Jason Shipley started his first business with ten thousand dollars split across two credit cards, a triple net lease on an old pizza building in Hutchinson Kansas and no idea what he was doing. What he did have was an absolute will to win and a promise he made to his first employer — that in five years he would know more about the business than anyone. He kept that promise.

Today Jason is the CEO of Midwest Custom Engineering, building custom industrial equipment for the bioeconomy, biomass and material processing industries across the country. He also runs a portfolio of companies and investments across real estate, debt notes and equities. He built all of it from nothing, taught himself plumbing and electrical along the way and never stopped learning.

But the most important part of this episode has nothing to do with business. Jason shares the most devastating moment of his life and how he found his way through it one empowering decision at a time. This conversation will stay with you.

This Episode Explores:

✅ Starting a smoke shop on an Indian reservation with $10K on credit cards and no income

✅ Cold calling a commercial real estate CEO on a Saturday and negotiating a triple net lease as a broke kid

✅ Teaching himself plumbing, electrical and real estate from a $4,000 starting point

✅ Promising his first employer he would know more than him in five years and delivering on it

✅ Building Midwest Custom Engineering into a leading American manufacturing company

✅ Investing across real estate, debt notes, equities and blockchain assets

✅ The moment that tested everything he believed about God, life and resilience

✅ How gratitude became the tool that pulled him out of the deepest despair of his life

✅ Why everybody is going to go through something and how you find your way out

🔗 Connect with Jason Shipley

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

Website: midwestcustomengineering.com

YouTube: youtube.com/@MidwestCustomEngineering

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Instagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcast

Host Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Vanessa Baird-Streeter grew up in one of the most segregated areas of the country where her family could afford a better neighborhood but was never shown those houses. That experience became the lens she has carried into every room she has entered since.

She started her career as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, spent a decade in finance and then made history as the first woman of color to serve as Suffolk County Deputy County Executive. In that role she managed a $3.7 billion municipal budget, chaired New York State's most comprehensive police reform plan and led the COVID-19 response for Long Island's most underserved communities. Today she is the President and CEO of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island and she is still doing the same thing she has always done, which is changing systems from the inside out.

In this episode Vanessa and Sean get into what it actually costs to be the first in rooms that were not built for you, why success means nothing if you are not opening doors behind you and what it looks like to build a decades long career rooted in purpose over recognition.

If you are interested in leadership, public service, generational wealth, breaking barriers or what it takes to create real change in your community this episode is required watching.

This Episode Explores:

✅ Growing up in a deliberately segregated Long Island community and what that shaped in her from the start

✅ Building her career on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs and what finance taught her about access and power

✅ Making history as the first woman of color to serve as Suffolk County Deputy County Executive

✅ Chairing New York State's most comprehensive police reform and reinvention plan

✅ Leading COVID-19 response efforts for Long Island's most underserved and vulnerable communities

✅ Why she turned down grad school at University of Chicago and what that decision actually gave her

✅ How always leaving on good terms and building bridges became one of her greatest career strategies

✅ Managing a $3.7 billion municipal budget and what that level of responsibility requires

✅ Why AI is eliminating entry level jobs and what education needs to look like going forward

✅ What it means to lift others up without losing yourself and why she believes that is the secret to a fulfilled life

🔗 Connect with Vanessa Baird-Streeter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanessa.b.streeter/

Health and Welfare Council of Long Island: https://hwcli.com/

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Instagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcast

Host Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Alexis Morgan founded her first real estate investment fund at twenty years old. By twenty one she was managing over forty million dollars. No Wall Street connections. No family money. Just a young woman who figured out how private lending works and built her own version of it from scratch.

Today she's the founder of Peach State Capital Group, a private lending and real estate investing platform with over two hundred funded transactions and consistent double digit returns for her investors. She also runs masterminds and education platforms built for the people the financial system was never designed to include.

In this episode Alexis breaks down exactly how private lending works, why relationships are the real currency in real estate investing and what it actually takes to raise capital and scale a real estate fund from zero. She gets honest about early money mistakes, the events that changed how she saw the industry and why she says yes to every first invitation.

If you are serious about real estate investing, private lending, raising capital or building generational wealth this episode is required watching.

This Episode Explores:

✅ How to start a real estate investment fund with no Wall Street background

✅ What private lending is and why real estate investors need it over traditional banks

✅ How she raised and deployed tens of millions through Peach State Capital Group

✅ Attending dozens of paid events in year one to build high value relationships

✅ The $30,000 event that showed her what real estate investing looks like at scale

✅ Using LinkedIn and Instagram to build investor trust through transparency

✅ Why private lenders hold the most leverage in any real estate deal

✅ How to transition from residential to commercial real estate investing

✅ Building wealth and access for people Wall Street was never designed to serve

🔗 Connect with Alexis Morgan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexismorganinvests/

Peach State Capital Group: https://www.peachstatecapital.com/

Follow REAL Mentors Podcast

Instagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcast

Host Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin