May 21, 2025 • 22 mins
In this heartfelt and insightful episode of Real Estate Distilled, Scott Hack sits down with Jason Shinpaugh—a 28-year real estate veteran turned mobile entrepreneur as he travels the country with his family in an RV. Jason shares how burnout from building a traditional real estate team led to a radical lifestyle shift focused on intentional living, location freedom, and authentic relationships. The conversation covers the value of real community in the real estate industry, the dangers of social media’s “highlight reel,” and the importance of making memories now, not later. Jason also discusses how conferences like Real Estate Distilled foster deep connections that fuel both business and personal growth.
Looking to join Jason on the Agent Helping Agent call he does on Wed? Follow the link here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Jason Shinpaugh (00:00):
Our industry has a lot of people sitting on
(00:02):
islands right now, and I thinkour industry has done new agents
a disservice. They don't knowwhat to do. There's so much out
there with social media, TheHighlight Real. We need to be
having real conversations in ourindustry about what it's really
about. And if you're not havingthese conversations, you need to
be around people who are becausethat's how you grow your
business.
Announcer (00:23):
Welcome to the real estate distilled podcast. Get
ready for a smooth pour oninsights on sales, marketing,
lead conversion, and technology.All shaken, stirred, and
perfectly balanced to help yousucceed in real estate.
Scott Hack (00:51):
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode
of the Real Estate Distilledpodcast. Super excited today to
have a guest with us in thestudio. Normally, we bring our
guests in virtually througheither a computer or a telephone
call, but Jason is here with us.He's traveling across the
country with his family in theirRV as Jason is a mobile
(01:12):
entrepreneur.
So I'm excited to have Jasonjoin us here in the studio, like
as I said. So Jason, introduceyourself and tell everybody who
you are and where you're from.
Jason Shinpaugh (01:22):
That's awesome. Thanks for having me. That's
super cool to get to come seewhat really happens here for
your podcast, and, I'm glad tobe here. My name is Jason
Shinpaugh. I'm from, CocoaBeach, Florida area, and, we've
been traveling full time now forjust over nine years, which is
crazy to say out loud and beenin the real estate business over
(01:43):
twenty eight years.
So like, Scott, I'm like the oldguy now, like giving out advice.
I'm like, I remember when I wasyour age. I'm that guy now. And
I can't believe that it's beenthat long. And man, what a crazy
life that's been, being in thisbusiness that long.
Scott Hack (02:00):
Well, and you are similar to me in that we both
have spouses that are alsoeither in the industry or in
adjacent industries. So yourwife, Linda, is in the mortgage
industry. So it's like you wakeup, you're eating, breathing,
real estate.
Jason Shinpaugh (02:14):
Yeah. Funny enough, my son turns 18 next
week, and he's getting his realestate license.
Scott Hack (02:19):
What state is he going to work
Jason Shinpaugh (02:20):
on? Florida.
Scott Hack (02:21):
Florida? Okay.
Jason Shinpaugh (02:21):
It's the easiest. I can help him the most
there, and he's pretty excited.We'll see what he does with it,
but it's already in his blood,if you will.
Scott Hack (02:31):
Yeah. When I was so for those that do not know, my
mom is a real estate agent, andmy father is a custom
homebuilder. So a lot of dinnerconversations were about real
estate and home buildingindustry and new subdivisions
and deck building and thingslike that, and I had no idea
that those type of conversationswere not normal until much later
in life. So, you know, whenwe're getting together, so you
(02:55):
spoke at Real Estate Distillthis year, and so you're
traveling across the country. Iknow you all have a big trip
you're doing.
You're headed up towards Alaskathis year, and you've got some
family and a little base in asmall town in Southern Indiana,
and we're not too far away. Sowhen you stop there, you've been
able to visit with us. When isthe the start Trek West start
(03:17):
happening?
Jason Shinpaugh (03:18):
We'll actually be going back to Nashville
tomorrow, picking up our motorhome. We're going to Texas. We
have a cool thing happening forour social media down there. And
then we'll start we need to beat the border of Alaska on May
I'm sorry, June. That's ourthat's our break into to Canada
(03:40):
and then from Canada intoAlaska, and we'll spend the
summer up there.
Scott Hack (03:44):
Okay. So when you said that date, like, do you
have a reservation across, or isit just like the window for
weather?
Jason Shinpaugh (03:51):
Well, the weather obviously plays a big
role in it. We do have a coupleof reservations in Waterton
National Park, which is in theCanadian side, Banff, and
Jasper. And other than that, wehave no reservations for the
whole summer. So we're literallyjust gonna wander our way
through the Yukon into Alaska,circle around, come back, and
(04:12):
we'll follow the weather up, andthen we'll follow follow the
weather back.
Scott Hack (04:16):
That's awesome. So you're going to continue to work
this summer. Mhmm. You're goingto continue to do your coaching.
So I know that you've got somepeople at eXp that you help
mentor and coach through.
So you're gonna continue to doyour Tuesdays and Wednesday
coachings that you do with them.Linda, like I said, is a lender,
so she's gonna continue tounderwrite loans and do
(04:38):
processing for those. And yourkids are building a YouTube
channel, right, for your family,for traveling. So it'll be
business as usual, just in a newplace every day. Right?
