"I'll Never Fire Myself!" - Losing Her Job Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Her - Meet Betsy Pepine | #208

What happens when you get laid off, divorced, and find yourself at rock bottom all at once? For serial entrepreneur and real estate powerhouse Betsy Pepine, it sparked a second act that changed everything. In this inspiring episode of the Second Act Success Career Podcast, host Shannon Russell chats with Betsy about how she went from being a single mom with two toddlers and no job to building a thriving real estate empire, including a brokerage, title company, mortgage business, property management firm, and a nonprofit.

Betsy shares how losing control in her corporate job pushed her to build a life she could own...literally. She opens up about her “boxes” metaphor from her book Breaking Boxes, finding purpose through her nonprofit Pepine Gives, and her lessons from mentor Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank.

If you're a woman ready to quit your 9-5 and start a business, this episode is your sign to take control of your future.

SHOW NOTES:

https://secondactsuccess.co/208

Connect with Betsy Pepine:

https://www.pepinerealty.com/about/betsy-pepine/

https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Boxes-Dismantling-Metaphorical-That-ebook/dp/B0D6CM2JSL

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Transcript

Second Act Success Career Podcast

Season 1 - Losing Her Job Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Her - Meet Betsy Pepine | #208

Episode - #208

Host: Shannon Russell

Guest: Betsy Pepine

Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

Betsy Pepine: [00:00:00] I was raised believing that stable jobs were when you were an employee. . And the risky jobs are when you go out on your own. But being involved in that layoff made me rethink that. Yeah. I never felt such a lack of control when I got laid off and I thought, I'll never fire myself.

 so that really drove me to choose something that somebody else wasn't controlling, and also how much I was gonna make,

Are you ready to quit your nine to five job and start a business of your own? Well, you're in the right place, my friend. Welcome to the second Act Success podcast. I am your host Shannon Russell, and my mission is to help you produce your best life. This podcast will teach you how to get from where you are now to where you want to be and how to build a business that fits your life and lights you up.

Let's get started.

Hello, Shannon here. Welcome [00:01:00] to a brand new episode of the Second Act Success Career podcast. Have you ever found yourself at a really low point and needing something to just turn your situation around? My guest today found herself there she was 32 with two little kids getting a divorce and also getting laid off from her job.

Betsy Papin knows what it's like to find yourself at rock bottom and be able to pull yourself back up.

During this time, she decided to reclaim her power and she became a serial entrepreneur. She now has four thriving businesses and a nonprofit.

Betsy is now a mogul in the real estate industry,

and fun fact, Betsy is endorsed by her mentor real estate expert in Shark Tank Shark, Barbara Corcoran.

Here is Betsy with her second act success story.

Shannon Russell: Betsy Papin, welcome to Second Act Success. I'm so happy to have you here. 

Betsy Pepine: Oh, happy to be here. Thank you.

Shannon Russell: Well, you've got quite the career lots [00:02:00] to talk about, but let's go back to the beginning and start with where your career began.

Betsy Pepine: after grad school. Went into the pharmaceutical industry. I did pharmaceutical marketing research for a variety of different, , big pharma companies that reside in that tri-state area. 

Shannon Russell: Mm-hmm. 

Betsy Pepine: , and did that for 10 years. , I had a marketing concentration with my MBA and loved.

I loved the marketing aspect of that work, but I, I wasn't passionate about the products. the last job I was at, I was 31 and they had a corporate layoff because the biotech company that I was at was a one product company and the product did not get FDA approval. Oh. And so they didn't need a commercial division 'cause there was nothing to market.

Right. So 

they laid us off and, and I had never been. Part of a restructuring. , I also got divorced and I was, a single mom with a one and 2-year-old. And so it, when you have life events like that, it kind of, you start questioning, I think a lot of things and I just started questioning where do I really [00:03:00] wanna be headed with my career and, and find joy in what I truly love to do.

So I moved back home to Florida got my real estate license and I knew I'd like it 'cause I had always loved real estate. I've always loved looking at floor plans. I like walking through communities. I, I had purchased two homes, , , in my twenties I really loved it, which was fantastic.

'cause I had given myself a two year timeframe. If it didn't work out in two years, I was going back into corporate. So it was just a, just a blessing that I loved it. And then four years after I got my license, my, my real estate license, I got my broker license and I started building, , real estate brokerage here in Gainesville, Florida, north Central Florida.

I do get bored easily. And so once I had that established, I, I said, okay, what else can I do? My belief in terms of growing was how can I serve the folks I'm already serving versus serving more folks? Because to me the highest cost is the initial cost of a customer.

To acquire one. And so I said, [00:04:00] okay, if they're already in our network and ecosystem, how can we better serve them? And so, , I started a title company because in our state, , a title state and sellers pick title. So I thought, okay, well we already have sellers. Now they can pick their title company.

Why not do one stop shopping in our. within our brokerage. Mm-hmm. So we opened up title. the buy side, most buyers need a loan. And so I opened up a mortgage company and got my LO license and started originating loans. , then a couple years later I opened up a property management company because, , of our buyers were investors and wanted to, .

Not only buy multiple homes, but wanted somebody to , property manage those homes because they were not, they were absentee owners. happens a lot in 

Shannon Russell: Florida. 

Betsy Pepine: Exactly. It happens a lot in Florida and the markets, it's a very variable market and so I. When the sales market is down, usually, but not always, the rental market is up.

Mm-hmm. So a lot of times sellers will get frustrated that they're not getting the [00:05:00] price they want when we go to list the house. So then we can convert them to, , a in a person who wants to rent their home, and then we rent the house for them until the market rebounds, and then we sell the home for the price they want.

So it's just always been this, what else can we do to help our current client base? Of the last things. , we decided to open was a real estate school because one, our agents need continuing education. Mm-hmm. They also need to get licensed, like prospective people need to get licensed and what better place to get licensed than with, literally in our building.

So we get to work with you for a week. After the end of that week, we know if you're gonna be a good fit for us or not. . So it became a recruiting tool for us. those are the kind of ancillary businesses I have. And then probably the most passionate one is, , the nonprofit we opened, which again is, is a symbiotic relationship.

We said to ourselves, well, how can we serve customers? Who can never use our [00:06:00] serv, who will never be able to afford to use our services. And so we partnered with Habitat for Hanity, and now we build houses for cost burden families. We live in the highest cost burden county in the state of Florida, and so we help families.

Get into homes and it's, it's truly habitat's philosophy. It's a hand up, not a handout, which I love. so that's probably what I'm most passionate about. ' , the trajectory of the family changes. All the data suggests health outcomes go up, educational outcomes go up.

I mean, so many things are impacted by the stability of having a home. Mm-hmm. So that's me in a nutshell. 

Shannon Russell: What's the name of the nonprofit? 

Betsy Pepine: It's Pepine Gives. 

Shannon Russell: Oh, that sounds amazing. And is right, like you said, you're probably your favorite part of everything that you're doing. Yeah. And just to see that, and it's, it's making you fully en engrossed in your community mm-hmm.

No matter who you're, you're serving. Correct. Oh, I love that so much. Yeah. Well, let's take it back, because I [00:07:00] asse that maybe one of your choices to go into real estate was the flexibility of it, because if you had two little ones. We're trying to raise them while figuring out how to bring money into your family, especially as a single mom at the time.

Yeah. Was that really what drove you? 

Betsy Pepine: So a couple things drove me that Absolutely. Because my criteria at the time, with all the turmoil, my kids were only one and two, so I was blessed in that way. But, we, we moved from the only home they were in. 

Shannon Russell: Mm-hmm. 

Betsy Pepine: , I wanted to create a very stable environment for them, and so

, i didn't want anyone taking care of them but me, and so to do that, I had to work from home and that this was. 20 some years ago, and working from home was not common. But as a, as a real estate agent, it was common. So that probably drove me the most, was I could work from home and not have, , to put them somewhere during the day.

I was raised believing that stable jobs were when you were an employee. . And the [00:08:00] risky jobs are when you go out on your own. But being involved in that layoff made me rethink that. Yeah. I never felt such a lack of control when I got laid off and I thought, I'll never fire myself.

 so that really drove me to choose something that somebody else wasn't controlling, and also how much I was gonna make, because that always bothered me that I never knew what my bonus was gonna be. Somebody else was deciding it. It didn't matter how hard I worked, it was, I always got this set salary.

