Jess Shipwash is a wife and mother to a newborn baby boy, born in May of 2021. Jess is the co-founder of Shipwash Properties LLC, a real estate investment company that she founded with her husband, Jeff. In addition to real estate, Jess is a registered nurse with a strong background in critical care. Jess worked across many different critical care units during the COVID-19 Pandemic and currently works in a surgical unit when she is not buying real estate!

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I grew up in a family of nurses. My mother and grandmother were both nurses, and I have several extended family members that are nurses.  It was always a dream of mine to become one as well. I graduated nursing school in 2016, and started my career in critical care, working in a variety of departments including cardiac critical units and intensive care units. In addition to my medical career, I always had a burning desire to become an entrepreneur. My husband and I both love real estate and we were fascinated by the HGTV shows on flipping houses. It may sound corny, but we dream to become the Erin and Ben Napier (Home Town on HGTV) of Tennessee! 

What inspired you to start a business?

I wanted to take the passion I have for caring for others and turn it into something that could benefit my community, and that I could truly call mine! So, we launched a real estate investment company! In addition to starting a business I am passionate about; I want to have the opportunity to pass something down to my son. Handing the keys of a successful business over to my son one day fuels me through the late nights and weekends. Jeff always had an entrepreneur spark as well. We just never could figure out exactly what we wanted to do. We “accidently” flipped our first home. I say “accidently” because we had no intention of flipping the house. We had owned it for right at a year, but a house we fell in love with came available in our neighborhood and we just had to have it! During that year of ownership, we remodeled different areas of the home. Nothing major, just a lot of cosmetic stuff. This is where we learned that we truly enjoyed home remodeling. When we went to sell the home, we made a decent little profit from it. That was the “ah-ha” moment that triggered me to investigate flipping homes as a business.

Where is your business based?

My business is based in Knoxville, TN. Although we are based in Knoxville, we serve the entire East Tennessee Areas from Oak Ridge, all the way down to certain areas of Chattanooga. 

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

I started my business by reading as many books as possible about real estate investing, I could get my hands on! In addition to books, I listened to what seems like 500 podcasts. Every day on my way to and from work, I would listen to a podcast.  I knew I wanted to start on the right foot. This is an extremely competitive business, so I didn’t want to go into this without a game plan. I wanted to form a great team of people I could rely on. In real estate, you need attorneys, real estate agents, CPA’s, contractors, and many other people to rely on. Without these people, you run the risk of failing before you start. In the early stages of my business, I networked and built relationships with as many of these people as I could. So far, we have been able to establish a great network of professionals that help our business grow!

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

In my opinion, every great business starts with a great website. In 2021, most people start their search for services on the internet. I knew that to be successful, we would need a credible website. In this field, you have so many random generic websites of people that are not true real estate investors but claim to be. For us to separate ourselves from these people, we needed to first build our site and make it as credible as possible. In addition, documenting our flips across social media platforms shows that we are who we say we are and that we mean it when we say we buy houses as is to flip!

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

My biggest challenge has been time management. I am a new mom, and my son is my first child. In addition to him trying to learn new routines, I am as well! My business is still in the early stages of its life; therefore, a lot of time and effort is spent trying to learn, grow, and develop new strategies to grow it. Several hours is spent promoting, running the day-to-day stuff like ongoing rehabs, and bookkeeping as well. I am still working to grow our online presence as well, so a lot of time is spent on implementing SEO strategy. To overcome this obstacle, my husband and I decided to basically take shifts on different chores and tasks. Some days, he does all the project management stuff in the business, and does less house chores, and other days it’s the opposite. We rotate these back and forth. We also prepare our days with a written agenda. Checking off different tasks allows us to keep track of what needs to be done and provides a small win each time we complete one!

How do you stay focused?

Always know your why. Why are you sacrificing sleep to get this task done? Why are you sacrificing time out with friends? Why are you sacrificing buying that new car? Knowing your why keeps you on track for your goals. My why is creating financial independence and freedom for me and my family. If having a 9-5 becomes an option rather than a “have-to, “That is freedom. If you can write a check when you need a new car without thinking twice? That is financial independence. That’s what keeps me motivated and keeps me focused on the most difficult tasks each day!

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?      