Jason Shinpaugh (04:49):
That's exactly right. I mean, it's what we've
been doing, as I said, for nineyears. So we don't really think
anything different of it. And,you know, one of the things that
was super important to me wascreating location freedom. I
don't do good in a box.
And when we left, I you know,you know a little bit of my
(05:12):
story, but, you know, superburned out on the real estate
business. It chewed me up andspit me out because I was trying
to build this big team. And,actually, I did build a big
team. And what they failed totell me was that that model is a
flawed model. It's it's it'sit's not the perfect model that
they portray it to be.
And when I got burned out andleft, we just left. And not
(05:34):
right or wrong, I can look backand say all sorts of things I
would have done differently, butwhat was important to me was to
be a great husband and be agreat dad. The rest of the stuff
comes after that. And I thinkthis industry has just become
something that it was nevermeant to be. Right?
You think about your mom sellinghouses. You know, somebody from
(05:56):
church wanted to buy a housethat she wouldn't sold them a
house. It was it wasn't all thestress and the that goes into
the business nowadays. And Iwatch people just failing all
over over real estate becausethey've made more money than
they ever thought they wouldmake. They've got busier.
They've got notoriety. They gotall these things going in their
life, but behind the scenes, ourour industry is breaking a lot
(06:20):
of people, and it broke me.
Scott Hack (06:22):
Yeah. So, I mean, you're echoing some of the the
themes from your talk actuallythat you gave this year at
Distilled, which we have someaudio from. So, hopefully, we're
gonna be able to get that mixedinto a future episode that we're
gonna share. So if you arelistening to this so we are
recording this today onThursday. I believe it's May 1,
definitely early May.
(06:43):
So the Kentucky Derby is aboutto happen, and traffic is a
little bit extra special here.So people have been traveling to
the track, and I actually justgot back from visiting in
Florida where one of our otherspeakers and our friend Neil
Mathewick put together hissummit. And there was a lot of
conversation that echoes whatwhat Jason's saying. Some of it
(07:05):
actually is, I think, beingperpetuated because of social
media. People are using socialmedia and thinking that that's
the real world.
Mhmm. And it's a highlight reel.And there's not a lot of people
that are sharing their defeatsand their struggles. And when
people see highlight reel,highlight reel, highlight reel,
start comparing to that the thelife to that. And comparison is
(07:28):
the thief of joy.
Absolutely. And so, I mean, youryour journey to bring clarity to
your business and prioritizefamily and being a good husband,
being a good father is somethingthat probably does not show up
on the highlight reel. Mhmm.Because that's the real world.
That's the real life.
That's what you're doing. I'mI'm always curious when you are
(07:53):
picking your path and whereyou're gonna where you're gonna
go. And I know you all have abase down in the it's Fort Myer
Beach. Right? Correct.
Yeah. So you all got a base downthere. So I'm always curious,
like, how you decide whattoday's what today's focus is
gonna be. So how do you justmake that determination?
Jason Shinpaugh (08:12):
Well, it it just depends on you know, we've
done it for so long in so manydifferent ways. This this year
has been all about Alaska. Youknow, my son turns 18, as I
said. He's not going anywheresoon, but statistically
speaking, he's not gonna be athome much longer. And Alaska is
(08:33):
kinda like the stamp on ourtravels.
We've been back and forth acrossthe country, I don't know,
fifteen, sixteen times. I mean,I have I've lost count, right,
of the times, you know, thatthat's out one, back two, just
not to be, you know, whatever.But because we were so
(08:53):
intentional about Alaska thisyear, like, that is the summer.
Last summer, we went out west,and we spent a month in Utah. We
spent a month in South Dakota.
We spent a month in, Montana andWyoming, and we spent a month in
Colorado with no planes. We justdid that. And I think, you know,
if you go back to the what thispodcast should really be about
(09:16):
for the people listening, youknow, we we were just broken,
and my only way out was just toleave. I'd spent a ton of time,
effort, energy, and resourcesbuilding this brand. I knew
everybody everywhere I went,which is awesome, but I was just
worn out.
And when I look back at it all,I didn't have a real estate
(09:37):
problem. I had a people, a paidproblem. But in my world, they
became the same. And that to mewas, like, I'm grateful for all
of it because we're where we aretoday. This wasn't something we
set out to do.
We just said we don't wanna dowhat we're doing anymore. We're
gonna do something different.Most people aren't gonna do
that. But if you if you watchany of our YouTube channel or
(10:00):
any of that stuff, our goal ineverything we do is to encourage
people to make memories now withtheir selves, with their
spouses, with their kids,whatever that means. Very few
people are gonna sell everythingand get an RV and travel full
time, but it could mean that youwent on a date with your wife
tonight.
It could mean that you went tothe beach this weekend. It could
mean that you were justintentional about making a
(10:22):
memory now. And I think that weare so focused on we're gonna
make that memory tomorrow, Andthen I think we can all agree
that time goes by quickly, andit's the only commodity, the
only commodity we can't findmore of.
Scott Hack (10:37):
Yeah. It definitely goes by very quickly. When you
have children, you see thathappening before your eyes for
sure. So one of the other thingsI think is really interesting
about you all's journey and andpath is that one one of my
favorite things, honestly, aboutvisiting conferences is the
community coming together andseeing people that I don't get
an opportunity to see, but maybeone or two times a year. And,
(11:01):
you know, obviously, with thenomad lifestyle, you get the
opportunity to visit with peoplein their homes a lot of times as
you're passing through town.
So, like, I think this is thethird time I'm gonna see you now
in the past four months Yeah.Which is which is pretty cool.
So how do you build thoserelationships, and how are you
(11:21):
finding people, you know, wherethey're at? Because, obviously,
you're hitting a lot ofdifferent states. You're at a
brokerage, you know, that'snationwide, so that obviously
helps having those connections.
Are you checking Facebook posts?Are you asking your your people
to introduce you to other peoplein those towns?
Jason Shinpaugh (11:37):
Yes. I'm just intentional about it. You know?
My number one God given gift isI'm a connector. And I just I
believe in relationships, andthey've always been super
important to me.
Every person that I meet, I putthem in my phone with where I
met them, where they live, andnow I put if they have RV
hookups. You know? But we wehave just been so blessed by so
(12:00):
many people. And, really, thiswas one of the biggest
unintended benefits of ourlifestyle that I didn't think
would be. But think about, goingto real estate distilled.
You have this amazingconnection. You you have so much
in common with everybody sittingthere at Hello. Right? You have
team leaders, broker owners,independent agents. They're all
(12:21):
selling business.
They're all selling houses.They're all trying to figure out
when to sell more houses, whento get more time back. They're
they're they all have all thiscommonality. You go to these
events. You know, I can remembergoing and go have this amazing
steak dinner and a nice bottleof wine, and my wife's at home
eating peanut butter and jellysandwich.
It's two two hours old on thecounter. And I'm like, this was
(12:42):
so cool. She's like, I don'twanna hear about it. Right? And
you would go to this event,you'd meet these really cool
people, and then you went home.
And maybe you all went to thesame event next year, and maybe
you didn't. And maybe you saweach other's at another event.
But overall, like, there was nothere was no was no connection
beyond that. And for us, like,when I'm going somewhere, I
(13:05):
mean, you you knew six weeks agoI was coming to town. Right?
I'm like, hey. I wanna make surethat we connect and we have a a
coffee or a lunch, which we'regonna have lunch after this,
which I'm excited about. I justhad coffee with another guy that
I met at real estate distilledbefore I came to see you. So my
intentionality is there. Andbecause of it, we've got to see
some really cool stuff.
(13:25):
We've got to do some really coolthings in people's hometowns,
and there's something differentwhen you're in somebody's
hometown. Right? When yourfamily meets their family, when
your kids meet their kids, whenthey take you on their favorite
hike, when they take you totheir favorite ice cream shop. I
mean, we were coming throughSaint Louis and met some real
estate friends there, and theytook us to this really cool
(13:47):
barbecue place. And they looklike little kids.
They're like, we gotta go to TedDrew's. Like, we got like, I
mean, they're like, Ted Drew'sis just around the corner. It's
this in their town, the mostfamous custard shop ever. So we
go over there. I mean, we wouldhave never done that.
I promise you, we would havenever done that. And so I am
very intentional about wherewe're going, who I'm gonna see,
(14:11):
and it just it's important tome. It always has been. And even
you know, even if I'm not comingto town, I'm messaging you every
so how are you? What's happeningin your world?
Anything I can do to help you?Like, I think that's why my my
business has continued to growis because I believe in serving
people.
Scott Hack (14:33):
Yeah. There was a big, big I'm a say it again, big
theme at Neil Matheweg's eventthat I was just at in Florida.
And, you know, relationship wasthat was one of the underlying
themes. There was, of course,relationship for the community,
the people coming together. Wewere talking about how many of
our client interactions arerelationship based.
Jason Shinpaugh (14:55):
Mhmm.
Scott Hack (14:55):
We're asking for referrals or we're doing client
events. You know, we're askingfor relationships essentially.
And when you know, one of mypillars of business is online
leads. And it has been for along time. It's where I got my
start.
But you do not you don't startthat with a relationship, but
(15:15):
that's the ultimate goal, tohave a relationship.
Jason Shinpaugh (15:19):
That's
Scott Hack (15:19):
right. Because they're not gonna do a
transaction with someone thatthey don't have a relationship
with. So you have to take thatfrom a cold name, email address,
and phone number into a meeting,into rapport to then build trust
and then relationship and then atransaction.
Jason Shinpaugh (15:35):
Mhmm.
Scott Hack (15:36):
And then hopefully, can rinse and repeat and build,
you know, off of thatrelationship into introductions
to their people. But it allstarts, essentially when the
relationship starts.
Jason Shinpaugh (15:47):
I agree.
Scott Hack (15:48):
It's it's that's awesome that, you know, I am a
huge fan of the city ofLouisville. That is one of the
reasons why Liz and I lovehosting our conference here. We
love introducing the city topeople, sharing everything
that's special about it. I'mactually taking some of the
things that I've learned abouthosting this podcast for Real
Estate Distilled, And I'm gonnabe launching a podcast that is
(16:09):
for my personal real estatebusiness, and it's gonna be
called Dear Louisville. And I'mgonna be bringing in local
guests, and we're gonna besharing basically love letters
to the city.
