Creating Wealth In Real Estate With Purpose Driven Impact

Stephen S. (00:02.889)
Welcome to the show where we interview the nation’s leading real estate entrepreneurs Welcome back to the show if you’re joining us for a second third or hundredth time. It’s your host Stephen Schmidt And I am here today with my new friend Shawn Johnson and you guys are be in for an absolute treat Shawn has an impressive rap sheet Achieving financial independence at 34 was able to retire at 39. He’s now helping other asset managers property managers

unlock financial freedom themselves. And today we’re going to be talking a lot about how to maximize and optimize your network for the ultimate deal flow. So we’re going to hop right into it here. But just before we do remember at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers and real estate entrepreneurs, 2 to 5X their businesses to allow them to build the businesses they’ve always wanted to allow them to live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. That being said, Shawn, welcome to the show today.

Shawn Austin Johnson (00:57.068)
Hey, thanks for having me. It’s my honor.

Stephen S. (00:59.911)
Really excited to get into today’s topic, which was one of the first things you actually said in our pre-show recording was talking about just how underutilized people’s personal network within their locale is with insurance agents and your local roofer and whatever. So I’m really excited to hop into that and then also kind of talk about like why you think more asset managers aren’t investing themselves.

even though they’re already in kind of that gateway drug of real estate, which it can be super addicting. So before we do that though, can you just do us all a little favor? Can you share a little bit about yourself and how you got to where you’re at today?

Shawn Austin Johnson (01:35.982)
Yeah, sure. Started really early on. I got the taste of real estate when I was 20, bought a house in Phoenix, Arizona, 2002 ish. And then the bubble was starting to happen, right? That bubble was growing and growing and I sold that house after living in it for two years and made a big pop of money. And I was like, holy crap, this real estate thing is really awesome. But I knew that was an anomaly. And my dad also had an Apeplex when I was a kid. So I kind of had that taste.

He was always chasing rent. It was like a classy property. And I was like, that’s not really for me. But I do see the potential in real estate. so fast forward, I started flying helicopters professionally. Went through school and flew helicopters for a while. was, you know what? I’ve got to find some different streams of income. It’s constantly trading time for money. And that felt like a quick road to a grave.

So I kind of pivoted and my wife and I really started focusing on property management. We started a property management firm. And about six months after starting that firm, we bought our first investment property. And it’s kind of been amazing since. We’ve just really focused on building a nice portfolio that pretty much self-manages our property manager, who is a remote team member that lives in Jamaica.

manages those doors for us and she does amazing, been with us for years and years and it’s pretty hands off for my wife and I. that’s kind of how it all came about.

Stephen S. (03:15.151)
Sure. So why did you choose property management as the first thing instead of I think a lot of people getting into it, you know, move towards wholesale or some of them just go, you know, full send feed in doing fix and flips themselves, which I’ve heard, you know, a lot of horror stories out when that’s their first experience, but why property management? What stood out to you about that specific?

Shawn Austin Johnson (03:36.022)
Yeah, my wife was a corporate paralegal for a large investment firm out of San Diego and she had a real estate license in multiple states and she would broker the states for this investment firm. And we decided to start having kids and so we said, hey, you know, we’re going to move back home. And my sister-in-law at the time is like, hey, there’s no good property managers here. She had a couple of rental properties herself and had had bad experiences with several of them. And she said, you know,

Since you have a license, you have experience overseeing property managers on a national scale, why don’t you start a management company? And that’s exactly what we did. We really thought that we’d get to about 100 doors and be super comfortable, and that was going to provide a decent lifestyle. I would continue flying helicopters, and everything was hunky-dory, if you will. And I had a great schedule flying, which is seven on, seven off. And so on those seven days off, I would work in the business, and it was great.

blew up fast. It grew really fast and it just kept going. And that’s kind of why we got into PM.

Stephen S. (04:42.131)
Do you think it blew up really fast because you were sort of in the right place at the right time or was there anything in particular that you did different than what was also else out there that allowed you to scale quicker?