I love getting this question! We are not your typical “we buy houses” company. Since we only serve the community we live in, we take great pride in conducting business the ethical and legal way. In addition, we market ourselves more than our business brand. When you search my company, I want you to be able to put a face to it more than a brand. Most of my competitors hide behind their websites and you can’t even find the name of the person who owns the company. We wanted to differentiate ourselves by documenting all our home renovations, placing real pictures all over our website that includes us, and having a detailed about us section as well.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Google Ads and word of my mouth has been the life blood of my business so far. I am working extremely hard to get our website to the first page of Google.  The consulting company we are working with has truly been amazing. Our website, nor our branding would be what it is today without them. I had zero knowledge of how to build a website, and no idea where to start with SEO. But with their help, we are moving in the right direction. See you on page one of Google soon Knoxville!

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

I want to rehearse the part about knowing your “why.” Running a business is hard. Starting one from scratch in a competitive market? That’s fun too! Having a “why” gets you through the days you want to give up. There will be days, trust me.  Keep moving forward on your path and continue to have grit. Not giving up is a lot harder than running a business. Surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed. I can’t preach this enough! The people who see your success as competition, eliminate them from your life immediately. Negativity is contagious. If you associate with people who consistently don’t believe in you, you will fail. Make your circle small and help each other win! 

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

This is a tough one! My favorite app has to be TikTok. Not only do I get inspiring design ideas for our houses, but it also provides hours of comedy when I need a pick-me-up. My favorite blog is the mighty investor by Jerryll Norden. His blog is essentially written as a diary and it details his entire investing journey. Jerryll started his life a robotics scientist but found a passion in real estate. Not only has he created a successful real estate business, but he has also started one of the best SEO companies in the United States! My favorite book is Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman. Not only was Nick amazing in Parks and Rec, but his book also provides great inspiration on believing in yourself.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

My all-time favorite business tool so far has been QuickBooks! QuickBooks is so simple to use, and it allows me to manage my business like a smart business person should! My husband has an accounting background, so it wouldn’t be fair to say I haven’t had a lot of help in learning it! QuickBooks provides the resources for me to track expenses and income down to a project level, which influences the decisions I make on the next house. It’s also convenient when it comes time to pay Uncle Sam. All our receipts and expenses are in the system and is super easy to produce our tax documents.

Who is your business role model? Why?

Without a doubt, Dan Price of Gravity Payments. Dan is famous for raising the minimum wage of all his employees to $70,000 back in 2015. Dan went under great criticism from business experts saying that his company would fail, and it just wouldn’t work. What happened? Gravity Payments tripled its revenue over the next five years. Dan is the perfect example of realizing that a company’s greatest asset really is the employees. Like many of us, I have spent parts of my life working for companies who only care about the bottom line and not the morale or health of its workforce. Dan proved not only could you demonstrate this by sacrificing his own salary, but a company can reap the benefits for it in the future. As my company grows, I want to provide life changing opportunities for my future employees just like Dan! 

How do you balance work and life?

The famous work/life balance. Does that even exist in 2021? Just kidding! Since the pandemic, I have worked hard on making a list of priorities and placing them above all else.  My husband and I dedicate certain times of the day and certain days of the week to strictly family time. It is certainly difficult at times. He works a full time W-2 job, we run the business together, and we have a newborn. We do our best to layout a schedule of things to allow us to complete these tasks in an efficient way. Everything has a due date and person responsible. So far, it has worked well! Our goal is to one day run the business as a true CEO, and not allow the business to run us! Balance is tough, but it can certainly be accomplished.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

My two favorite things in the world are getting a pedicure and going to the lake. Getting a pedicure is my free mommy time.  My husband and I have a boat, and East Tennessee has several lakes to choose from. We always attempt to go out on the lake and hang out with our friends. This is great bonding time for family in addition to a great way to decompress! Thank goodness for summertime and lake therapy!

What do you have planned for the next six months?

The next six months I plan to finish working our SEO for our website. I have a goal set to do at least $1 million in real estate transactions in 2021. With six months left, I think we can hit that goal. In addition, I am working to finish building out our formatting on our website as well and finally stick to something!  I am wanting to learn more about doing short-term rentals for my business. Air Bnb is a great opportunity in locations near me, and I think that would be a great branch to add to my business. Lastly, I want to spend as much time as possible with my new baby boy! Learning to be a mom has been one of the greatest experiences of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

How can our readers connect with you?

We encourage everyone to check out website! In addition to our website, readers can follow the progress of our home renovations across social media platforms at the following:

Website: https://www.webuyhousesinknoxcounty.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shipwashproperties

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shipwash_properties/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shipwashproper1