So the guests are gonna besharing things that they think
are special about the city, whythey love the city. And I'm
excited to start having otherpeople share what they love
(16:30):
about us as well. So I reallyappreciate you stopping in town
and visiting with me. Anythingelse that you wanna share with
the listeners here today?
Jason Shinpaugh (16:40):
I think my my my thing to you would be in this
business right now, it's beentough. Right? It it's been I've
never seen anything like it. Wewent through the crash. We lived
it.
We we were a part of it. I wouldjust encourage you not to quit,
and I would encourage you to getinto some type of community. If
(17:02):
you're not going to events yeah.I was just it's funny. Was just
on a call, yesterday.
I'm like, if you guys aren'tgoing to events, you're crazy.
Right? Whether it's just at yourboard, whether it's a regional
event, whether it's a nationalevent, I don't care. You need to
get to events. And, funnyenough, yesterday on my call,
there's, I don't know, 20 somepeople on there.
(17:24):
And I said, every one of you onthis call are a byproduct of two
people that I met at twodifferent events, And you now
have relationships with oneanother. Your your businesses
are growing. All of these thingsare happening because I went to
an event. And it wasn't becauseof who spoke at the event, it's
who I sat next to. And and thatis that is that is an incredibly
(17:51):
powerful thing when you reallythink about it.
It's awesome, the event that youhost, but you guys do such a
great job of getting people intorelationship and giving people
the space to connect outside ofthe stage. And the stage is
awesome, and it's great, andit's encouraging. And I I mean,
that that's what it's all about.But I think real estate
(18:12):
distilled in what you guys havebuilt there has just been so
good for our industry. You'vedone it at a place where people
can get there easily.
You've done it at place wherepeople can afford to come. You
guys are so hospitable. Like, Ienjoyed it. I was super honored,
number one, to to speak there,so thank you for allowing me to
speak there. But just met somegreat people there.
You know? The guy I just hadcoffee with. I've known him as
(18:34):
Facebook friends. I met him atyour first real estate
distilled. As you know, I metJessica at your first real
estate distilled, and, I mean,we're in business now, and she's
changed my life all because ofyour events.
So if you guys aren't going toevents, I would say absolutely
go to events. Be intentionalabout it. You don't have to, you
know, spend 9 gajillion dollars,which is what usually keeps
(18:55):
people from going or they're toobusy. And it's funny to me how
the people that are the busiestare the ones that are at events,
and the ones that claim to bethe busiest are the ones trying
to be home and have morebusiness. I noticed that in the
calls that I host.
I do host a call every week.Anybody in the country is
welcome to come. I do it viaZoom. It's on Wednesday mornings
(19:17):
at 09:00 to to, 09:45. It'scalled Agents Helping Agents,
and I built that call just togive back.
It our industry has a lot ofpeople sitting on islands right
now, and I think our industryhas done new agents a
disservice. They don't know whatto do. There's so much out there
(19:37):
with social media, the highlightreel. Matter of fact, one of the
calls I just hosted, last week,I was talking about running your
own race. It's funny that yousaid that.
Right? And, I think people getcaught up with impostor syndrome
and thinking that they should bedoing what the other people are
doing, not knowing behind thescenes the people are broken,
not knowing behind the scenestheir their business is not
(19:59):
making any money. I don't carehow many houses you sell. How
much money did you keep?
Scott Hack (20:03):
Yeah. 100%. Right? Yeah.
Jason Shinpaugh (20:05):
I was talking to a guy not long ago, and he's
like, I our our our gross profitmargin's up. So I'm like, well,
how much did you keep? Well, ourgross profit margin's up over I
I don't care. That's it. Thatthat number's irrelevant.
How much money he wouldn'tanswer my question. Either he
didn't know or he didn't wannashare, all of which are fine,
but we need to be having realconversations in our industry
(20:28):
about what it's really about.And if you're not having those
conversations, you need to bearound people who are because
that's how you grow yourbusiness. That's how you grow
your life. That's how you findthe joy in this business because
it's changed my life just likeit has yours.
Scott Hack (20:43):
Jason, if someone wanted to join you on that call
on a Wednesday, what is the bestway for me to help get them
connected to you?
Jason Shinpaugh (20:51):
I'll give you the link, you can just drop it
in the description.
Scott Hack (20:53):
Okay.
Jason Shinpaugh (20:54):
That's the easiest. It's a it's they can
jump on to sign on. I'll getthem the the information.
Scott Hack (20:59):
Okay. So I will share that link in the bottom in
the show notes for our our chattoday. And then if you're not
already in the Facebook group,please jump into the Facebook
group, join the conversationthat's taking place, those
connections. Jason, amongothers, will be there. We've got
about, I think we've got about2,300 people in the Facebook
group, and there's probably agood 500 people that are active
(21:20):
in there.
So if you've got a question,you've got a concern, you're
thinking about doing somethingcrazy and you need to tell
someone, have someone tell youthat it's a crazy idea or this
might be the best thing you'veever thought about, jump in the
group, post your question, postyour comment, and participate.
Build those relationshipsonline, and then we can take
(21:40):
them offline and bring them tothe conference that we'll be
hosting again in March of twentytwenty six. Again, thank you for
joining us at the Real EstateDistilled podcast. I wanna thank
Jason again for stopping in.We'll talk with you all soon.