Shawn Austin Johnson (04:55.65)
Yeah, I think a little bit on the right place, right time, but really in a we’re in a tertiary market real small about 50,000 people and nobody answers the phone. We live in New Mexico, which is often called the land of tomorrow. And so it’s, know, hey, I need this done and I’ll get to it tomorrow. It’s constantly like that. And we didn’t have that mindset. The other thing is like our competition at the time was very paper heavy so that you would have to print off a rental application or

Stephen S. (05:14.089)
Mm-hmm.

Shawn Austin Johnson (05:25.358)
If they didn’t call you back, it would be in like two or three days and we’re like, that’s a lead. We’re going to grab that phone call right now. And we made it completely digital where the experience was really effortless for our clients and our tenants. And we focused heavy on that. And I think that was really what gravitated. The other thing that really helped is just having a big marketing mindset. How do we lease these properties in the shortest amount of time to the best tenants possible?

that we can for our clients so that they’re not incurring days on market and the stress of having a vacant property and the high turnover rates. And so we really focused on those things right off the gate that helped us differentiate quickly in the marketplace.

Stephen S. (06:12.743)
And so where you’re at now, you’ve sold that original business, right? So what are you focusing on now within this?

Shawn Austin Johnson (06:22.604)
Yeah, so we just sold the second one. We just had another seven figure exit on a property management trust accounting firm. And so we’ve kind of kind of been around this PM space for such a long time. And so what I focus on primarily myself is to help other property management company owners utilize their business as a wealth generator instead of a job. And so often.

people get stuck, they think that the grass is greener and so they start a business and then they realize that it’s a lot harder than they thought it was going to be and then it turns into a JOB, right? The job. really it’s a terrible thing to fall into if it’s just a job because you’re taking all the risks as a business owner and not really getting any of the rewards. And so really hope property management company owners really scale up how to

how to provide appropriate services, create a ton of value for the clients, charge accordingly, and then utilize, instead of utilizing those profits to just increase our lifestyle, which so often happens in America, utilize those profits in a manner to reinvest and create other streams of income with rental properties or other investment streams that they’re not stressed out because they solely have to rely on the income of the management company.

Stephen S. (07:46.569)
And so what are some of those unique ways that you’re helping people to do that?

Shawn Austin Johnson (07:50.882)
Yeah, so one of the unique ways is to, well, I’ll mention two. One of them is to get their time back. So often in property management, it’s like the front door is a revolving door. And even though you try to set a schedule and time block your day, it gets bombarded by the things that happen in property management, like the basements flooding or the tenant eviction that happens or whatever, all of those things. And how to really

get your time back and focus on buying that back with training the staff in appropriate manner and getting them to make those higher level decisions so you can focus on actually running the business and not being in the business all the time. So that’s one. And number two is utilizing your management client list to actually buy properties from them. We don’t know what our clients are going through and oftentimes life happens.

a divorce or an inheritance or, you know, I just, have to move out of the country. I don’t really want this rental property anymore, but this is the solution that I know I need to have. How do we utilize that client list in a way that we can buy rental properties from them and do it as a system? So when they think of selling their investment property, they think of you, the property management company owner, instead of

putting it out on the marketplace, disrupting the tenant, having to prep that house for sale and all of those things that happen that are not convenient. It’s kind of a pain in the butt to do that and make it really simple for them to sell it to the manager.

Stephen S. (09:32.478)
How often do you think that that’s happening within property management where people are selling? And because that seems like it would be a net loss for the property manager if they are selling the house to someone else, because then that effectively, I’m assuming, would end the contract with the property management company. So like, how often do you think that’s actually happening and why and how property managers are losing those properties when they otherwise not only could get an asset that they’ve already been taking care of, but also build that wealth?

that, like you said, we’re in real estate for to begin with instead of just have a job.

