Jade Chang Sheppard of Scarlet Society on Bootstrapping Construction, Embracing Abundance, and Redefining Midlife Sexual Wellness

Some people were born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouth. Even then, becoming a millionaire is still quite an accomplishment. But people who start from nothing, and especially women who start from nothing, who make it to the top to become millionaires, despite the pay inequalities based on gender, the confidence gap, with nothing but grit, hustle, resilience, and “stick-to-itness”, are on a whole new level. We want to share those stories and inspire other women. In this interview series, we’re talking to “Self-Made” women leaders who started with nothing (i.e. started without investors or trust fund or capital or even people believing in them) and went on to create a million dollar business.

As a part of our series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jade Chang Sheppard.

Jade Chang Sheppard is a serial entrepreneur that founded and scaled Gideon USA, a multimillion dollar the construction company, purchased and relanched a Nicaraguan boutique surf resort called MalibuPopoyo and created Scarlet Society, a leading online resource for women’s sexual health and wellness after 40.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory” and how you grew up?

My family and I immigrated to the US when I was almost 2 years old. We lived in the basement of a sponsor family while my dad went to community college. My parents worked really hard and I was ultimately fortunate enough to graduate from the University of Texas at Austin. We didn’t have a lot but I never felt like we were really lacking. My parents worked really hard so that we could have a better life, and we did!

Growing up, what were your early experiences and perspectives about money? Or we could say, what was the “money consciousness” in which you were raised? Can you please give an example of what you mean?

My parents were really frugal immigrants. My mom grew up in a house with a dirt floor. When you grow up in poverty like they did, the poverty and scarcity mindset is everything. I remember clipping coupons every Sunday and being so careful about buying things like clothes. I remember going over to a friend’s house and I saw she had a few dresses in her closet still with the tags on. I couldn’t comprehend how someone could have clothes that were unworn just sitting there. My parents were savers and ultimately, investors. They drilled into me the evil of debt and to never owe money. Even though I never really live by the scarcity mindset, I still carry to this day the distaste for debt. I invested in real estate pretty early on and got to a point where I didn’t have any debt on any of my real estate, or anywhere at all, and I just took on my first real estate debt since my late 20’s. Even though I understand the concept of leveraging debt, I couldn’t wrap my head around actually doing it.

Awesome! Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s talk about what you are doing now, and how you achieved the success that you currently enjoy. Can you tell our readers about the business you’ve created?

I worked at Dell after college graduation but quickly realized that sitting in a cube wasn’t for me. I loved the experience, though. I went to business school but dropped out to start Gideon USA, a construction company that works mostly on military and government projects, when I was 26. I started it with leftover student loan money, some 401K that I cashed out and credit card debt. My credit score didn’t get back to over 700 until 8 years after I started the business.

After success with Gideon USA, I went on to purchase and relaunch a Nicaraguan boutique resort. I’ve owned and operated the resort since 2017. This was a decision based on passion, as I love to surf. When I executed this transaction, I was at a place where I could make this educated decision knowing that the intention was to fulfill a passion and not necessarily purely an investment opportunity.

Most recently, I created a leading online resource for women’s sexual health and wellness after 40 called Scarlet Society. I launched and self-funded the company because I saw a massive gap in resources and information for women in the 40+ demo from my own personal experiences! Scarlet Society provides curated and credible content, supportive social connections and relevant wellness products and services for women 40+. We’re committed to being a partner to women on their journey, firmly rooted in research and medical expertise.

What was your vision when you started this business? What’s the WHY behind the work that you do?

My companies are vastly different and have come at different stages in my life. With my most recent venture, Scarlet Society, I was finally finished having children, my mindset shifted and I was ready to get back to myself again. I also started to navigate a divorce that was very friendly, but I felt like there was a lack of information out there that was encouraging for women at this stage in life, to explore sexuality, new beginnings, and the changes happening to their bodies. I felt like women 40+ are largely ignored, when in fact, this segment of the population are the ones with the time, money, and desire.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

I started my first business when I was 26. Not only was I young, but also a minority and a woman in an almost entirely male dominated industry, construction. I used to fret about how I would dress. I needed to look respectable but also needed to fit my industry. I used to settle on cowboy boots and a button up shirt. Years later, after we had established our place in our industry and with our customers, I remember that I just stopped caring what anyone thought about what I wore, I just didn’t matter anymore. Our reputation preceded us and I had moved beyond it. It’s funny now to think back about how I used to stress about what I wore.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

For Gideon USA, I can’t think of anything funny off the top of my head about those first few years when I started. I started the business about 3 years before the Great Recession and the first 5 years or so were complete utter misery. I used leftover student loans, cashed in my 401K and maxed out my credit cards to get started. Borrowing money from my mom was just the icing on the cake. The business was a difficult one and I had so many lessons learned. Starting Scarlet Society last year, I was in a totally different place in life and I wasn’t starting a business to put food on the table.

We’d love to explore the traits that help you achieve your success. What were the mindset obstacles that you had to overcome in order to reach the place of earning a million dollars? Can you tell us what you did to overcome them?

I have no issues taking risks and sometimes big ones. I always think that it’s going to work out and it always has. I feel like I was born with the abundance mentality and eternal optimism. I do think that it can be cultivated and learned, though.

What were the external obstacles that you had to overcome in reaching these milestones? And how specifically did you overcome them?

For a growing business, topline revenue means nothing, it’s the bottom line that counts. I learned this the hard way the second I realized that we were more profitable when we were a $10M business than we were at $27M. Net profit is the number we should be looking at, not gross revenue. Also, as you grow, you have these inflection points where you must go through growing pains. For example, accounting software we used at $10M was $13K a year whereas the software we use at $54M cost $150K to simply implement and over a year to get the system down. They say that growth eats cash for lunch and it’s true. There are tons of big companies out there with huge revenues that make zero cash.

Was there ever a point where you wanted to give up on your journey to creating a million dollar business? How did you work through that panic point? Please share a story.

For Gideon USA, I ended up having to borrow money from my immigrant mom to make payroll. That was probably my lowest point. She took out a home equity line of credit on the little house I grew up in. At this point, the Recession was happening and I got to a point where I realized I just had to figure it out and make it work. Either this business paid my mom back or I went back to working a regular job and spending the rest of my life paying my mom back. That was a time in my life when a combination of hustle and good luck kicked in and I landed my first tiny contract for a military base in San Antonio, Texas. It was $5K. My next contract was $13K to build some BBQ pits at the barracks. The next contract was $60K to renovate the tile at the POW museum. I got my first $1M+ contract when a hurricane came through and blew off a bunch of roofs at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. We happened to be the only contractors on base on that day so we got the contract to do the emergency dry-ins.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I mentioned earlier that a combination of hustle and good luck helped me get my first military contract. I found a contracting officer, a very nice older lady named Charlotte. You can just make sales calls on military bases, so I pestered her, called her, emailed her, until she finally gave me something, probably so I could get off her back. I can still see it in my mind today, her email in my inbox and the disbelief I felt. She gave me my first shot. I wanted to name my daughter Charlotte after her.

What were the most important resources, tools, affirmations, mindset strategies or practices that you used to build your business to where it is today?

Last year, a friend recommended a book to me called the Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. It discussed the research behind why happy and optimistic people are generally successful. When I read that, I realized that I’ve always had this mindset naturally. I started to think, I wonder what would happen in my life if I consciously cultivated it? What if I set my mind to learning about and unlocking my inner potential, really meditated and learned about the abundance mindset? I have used many resources and tools on this journey in the last few years. Some of my favorite resources are Abraham Hicks, Dr. Bruce Lipton and Wayne Dyer. I have several coaches in my life including Keren Eldad, an abundance personal coach, and I’ve had the beautiful opportunity to participate in psychedelic journeys and therapeutic sessions.

What do you think is the greatest challenge for women and creating wealth/abundance? What advice would you have for someone that is feeling blocked by that obstacle?

I think that the greatest challenge is that we just all want to get there right away. We want to manifest it tomorrow. The greatest lesson for me is to love the journey, to savor each step and love the moment we are in now. There is something so fun, so exciting and frisky about each stage of business and life. It is all a part of our story and I believe that all that I want is already done, but I’m going to enjoy every second of getting there.

Great! Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

1. Trust your gut. When I was working in a cube after college, I knew it wasn’t for me so I took the next logical route and went to business school. Still it didn’t feel right and I trusted my gut, took a big leap and started a construction business with little knowledge of the industry. But I knew I was onto something!

2. Love the journey, savor each step and love the moment you are in right now. This took me time to learn but I truly believe that manifesting this has given me the opportunity to build my “passion” business, MalibuPopoyo and Scarlet Society.

3. Net profit is the number you should be looking at, not gross revenue. I mentioned this before but I learned this the hard way when I realized that my first business was more profitable when we were a $10M business than we were at $27M.

4. Take risks. Even big ones. I started it with leftover student loan money, some 401K that I cashed out and credit card debt. My credit score didn’t get back to over 700 until 8 years after I started the business. But the hustle paid off.

5. Don’t stress about what you are wearing. Just hustle, be prepared, be yourself and be professional. The goal is to build a stellar reputation that precedes you — before you even walk into the room.

We are sure that you are not done. What comes next? What’s your next big goal and why? What plan have you put in place to achieve it? Why is it a stretch for you? What will achieving it represent for you and for others?

Scarlet Society is my newest baby and it’s what I’m pouring my heart and soul into these days. We have so much amazing content we want to get out to women 40 and over. We want to inspire them to explore, live life boldly, try new things, not fear a fresh start, not fear divorce, not fear sexuality and not fear their bodies. This should be a time of great celebration and thinking about how we want to live the second half of our lives. Scarlet Society is a business that combines both my love of entrepreneurism and nurturing a community that strengthens and inspires women.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Visit ScarletSociety.com to follow along with my newest endeavor. Scarlet Society is the go-to resource for women’s sexual health and wellness after 40. By providing curated and credible content, supportive social connections and relevant wellness products and services, Scarlet Society is committed to being a partner to women on their journey, firmly rooted in research and medical expertise.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us and our readers. We know that it will make a tremendous difference and impact thousands of lives. We are excited to connect further and we wish you so much joy in your next success.