faith in the face of tragedy
✔ Learning to be less judgmental because "you never know how heavy someone's cross is"

Scott shares the powerful metaphor of feeling like a wounded war veteran who lost a limb — invisible to the world, but painfully present every day. He explains how grief doesn't get better — you just get better at carrying it.

For anyone struggling with:

• The loss of a child

• Suicide or overdose in the family

• Bullying trauma

• Cancer diagnosis

• Survivor's guilt

• Depression after loss

• Finding purpose after tragedy

This conversation is honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful.

Because sometimes healing isn't about "getting over it" — it's about choosing, every day, to live anyway.

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms.

What Makes the Cow Guy Cry – From Trading Floor to Redemption | Addiction Recovery, Sobriety & Reinventing Your Life

In this powerful and deeply personal episode of What Makes the Cow Guy Cry, host Jim Dedelow sits down with Scott Shellady (The Cow Guy) and former Chicago trader Matt Maloney for an honest conversation about life after the Chicago Board of Trade, addiction, sobriety, career collapse, faith, and rebuilding from rock bottom.

When the iconic trading pits of the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange faded into history, thousands of traders were forced into an identity crisis. For many, the end of the open-outcry era meant more than lost income — it meant lost purpose.

Matt shares his raw story of alcoholism, drug addiction, and hitting rock bottom inside the Board of Trade building — before crying out for help and beginning a 19-year sobriety journey rooted in faith, accountability, and personal responsibility. His transformation from self-destruction to successful real estate broker and devoted father is a testament to redemption and second chances.

Scott reflects on:

• Surviving the collapse of a financial career

• The mental health toll of losing professional identity

• Why you should never define yourself by your job

• Watching colleagues fall into addiction, depression, and suicide

• How resilience, discipline, and faith helped him endure tragedy, divorce, financial pressure, and even a cancer diagnosis

This episode explores powerful themes including:

✔ Addiction recovery and sobriety
✔ Alcoholism in high-pressure careers
✔ Life after Wall Street and the futures markets
✔ Career transition after job loss
✔ Identity beyond your profession
✔ Faith, spirituality, and personal growth
✔ Overcoming self-destruction
✔ Mental health for men
✔ Reinventing yourself after 40
✔ Redemption stories

From the trading pits of Chicago to real estate in Indiana and life beyond the markets, this is a conversation about hitting bottom, rebuilding your life, and choosing who you want to become.

If you've ever struggled with:

• Substance abuse

• Losing a career

• Financial stress

• Midlife reinvention

• Faith during hardship

• Finding purpose after failure

This episode will resonate.

Because sometimes the biggest comeback isn't financial — it's personal.

🎧 Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts.

In this powerful and deeply personal episode, Jim Dedelow sits down with The Cow Guy for an unforgettable conversation about resilience, grief, tragedy, and the deliberate choice to be happy — even after unimaginable loss.

The episode begins with a hot-button discussion about the Chicago Bears stadium controversy, the future of Soldier Field, Arlington Heights, and the possibility of the Bears moving to Indiana. Jim and Cow Guy debate the economic future of Chicago real estate, population shifts, sanctuary city policies, corporate departures like Citadel, Boeing, and McDonald's, and the broader trend of Americans relocating to warmer states like Arizona and Florida.

But the heart of this episode dives much deeper.

Cow Guy opens up about the devastating loss of his daughter in the John Hancock Center (now 875 N. Michigan), the moment a Chicago police officer told him, "Sir, your daughter is deceased," and the unimaginable task of making seven phone calls to family members to relive the tragedy again and again. He shares the emotional aftermath, the waves of grief, losing his brother and father shortly thereafter, and how trauma permanently changes you.

This episode explores:

• Coping with the death of a child

• Grief recovery and emotional resilience

• Mental strength and mindset after tragedy

• Post-traumatic growth

• Choosing happiness as a daily decision

• Overcoming anxiety and fear

• Life after loss

• Suicide awareness and family trauma

• Faith, mortality, and perspective

• How routine and work help during grief

• Personal development through adversity

• Leadership through pain

• Motivation for difficult times

Cow Guy shares his philosophy: If you're going to be here, make it worthwhile.
He explains how tragedy stripped away his fear, and why choosing happiness must be deliberate.

Jim also reflects on interviewing a mother who lost two children — including an autistic son killed in a train accident — and how shared tragedy creates a quiet understanding between people who have "tasted death."

This episode is raw, real, and ultimately hopeful.

If you're struggling with grief, navigating trauma, rebuilding after loss, or looking for motivation during hard times, this conversation delivers powerful perspective and practical mindset shifts.

🎙 Topics include:
Chicago Bears stadium debate, Chicago politics, economic migration trends, grief counseling, death of a child, resilience mindset, mental toughness, choosing happiness, overcoming tragedy, life lessons, motivation podcast, personal growth, and inspirational stories.

Watch on YouTube at WJOB1230 or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

From the Chicago Board of Trade to London's LIFFE exchange, this episode dives deep into the collapse of open outcry trading, the rise of electronic trading platforms, and what happens when an entire financial industry disappears.

Former pit trader, broker, and financial markets commentator Scott "The Cow Guy" Shellady shares his firsthand experience transitioning from futures trading in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) to a full-time career in financial media and market analysis. As electronic trading replaced floor traders in 2015, thousands in commodities trading, futures markets, options pits, and derivatives markets were forced to reinvent themselves.

This episode explores:

• Open outcry trading vs. electronic trading systems

• Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) history and CME floor trading culture

• Career reinvention after job loss in financial services

• Transitioning from Wall Street trading to financial media

• Market volatility, futures trading, and broker life in London and Chicago

• Personal resilience after divorce, loss, and economic uncertainty

• AI replacing white-collar jobs in accounting, investment banking, finance, and software

• Artificial Intelligence disruption in financial markets

• Trade school vs. college in an AI-driven economy

• Career advice for traders, investors, finance professionals, and young entrepreneurs

We discuss financial markets, investing, market psychology, risk management, industry disruption, and adapting to technological change. If you're interested in stock market careers, futures trading, commodities markets, financial news, business strategy, economic trends, or how AI will impact jobs in finance and beyond, this episode delivers real-world insight.

Perfect for listeners of finance podcasts, investing podcasts, business leadership shows, economic commentary, and career growth content.

This is a story about market evolution, economic survival, professional reinvention, and thriving after the death of an industry.

Listen now for powerful insights on trading, technology disruption, financial careers, and embracing change in the modern economy.

In this episode, The Cow Guy opens up about the power of structure, regimentation, and planning, and how those habits don't box him in—but actually free him to think creatively, generate original ideas, and show up every day in media, markets, and life. From waking up before dawn to scripting live radio shows, he explains how discipline creates the mental space for insight, artistry, and sharp commentary.

But this conversation goes deeper than productivity. The Cow Guy speaks candidly about grief, loss, and surviving some of the darkest moments of his life—when routine vanished and survival was the only goal. He shares how perspective, accountability, and what he calls "intestinal fortitude" helped him rebuild, return to structure, and keep moving forward.

Along the way, the discussion touches on motivation, generational differences, leadership, coaching, and why heart still matters more than talent. It's an honest, unfiltered look at how old-school discipline can still work in a modern world—and why thinking time may be the most valuable asset we have.

Raw, reflective, and unapologetically real.

In this expansive and deeply reflective episode, **Scott Shellady—The Cow Guy—**shares the full arc of a life shaped by discipline, loss, creativity, and an unwavering commitment to growth. From playing college football at the University of Colorado under legendary coach Bill McCartney, to living and trading in London for 16 years, Scott looks back on the pivotal moments, mentors, and mindsets that defined his journey. Scott opens up about navigating profound personal challenges—divorce, the loss of loved ones, cancer, and reinvention after the trading floor went electronic—while still describing his life as deeply blessed. He explains why "choosing to be happy" isn't denial or positivity theater, but a practical, daily discipline rooted in accountability, self-critique, and perspective. The conversation explores Scott's personal philosophy of "winning the day," his habit of coaching himself through honest self-reflection, and how athletics taught him to own mistakes, handle criticism, and keep moving forward. He also shares how an early background in art and creativity shaped his unconventional approach to financial markets, media, and personal branding—including the iconic Cow Guy jacket that became part of his identity on television. Along the way, Scott honors the teachers and coaches who changed the trajectory of his life, recounts lessons learned from failure and success, and reflects on what it means to live fully in the present at 60 years old—with gratitude, confidence, and purpose. This episode blends life lessons, resilience, leadership, creativity, athletics, finance, and personal growth, offering listeners a candid and motivating look at how experience, discipline, and self-belief can carry you through every chapter of life.

In this episode, we get a different side of the Cow Guy as he opens up about his marriage with his wife and how she saved him after the passing of his daughter and his father.

In this powerful and deeply personal episode, **Scott Shellady—The Cow Guy—**opens up about the life experiences that shaped who he is beyond the trading jacket. Known nationally as a markets expert and media personality, Scott reflects on loss, faith, resilience, and the conscious decision to choose happiness in the face of unimaginable hardship.

Scott shares candid stories about losing his daughter and father within days of each other, living through grief, navigating cancer, and how those moments forever changed his perspective on fear, success, and purpose. Drawing from his years as a trader on the Chicago Board of Trade and in London, Scott explains how surviving life's hardest moments prepared him for high-pressure markets, public media, and reinvention beyond the trading floor.

The conversation explores themes of mental health, grief, faith, identity, and reinvention, including why Scott never defined himself solely as a trader, how he transitioned into financial media and television, and what it truly means to live fully—laughing, crying, and reflecting every single day.

This episode is a raw, honest look at life after loss, the importance of resilience and faith, and how embracing change can lead to purpose, fulfillment, and impact—both in markets and in life.