Shawn Austin Johnson (10:07.502)
Yeah, about 10 years ago in the industry, there was this big push. Like if you’re a property manager, you also need to be a sales agent. And a lot of sales agents became property managers, especially in the 2008, 2009 realm when homes weren’t selling that well. And so that became like this mantra in the industry. But I always thought, well, that’s silly. Why would I want to sell this house to somebody else and they’re going to take the management somewhere or they’re just going to live in themselves? And then I lose the management.

I might get a little pop of commission, but it doesn’t build anybody any wealth and it certainly doesn’t build my wealth. And so I would say, you know, to answer your question, it’s a very small percentage of property managers who are actually real estate investors. guessing I haven’t done a large scale analysis, but I’m guessing less than 10%, which is super sad because they are in the industry. They understand the rental properties. They understand how to analyze those properties.

especially on behalf of investors, and they yet don’t do it for themselves.

Stephen S. (11:11.881)
What do you think that is?

Shawn Austin Johnson (11:14.76)
man, there’s a billion reasons that I have interviewed clients and they have a different reason each and every one of them. However, I would say like the general consensus is a fear of risk. They feel like there is a loss potential there instead of a gain. And I think really the probably the bigger underlying problem is complacency. It’s comfortable.

I have a business, it’s providing for myself. I don’t really need to think outside that box and create additional streams of income. And I always looked at it differently. Like if I’m going to work for myself, well, I don’t have a retirement. I don’t have a 401k. There is no pension. How do I utilize this income, live way below my means, and then scale up for additional streams of income? And I think that’s the common thing. Most managers don’t think that way.

Stephen S. (12:09.917)
You you touched on something there, which ultimately all comes back to mindset challenges, fear of risk, fear of loss, and then complacency, which are all things that keep people stuck. Do you see that playing out with most of the clients that you’ve worked with in the past that maybe some of them just didn’t even know what scary bear was on the end of not doing it to?

Shawn Austin Johnson (12:35.298)
Yeah, oftentimes the opportunity cost of not doing anything is far greater, right? And yes, once a viable solution is presented, like they can actually see the benefit in mind, often people get through those barriers that have been traditionally holding them back.

Stephen S. (12:55.945)
So after exiting two companies and then looking back on it, what keeps drawing you back to doing what you’re doing now? What keeps bringing you back to that niche?

Shawn Austin Johnson (13:08.782)
Probably the biggest thing is this, I’m just known in the industry. I’ve been a national speaker and have been around it for long enough in the trade association realm. That’s probably number one. Number two is I really do like the industry. I think that it provides a lot of value if done right to investors. And the unfortunate thing is, is there’s a lot of bad actors.

there can be and you know, and obviously there’s a lot of things that can go out of control and they can’t control every situation as a property manager, but You know, there’s there’s been some bad actors who have not only just you know, embezzled the trust account or the trust fund if you will all the security deposits or whatever and it just gives everybody a bad name so I do care about the industry I think that when you have professionals that

want to provide a great value for their clients and actually levels up all of it because if you look at the legislative side, Washington and every state capital thinks that landlords are the devil. And it’s certainly not the truth. We are providing good housing. Most are providing great housing. I mean, there’s the exception to the rule. And I think property managers are also ones that really want to provide great housing and value for

for the services that they provide. So I do care deeply about the industry.

Stephen S. (14:38.217)
Why do you care?

Shawn Austin Johnson (14:41.71)
Well, first of all, think housing itself is a necessity in life. And to provide good housing is super valuable. I I care about that part of it. I also care about the people side. My employees used to always tell me, hey, Shawn, you can’t talk to tenants anymore because you like to just give away their late fees or whatever. And it’s a people business to me.

And so I would step back, you and they are at you deal with that. But the reality is, is I just I care about the the outcome. I think housing can be a crisis in our country if we don’t pay attention to it. And I’d like being on the forefront of of the housing side if we can and provide the best provide the best housing we can. And I just really think that in most cases, property managers.

do care deeply about the industry and want to do just exactly that and provide good housing solutions.