Jason Shinpaugh (21:52):
Thank you, Scott.
Announcer (21:55):
That's a wrap for this episode of the Real Estate
Distilled podcast. VisitRealEstateDistilled.com for more
tips, and jump into our Facebookgroup to keep the conversation
going. Here's to making everytransaction a smooth pour.
Cheers.
Our industry has a lot of people sitting on
(00:02):
islands right now, and I thinkour industry has done new agents
a disservice. They don't knowwhat to do. There's so much out
there with social media, TheHighlight Real. We need to be
having real conversations in ourindustry about what it's really
about. And if you're not havingthese conversations, you need to
be around people who are becausethat's how you grow your
business.
Announcer (00:23):
Welcome to the real estate distilled podcast. Get
ready for a smooth pour oninsights on sales, marketing,
lead conversion, and technology.All shaken, stirred, and
perfectly balanced to help yousucceed in real estate.
Scott Hack (00:51):
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode
of the Real Estate Distilledpodcast. Super excited today to
have a guest with us in thestudio. Normally, we bring our
guests in virtually througheither a computer or a telephone
call, but Jason is here with us.He's traveling across the
country with his family in theirRV as Jason is a mobile
(01:12):
entrepreneur.
So I'm excited to have Jasonjoin us here in the studio, like
as I said. So Jason, introduceyourself and tell everybody who
you are and where you're from.
Jason Shinpaugh (01:22):
That's awesome. Thanks for having me. That's
super cool to get to come seewhat really happens here for
your podcast, and, I'm glad tobe here. My name is Jason
Shinpaugh. I'm from, CocoaBeach, Florida area, and, we've
been traveling full time now forjust over nine years, which is
crazy to say out loud and beenin the real estate business over
(01:43):
twenty eight years.
So like, Scott, I'm like the oldguy now, like giving out advice.
I'm like, I remember when I wasyour age. I'm that guy now. And
I can't believe that it's beenthat long. And man, what a crazy
life that's been, being in thisbusiness that long.
Scott Hack (02:00):
Well, and you are similar to me in that we both
have spouses that are alsoeither in the industry or in
adjacent industries. So yourwife, Linda, is in the mortgage
industry. So it's like you wakeup, you're eating, breathing,
real estate.
Jason Shinpaugh (02:14):
Yeah. Funny enough, my son turns 18 next
week, and he's getting his realestate license.
Scott Hack (02:19):
What state is he going to work
Jason Shinpaugh (02:20):
on? Florida.
Scott Hack (02:21):
Florida? Okay.
Jason Shinpaugh (02:21):
It's the easiest. I can help him the most
there, and he's pretty excited.We'll see what he does with it,
but it's already in his blood,if you will.
Scott Hack (02:31):
Yeah. When I was so for those that do not know, my
mom is a real estate agent, andmy father is a custom
homebuilder. So a lot of dinnerconversations were about real
estate and home buildingindustry and new subdivisions
and deck building and thingslike that, and I had no idea
that those type of conversationswere not normal until much later
in life. So, you know, whenwe're getting together, so you
(02:55):
spoke at Real Estate Distillthis year, and so you're
traveling across the country. Iknow you all have a big trip
you're doing.
You're headed up towards Alaskathis year, and you've got some
family and a little base in asmall town in Southern Indiana,
and we're not too far away. Sowhen you stop there, you've been
able to visit with us. When isthe the start Trek West start
(03:17):
happening?
Jason Shinpaugh (03:18):
We'll actually be going back to Nashville
tomorrow, picking up our motorhome. We're going to Texas. We
have a cool thing happening forour social media down there. And
then we'll start we need to beat the border of Alaska on May
I'm sorry, June. That's ourthat's our break into to Canada
(03:40):
and then from Canada intoAlaska, and we'll spend the
summer up there.
Scott Hack (03:44):
Okay. So when you said that date, like, do you
have a reservation across, or isit just like the window for
weather?
Jason Shinpaugh (03:51):
Well, the weather obviously plays a big
role in it. We do have a coupleof reservations in Waterton
National Park, which is in theCanadian side, Banff, and
Jasper. And other than that, wehave no reservations for the
whole summer. So we're literallyjust gonna wander our way
through the Yukon into Alaska,circle around, come back, and
(04:12):
we'll follow the weather up, andthen we'll follow follow the
weather back.
Scott Hack (04:16):
That's awesome. So you're going to continue to work
this summer. Mhmm. You're goingto continue to do your coaching.
So I know that you've got somepeople at eXp that you help
mentor and coach through.
So you're gonna continue to doyour Tuesdays and Wednesday
coachings that you do with them.Linda, like I said, is a lender,
so she's gonna continue tounderwrite loans and do
(04:38):
processing for those. And yourkids are building a YouTube
channel, right, for your family,for traveling. So it'll be
business as usual, just in a newplace every day. Right?
Jason Shinpaugh (04:49):
That's exactly right. I mean, it's what we've
been doing, as I said, for nineyears. So we don't really think
anything different of it. And,you know, one of the things that
was super important to me wascreating location freedom. I
don't do good in a box.