So that whole model just didn't align with the way I work. I like my pay based on outcomes and yes. That's not, that's not how the pharmaceutical model was. So that drove me. And the third thing that drove me was I was very cognizant of the fact that I did not see, I didn't see any woman over the age of 65 in the pharmaceutical industry at the time.

And I have a personality that I, I, I do believe I need to work. I love to work. Yeah. And so I don't, I don't see [00:09:00] myself ever retiring, so I didn't wanna be in a career where I felt like I was gonna be forced out. And in real estate, we have 85-year-old agents doing really well in our market.

And I had seen that growing up. I, I knew of some fairly elderly women still doing great in real estate. So those are the three reasons why. I went in that direction. 

Shannon Russell: And I'm such a proponent for being a business owner, and that's what I do is help. People get outta the nine to five to start a business for that reason that you mentioned, for the fact that you can truly control how much you make your flexibility and your stability to a point.

Mm-hmm. Because especially what we're seeing right now with the world we're in, there are so many layoffs and there's so much job uncertainty that the only true certainty is what you can control yourself. Right. And I think you learned that a couple decades before the current, , economy, but it really is true and it makes you hustle a little harder to say, I'm gonna make this work because it has [00:10:00] to.

Right? It has to work for me and my family. Right. And then you did it and your drive to keep going. And now let me add another business and another layer of this. , so in total, you own now four businesses, is that right? Plus your nonprofit, the brokerage title. Yes, correct. You're counting, Betsy. You're counting.

That's, yes. You've got so many, you're hand in so many things. How incredible is that? 

Betsy Pepine: I love it. I, I, I mean, I, I love it. , I'm now at a point where I have hired people that run the day to day, which I love. Yeah. And so now I can really be a true visionary and I have an operations person that takes care of, oversees all of them and then, then like brokers and senior people and in the companies.

That was a big piece to unload. It was hard to kind of be in, involved in the day to day and everything. , but once I got that. , situated. That's, that's really when I feel like my life changed, , [00:11:00] in most, in the most recent years. Yeah. 

Shannon Russell: When you first started out and you were a solo realtor, when you started expanding and bringing people onto your team, did that excite you?

Because I think that's always the exciting part. Is for an entrepreneur to start bringing people on and hiring people and saying, wow, now I can be that visionary. I can work on building the business and not in the business. Yeah. And I think that's when everything changes. 

Betsy Pepine: Yes. I agree. It, my, for me it wasn't, I probably am not the norm.

, I started my own brokerage, I just, I, I had no plan. I just knew I didn't like to work for somebody else. Yeah. And so I started my own brokerage. Thinking I was just gonna be this solopreneur. And then for the first maybe two years, agents in the community would ask, Hey, can I hang my license with you?

And I, I was like, sure, I don't offer anything. But you're, you, because in Florida you have to hang your license under a broker. Okay, so. after about two [00:12:00] years, I, I look around and I've got seven or eight people working in my, literally in my garage. And it was just getting to be, I'm like, okay, I gotta do something.

And so I did. I had the wherewithal to get a coach and he said, Betsy, you gotta go big or go home. And I said, well, I'm already home. Let's go big. You know? And so then it was great 'cause I had him who had done this for lots of people before. And so he helped me. Create a plan to grow and then, yes, 

Shannon Russell: it was very exciting.

, Like you said, you can be the visionary, you can add this on, add that on, start your nonprofit, do all of the things. I wanna talk about you being an author as well. Mm-hmm. So tell me about your book. 

Betsy Pepine: So the book came out in September. It's called Breaking Boxes, dismantling the Metaphorical Boxes that bind Us.

And it has nothing to do with real estate. So most people who know me, know me as anything. Real estate. Right. Yeah. And they asse that the book was about real estate. It's not about real estate, it's a thematic memoir genesis of the book started several years ago when I felt like if you look at my [00:13:00] rese, it looks to me, it looks like, oh, I checked off all the boxes, I'm, I'm fairly successful.

I assed that meant I would be happy. 

Shannon Russell: Mm-hmm. 

Betsy Pepine: And I was finding that I wasn't happy. So through a variety of different modalities, meditation, yoga, therapy, bioenergetic work, EMDR, I mean, the whole host of things I uncovered and, and still it's a, it's a process, but, uncovered that the source of my unhappiness had been these.