Stephen S. (15:45.148)
most of the property managers I’ve spoken to, it seems to be a consistent theme with y’all about the people side of it. So I know I asked the question like, why do you care? But I guess a deeper follow-up question is where does your heart for people come from?

Shawn Austin Johnson (16:02.83)
man, that probably came from my parents. We grew up in a Christian household. Christian values were super important to us. And just the value of human life was really taught into my brother and I. And yeah, I mean, I think to help your fellow man or woman out in life is super important to us. part of…

The mission that my wife and I have had on creating our own wealth is to give a lot of that away. We love being generous with a lot of charities that are close to our heart. We’ve given money to build churches around the world as well, and that’s important for us. I just think that we are a better society when we care deeply about our fellow man or woman.

Stephen S. (16:58.173)
Love that. What’s got you really excited about the next five years of what you’re building right now?

Shawn Austin Johnson (17:06.094)
Probably the biggest thing is, you I think if we don’t take our personal wealth in our own hands, we are left the vices and the temptations and the distractions that the world has for us. And I think when people really focus on freedom or when they focus on wealth, they can achieve freedom and they’re not strapped down by all the

the stresses of life. think there’s a certain stress relief when you hit a certain wealth level and that can really help improve somebody’s life, not only mentally, spiritually, but also physically and help them achieve greater things. So I think for me, I feel like there’s a purpose that we all have to accomplish on this planet.

I love talking about real estate. love property management and I love helping people build their wealth. And then I get to do my own too, right? That’s the nice ancillary. I like to my portfolio beyond what I have it as well. So that’s really a great focus for me.

Stephen S. (18:19.847)
You gave some tangibles right there, which I want to dive a little bit deeper to, you know, I’ve got a, I’ve got a really good friend of mine and a mentor of mine who he talks about purpose a lot as well. And he says that his, personal purpose is to, to, to help boys become men. That’s his, that’s his shtick. Now how he does that, I mean, he’s owned over 25 companies, very, very successful entrepreneur, still owns nine to this day right now that are active companies actually creating an income. And

When I talk to him, he always goes back to that purpose of he goes, dude, I’m just out here trying to help boys become men. And he’s able to do that through a lot of different ways. But if you had to sum up everything you said, like the actual tangibles of how you’re doing your purpose, what would you say, like just in a phrase is your purpose?

Shawn Austin Johnson (19:07.81)
Yeah, would say the biggest thing is to create the highest amount of value for the people that I serve. That’s my purpose. Yeah, we have multiple companies and they touch a lot of people. And I think if I can create the most value for them, that’ll be a mission accomplished.

Stephen S. (19:13.278)
Mm.

Stephen S. (19:26.889)
How do you create, and this is not, I’m not saying this for you necessarily, I’m saying this in terms of for someone else listening that might be struggling with the concept of like, hear this all the time, of like, you just gotta create value, you gotta give value to get what you want. What are some simple, actionable ways that someone can go out there and actually create value, either in the marketplace, in relationships, et cetera, that actually allow there to be some sort of productive measures that get done?

Did I frame that question okay?

Shawn Austin Johnson (19:57.634)
Yeah, think the biggest thing. Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, how I would summarize that is or, you know, answer that is to figure out what people are struggling with. What’s the problems that they’re facing? And once you have figured out what the problems they’re facing, how do you provide a solution for those problems in the easiest manner? Like keep it simple. And if you could keep it simple, I think people are willing to pay for that. That’s creating value because it improves their lives.

And you know, I mean you look at the big names right like Elon Musk like who would have ever thought that providing a solution of Humanity was going to be on the list of things he wanted to achieve but he feels strongly that a problem that human beings have is that the future of the earth and humanity itself is at risk and so therefore He wants to go to Mars. Well, that’s an example on a big scale of what you can provide value for for others It may be as simple as providing

as service to get their groceries to them. But that is creating a value to make their lives better. And oftentimes people are willing to pay for that.