And when we left, I you know,you know a little bit of my
(05:12):
story, but, you know, superburned out on the real estate
business. It chewed me up andspit me out because I was trying
to build this big team. And,actually, I did build a big
team. And what they failed totell me was that that model is a
flawed model. It's it's it'sit's not the perfect model that
they portray it to be.
And when I got burned out andleft, we just left. And not
(05:34):
right or wrong, I can look backand say all sorts of things I
would have done differently, butwhat was important to me was to
be a great husband and be agreat dad. The rest of the stuff
comes after that. And I thinkthis industry has just become
something that it was nevermeant to be. Right?
You think about your mom sellinghouses. You know, somebody from
(05:56):
church wanted to buy a housethat she wouldn't sold them a
house. It was it wasn't all thestress and the that goes into
the business nowadays. And Iwatch people just failing all
over over real estate becausethey've made more money than
they ever thought they wouldmake. They've got busier.
They've got notoriety. They gotall these things going in their
life, but behind the scenes, ourour industry is breaking a lot
(06:20):
of people, and it broke me.
Scott Hack (06:22):
Yeah. So, I mean, you're echoing some of the the
themes from your talk actuallythat you gave this year at
Distilled, which we have someaudio from. So, hopefully, we're
gonna be able to get that mixedinto a future episode that we're
gonna share. So if you arelistening to this so we are
recording this today onThursday. I believe it's May 1,
definitely early May.
(06:43):
So the Kentucky Derby is aboutto happen, and traffic is a
little bit extra special here.So people have been traveling to
the track, and I actually justgot back from visiting in
Florida where one of our otherspeakers and our friend Neil
Mathewick put together hissummit. And there was a lot of
conversation that echoes whatwhat Jason's saying. Some of it
(07:05):
actually is, I think, beingperpetuated because of social
media. People are using socialmedia and thinking that that's
the real world.
Mhmm. And it's a highlight reel.And there's not a lot of people
that are sharing their defeatsand their struggles. And when
people see highlight reel,highlight reel, highlight reel,
start comparing to that the thelife to that. And comparison is
(07:28):
the thief of joy.
Absolutely. And so, I mean, youryour journey to bring clarity to
your business and prioritizefamily and being a good husband,
being a good father is somethingthat probably does not show up
on the highlight reel. Mhmm.Because that's the real world.
That's the real life.
That's what you're doing. I'mI'm always curious when you are
(07:53):
picking your path and whereyou're gonna where you're gonna
go. And I know you all have abase down in the it's Fort Myer
Beach. Right? Correct.
Yeah. So you all got a base downthere. So I'm always curious,
like, how you decide whattoday's what today's focus is
gonna be. So how do you justmake that determination?
Jason Shinpaugh (08:12):
Well, it it just depends on you know, we've
done it for so long in so manydifferent ways. This this year
has been all about Alaska. Youknow, my son turns 18, as I
said. He's not going anywheresoon, but statistically
speaking, he's not gonna be athome much longer. And Alaska is
(08:33):
kinda like the stamp on ourtravels.
We've been back and forth acrossthe country, I don't know,
fifteen, sixteen times. I mean,I have I've lost count, right,
of the times, you know, thatthat's out one, back two, just
not to be, you know, whatever.But because we were so
(08:53):
intentional about Alaska thisyear, like, that is the summer.
Last summer, we went out west,and we spent a month in Utah. We
spent a month in South Dakota.
We spent a month in, Montana andWyoming, and we spent a month in
Colorado with no planes. We justdid that. And I think, you know,
if you go back to the what thispodcast should really be about
(09:16):
for the people listening, youknow, we we were just broken,
and my only way out was just toleave. I'd spent a ton of time,
effort, energy, and resourcesbuilding this brand. I knew
everybody everywhere I went,which is awesome, but I was just
worn out.
And when I look back at it all,I didn't have a real estate
(09:37):
problem. I had a people, a paidproblem. But in my world, they
became the same. And that to mewas, like, I'm grateful for all
of it because we're where we aretoday. This wasn't something we
set out to do.
We just said we don't wanna dowhat we're doing anymore. We're
gonna do something different.Most people aren't gonna do
that. But if you if you watchany of our YouTube channel or
(10:00):
any of that stuff, our goal ineverything we do is to encourage
people to make memories now withtheir selves, with their
spouses, with their kids,whatever that means. Very few
people are gonna sell everythingand get an RV and travel full
time, but it could mean that youwent on a date with your wife
tonight.
It could mean that you went tothe beach this weekend. It could
mean that you were justintentional about making a
(10:22):
memory now. And I think that weare so focused on we're gonna
make that memory tomorrow, Andthen I think we can all agree
that time goes by quickly, andit's the only commodity, the
only commodity we can't findmore of.
Scott Hack (10:37):
Yeah. It definitely goes by very quickly. When you
have children, you see thathappening before your eyes for
sure. So one of the other thingsI think is really interesting
about you all's journey and andpath is that one one of my
favorite things, honestly, aboutvisiting conferences is the
community coming together andseeing people that I don't get
an opportunity to see, but maybeone or two times a year. And,
(11:01):
you know, obviously, with thenomad lifestyle, you get the
opportunity to visit with peoplein their homes a lot of times as
you're passing through town.
So, like, I think this is thethird time I'm gonna see you now
in the past four months Yeah.Which is which is pretty cool.
So how do you build thoserelationships, and how are you
(11:21):
finding people, you know, wherethey're at? Because, obviously,
you're hitting a lot ofdifferent states. You're at a
brokerage, you know, that'snationwide, so that obviously
helps having those connections.
Are you checking Facebook posts?Are you asking your your people
to introduce you to other peoplein those towns?
Jason Shinpaugh (11:37):
Yes. I'm just intentional about it. You know?
My number one God given gift isI'm a connector. And I just I
believe in relationships, andthey've always been super
important to me.
Every person that I meet, I putthem in my phone with where I
met them, where they live, andnow I put if they have RV
hookups. You know? But we wehave just been so blessed by so
(12:00):
many people. And, really, thiswas one of the biggest
unintended benefits of ourlifestyle that I didn't think
would be. But think about, goingto real estate distilled.
You have this amazingconnection. You you have so much
in common with everybody sittingthere at Hello. Right? You have
team leaders, broker owners,independent agents. They're all
(12:21):
selling business.
They're all selling houses.They're all trying to figure out
when to sell more houses, whento get more time back. They're
they're they all have all thiscommonality. You go to these
events. You know, I can remembergoing and go have this amazing
steak dinner and a nice bottleof wine, and my wife's at home
eating peanut butter and jellysandwich.
It's two two hours old on thecounter. And I'm like, this was
(12:42):
so cool. She's like, I don'twanna hear about it. Right? And
you would go to this event,you'd meet these really cool
people, and then you went home.
And maybe you all went to thesame event next year, and maybe
you didn't. And maybe you saweach other's at another event.
But overall, like, there was nothere was no was no connection
beyond that. And for us, like,when I'm going somewhere, I
(13:05):
mean, you you knew six weeks agoI was coming to town. Right?
I'm like, hey. I wanna make surethat we connect and we have a a
coffee or a lunch, which we'regonna have lunch after this,
which I'm excited about. I justhad coffee with another guy that
I met at real estate distilledbefore I came to see you. So my
intentionality is there. Andbecause of it, we've got to see
some really cool stuff.
(13:25):
We've got to do some really coolthings in people's hometowns,
and there's something differentwhen you're in somebody's
hometown. Right? When yourfamily meets their family, when
your kids meet their kids, whenthey take you on their favorite
hike, when they take you totheir favorite ice cream shop. I
mean, we were coming throughSaint Louis and met some real
estate friends there, and theytook us to this really cool
(13:47):
barbecue place. And they looklike little kids.
They're like, we gotta go to TedDrew's. Like, we got like, I
mean, they're like, Ted Drew'sis just around the corner. It's
this in their town, the mostfamous custard shop ever. So we
go over there. I mean, we wouldhave never done that.
I promise you, we would havenever done that. And so I am
very intentional about wherewe're going, who I'm gonna see,
(14:11):
and it just it's important tome. It always has been. And even
you know, even if I'm not comingto town, I'm messaging you every
so how are you? What's happeningin your world?
Anything I can do to help you?Like, I think that's why my my
business has continued to growis because I believe in serving
people.
Scott Hack (14:33):
Yeah. There was a big, big I'm a say it again, big
theme at Neil Matheweg's eventthat I was just at in Florida.
And, you know, relationship wasthat was one of the underlying
themes. There was, of course,relationship for the community,
the people coming together. Wewere talking about how many of
our client interactions arerelationship based.
Jason Shinpaugh (14:55):
Mhmm.
Scott Hack (14:55):
We're asking for referrals or we're doing client
events. You know, we're askingfor relationships essentially.
And when you know, one of mypillars of business is online
leads. And it has been for along time. It's where I got my
start.
But you do not you don't startthat with a relationship, but
(15:15):
that's the ultimate goal, tohave a relationship.
Jason Shinpaugh (15:19):
That's
Scott Hack (15:19):
right. Because they're not gonna do a
transaction with someone thatthey don't have a relationship
with. So you have to take thatfrom a cold name, email address,
and phone number into a meeting,into rapport to then build trust
and then relationship and then atransaction.
Jason Shinpaugh (15:35):
Mhmm.
Scott Hack (15:36):
And then hopefully, can rinse and repeat and build,
you know, off of thatrelationship into introductions
to their people. But it allstarts, essentially when the
relationship starts.
Jason Shinpaugh (15:47):
I agree.
Scott Hack (15:48):
It's it's that's awesome that, you know, I am a
huge fan of the city ofLouisville. That is one of the
reasons why Liz and I lovehosting our conference here. We
love introducing the city topeople, sharing everything
that's special about it. I'mactually taking some of the
things that I've learned abouthosting this podcast for Real
Estate Distilled, And I'm gonnabe launching a podcast that is
(16:09):
for my personal real estatebusiness, and it's gonna be
called Dear Louisville. And I'mgonna be bringing in local
guests, and we're gonna besharing basically love letters
to the city.
So the guests are gonna besharing things that they think
are special about the city, whythey love the city. And I'm
excited to start having otherpeople share what they love
(16:30):
about us as well. So I reallyappreciate you stopping in town
and visiting with me. Anythingelse that you wanna share with
the listeners here today?
Jason Shinpaugh (16:40):
I think my my my thing to you would be in this
business right now, it's beentough. Right? It it's been I've
never seen anything like it. Wewent through the crash. We lived
it.
We we were a part of it. I wouldjust encourage you not to quit,
and I would encourage you to getinto some type of community. If
(17:02):
you're not going to events yeah.I was just it's funny. Was just
on a call, yesterday.
I'm like, if you guys aren'tgoing to events, you're crazy.
Right? Whether it's just at yourboard, whether it's a regional
event, whether it's a nationalevent, I don't care. You need to
get to events. And, funnyenough, yesterday on my call,
there's, I don't know, 20 somepeople on there.
(17:24):
And I said, every one of you onthis call are a byproduct of two
people that I met at twodifferent events, And you now
have relationships with oneanother. Your your businesses
are growing. All of these thingsare happening because I went to
an event. And it wasn't becauseof who spoke at the event, it's
who I sat next to. And and thatis that is that is an incredibly
(17:51):
powerful thing when you reallythink about it.
It's awesome, the event that youhost, but you guys do such a
great job of getting people intorelationship and giving people
the space to connect outside ofthe stage. And the stage is
awesome, and it's great, andit's encouraging. And I I mean,
that that's what it's all about.But I think real estate
(18:12):
distilled in what you guys havebuilt there has just been so
good for our industry. You'vedone it at a place where people
can get there easily.
You've done it at place wherepeople can afford to come. You
guys are so hospitable. Like, Ienjoyed it. I was super honored,
number one, to to speak there,so thank you for allowing me to
speak there. But just met somegreat people there.
You know? The guy I just hadcoffee with. I've known him as
(18:34):
Facebook friends. I met him atyour first real estate
distilled. As you know, I metJessica at your first real
estate distilled, and, I mean,we're in business now, and she's
changed my life all because ofyour events.
So if you guys aren't going toevents, I would say absolutely
go to events. Be intentionalabout it. You don't have to, you
know, spend 9 gajillion dollars,which is what usually keeps
(18:55):
people from going or they're toobusy. And it's funny to me how
the people that are the busiestare the ones that are at events,
and the ones that claim to bethe busiest are the ones trying
to be home and have morebusiness. I noticed that in the
calls that I host.
I do host a call every week.Anybody in the country is
welcome to come. I do it viaZoom. It's on Wednesday mornings
(19:17):
at 09:00 to to, 09:45. It'scalled Agents Helping Agents,
and I built that call just togive back.
It our industry has a lot ofpeople sitting on islands right
now, and I think our industryhas done new agents a
disservice. They don't know whatto do. There's so much out there
(19:37):
with social media, the highlightreel. Matter of fact, one of the
calls I just hosted, last week,I was talking about running your
own race. It's funny that yousaid that.
Right? And, I think people getcaught up with impostor syndrome
and thinking that they should bedoing what the other people are
doing, not knowing behind thescenes the people are broken,
not knowing behind the scenestheir their business is not
(19:59):
making any money. I don't carehow many houses you sell. How
much money did you keep?
Scott Hack (20:03):
Yeah. 100%. Right? Yeah.
Jason Shinpaugh (20:05):
I was talking to a guy not long ago, and he's
like, I our our our gross profitmargin's up. So I'm like, well,
how much did you keep? Well, ourgross profit margin's up over I
I don't care. That's it. Thatthat number's irrelevant.
How much money he wouldn'tanswer my question. Either he
didn't know or he didn't wannashare, all of which are fine,
but we need to be having realconversations in our industry
(20:28):
about what it's really about.And if you're not having those
conversations, you need to bearound people who are because
that's how you grow yourbusiness. That's how you grow
your life. That's how you findthe joy in this business because
it's changed my life just likeit has yours.
Scott Hack (20:43):
Jason, if someone wanted to join you on that call
on a Wednesday, what is the bestway for me to help get them
connected to you?
Jason Shinpaugh (20:51):
I'll give you the link, you can just drop it
in the description.
Scott Hack (20:53):
Okay.
Jason Shinpaugh (20:54):
That's the easiest. It's a it's they can
jump on to sign on. I'll getthem the the information.
Scott Hack (20:59):
Okay. So I will share that link in the bottom in
the show notes for our our chattoday. And then if you're not
already in the Facebook group,please jump into the Facebook
group, join the conversationthat's taking place, those
connections. Jason, amongothers, will be there. We've got
about, I think we've got about2,300 people in the Facebook
group, and there's probably agood 500 people that are active
(21:20):
in there.
So if you've got a question,you've got a concern, you're
thinking about doing somethingcrazy and you need to tell
someone, have someone tell youthat it's a crazy idea or this
might be the best thing you'veever thought about, jump in the
group, post your question, postyour comment, and participate.
Build those relationshipsonline, and then we can take
(21:40):
them offline and bring them tothe conference that we'll be
hosting again in March of twentytwenty six. Again, thank you for
joining us at the Real EstateDistilled podcast. I wanna thank
Jason again for stopping in.We'll talk with you all soon.
Jason Shinpaugh (21:52):
Thank you, Scott.
Announcer (21:55):
That's a wrap for this episode of the Real Estate
Distilled podcast. VisitRealEstateDistilled.com for more
tips, and jump into our Facebookgroup to keep the conversation
going. Here's to making everytransaction a smooth pour.
Cheers.
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