Stephen S. (21:06.877)
I was hoping you were going to take it in that direction and you said it so perfectly. It’s literally just go out and look for problems, figure out how to solve it in the most simple way. And if people are willing to pay you for it, take their money. Yeah, that’s all. That’s so good. Let me ask you this, Shawn. You’ve been in real estate over 10 years. You’re doing big things. You’re helping a ton of people.

If you had to go back to the beginning and like really put yourself in that state when you got started, but you could take all of the lessons and experiences that you’ve gained over the last 12 years and you were starting over, what would you do different and what would you do the same?

Shawn Austin Johnson (21:51.458)
What would I do different? I would probably take a deep breath. And so I was really money hungry 10 years ago. I really wanted to build a company that was highly profitable and then obviously use those profits to build other streams of income. I would probably flip that coin. I would focus on value first as I’m trying to do now.

and just hit value and then the money comes. That’s one thing I would flip right off the bat.

Stephen S. (22:31.463)
Or would you do the same?

Shawn Austin Johnson (22:33.784)
Doing the same. Yeah, I would say just scaling. think like providing value first and then the money comes, I think is something I learned a little bit later. Doing the same would be continuing to scale. think I took it as the bigger I can personally get, the more people I can help. That means my finances are bigger to…

giveaway to help others on their journey. And that helps me then to not turn and focus only on the money part. It helps me to focus on how do I make the biggest impact. And so that’s, that has been a focus from the beginning. I should have just started with value first and then money.

Stephen S. (23:22.281)
Sure. What gets you out of bed in morning these days?

Shawn Austin Johnson (23:27.5)
Man, that’s a great question. I want to be the best husband and father I possibly can. I have two amazing kids. I think the most important thing I have been tasked with on this earth is to be the best father I can. I look at actually my dad. My dad came from kind of an abusive relationship as a kid. My grandfather was pretty tough.

and he was abusive. And I look at my dad, he made a conscious decision to be different and to not pass that abusive nature on to us as kids. And so I think of myself, like, what are those things that I can self-improve so that my kids have a better chance than I did? And how do I be the best father I possibly can? Well, first of all, that starts with me being the best husband I can.

And when I’m the best husband, it also makes me a better business person. And I really think that all the problems that occur in business are manifested in our personal lives. So if we get our crap straight at home, we could get our crap straight in the business.

Stephen S. (24:40.297)
I was having a conversation with somebody recently and we were talking about compartmentalization and they have a five F’s that they talked about which is you faith family finance fitness and Of course, I’m gonna forget the fifth F whatever but ultimately the whole point of what you’re saying and then relating it to this other previous conversation that I had was all of the areas that we

tend to compartmentalize as men especially. If one area is on fire, it’s going to affect all the others. Like your kitchen can’t be on fire and it not affect the living room if you don’t do anything about putting the fire out in the kitchen, right? And so like I love how you put it and you put it beautifully is that like it starts with me being the best here because that allows me to be the best here and the best here and the best here. And it’s not that it’s going to be easier or pain free.

But at the same time, if I can just focus on getting a little bit better in these areas and being the best that I can be, then ultimately life’s gonna look beautiful.

Shawn Austin Johnson (25:42.082)
Yeah, and I think if we singular focus on one aspect, it’s often that we will hurt the rest of it. And then that will suffer in and of itself. I think all aspects of life should be focused on, how do I become the best of that in each of those aspects?

Stephen S. (26:01.587)
Yeah, be that. Well, Shawn, thanks for joining us today. If anyone wants to learn more about you or what you’re working on, where should they go for that?

Shawn Austin Johnson (26:08.6)
Yeah, easy. My website is ShawnAustinJohnson.com. Shawn is spelled S-H-A-W-N. And you can check me out there. I’m on all the social medias at the same at ShawnAustinJohnson.com. Really appreciate the time, Stephen. It was great chatting.

Stephen S. (26:25.437)
You heard it here first folks, give a drop and follow, connect with them for more. And everyone, I hope you enjoyed today’s show. We’ll see you on the next episode. Thanks again for being here, Shawn.

Shawn Austin Johnson (26:33.666)
You’re welcome. Thank you.