Periods of time in my life and situations in my life where I felt very confined by the expectations, opinions, beliefs of my family, of origin, my, my industry, my gender, my religion, my friends and peers. , Just all these external forces having beliefs about who I should be, what I should be, what I should be doing, weighing down on me.

So it's how I freed myself from that. , That's what the book is about.

Shannon Russell: No, but it's so inspiring and [00:14:00] it's about what we're talking about here today, just about your evolution and your career journey and building this business and building this life that now I hope you can.

Look around, be proud and feel joyed and fulfilled and happy, right? Yes, I do. I have , a story that I always talk about, wrote about in my book, about checking all the boxes in life. Oh. And, and I love that idea of saying, okay, I, 'cause you and I, I think, are very alike in that sense, where I.

Can't just do the same thing. I'm always looking for that next project as well. And so it's like, okay, great, I did that. Let's check it. What's next? What's that next challenge? Mm-hmm. , but when it's that you feel confined to that box mm-hmm. And that someone puts you in a certain box mm-hmm. That's when you've gotta breakout.

Mm-hmm. And find your way and find your peace. And, , I think a lot of my listeners and a lot of people in general can relate to. Having it look great on paper, but not feeling mm-hmm. Like you're living your true purpose. 

Betsy Pepine: Mm-hmm. And, and I struggled for about a [00:15:00] year, , knowing I was unhappy, but not even being able to admit it to anybody because Yeah.

Like I felt like I didn't have the right, I, you see so many people struggle really struggling. So like, how can I even begin to. Express any discontent in my own life and, and that, that was a huge hurdle for me to overcome in and of itself. 

Shannon Russell: Was writing the book Cathartic then just really getting your thoughts and feelings out onto paper in that way?

Betsy Pepine: Yeah, very much so. Very much so. And then when I started sharing the stories with others, . it was really nice and they wanted help getting out of their boxes. And that's, that's why I wrote the book because so many people were like, well, how do I do it? And I thought, well, gosh, you wrote a book.

You know how I, it's a, , i's a challenge. Yes. But I just thought if I could help one person, if one person's beliefs about themselves or they see something in a different way, they recognize a box that they didn't even realize they were in, maybe they recognize that they're putting other people in boxes that may not be conducive to the, that other person's wellbeing, [00:16:00] then it will have been worth the effort.

Yeah. Absolutely. 

Shannon Russell: And then to be able to feel stronger too. Like, I put this out there, I'm helping others, and you can feel that piece. Mm-hmm. that creative part of you. Yes. And just feel like, okay, I've checked it another box and I'm out of it. And here we go. Yeah. I wanna touch upon, I, I was reading your bio and I love that you've got Barbara Corcoran, who I adore as a mentor of yours.

Mm-hmm. . What is a piece of advice maybe that she gave you along your journey that really stuck with you? I

Betsy Pepine: Think. The biggest thing with Barbara for me is her grit. 

Shannon Russell: Mm. 

Betsy Pepine: I mean, she is just totally self-made. She doesn't take No, it's, it's, oh, not today. You and how she reinvented herself.

So she lost her business with her first divorce. Her. Her divorce. Mm-hmm. It's just she was a single mom. , rebuilt it again, then sold it when she was. 60 and then had to re reinvent [00:17:00] herself because she was really known to be only in real estate. So she pitched herself for Shark Tank and that really catapulted her into being, going from a.

Somebody who's a expert in real estate in New York City to a national business woman, you know? Yeah. And they tried to take it away. They gave it to her and then they said, no, we changed our mind. And then she wrote this beautiful letter to the producer and convinced him to give her a shot and, and talk them into, to taking two women.

They were only gonna have one woman shark. , Just her stories on how she just. Keeps going is amazing, and now she's 75 or 76 and still very relevant. You don't see a lot of sadly, women in business. Relevant at that age. Mm-hmm. 

Shannon Russell: You're right. Absolutely. And she is just killing it on social media.

Mm-hmm. I read her book, I've, yeah, I follow her very closely. And again, I think it's that Jersey connection, right? You just, yeah. Jersey, New York connection. And you just feel like, God, [00:18:00] she is not going anywhere like she is like you. She's never gonna retire. She has this wonderful family and loves what she does.

It's inspiring. Yeah. It really, really is. Yeah. So to have her in your corner is an amazing gift, I'm sure. 

Betsy Pepine: And she was so supportive of my book, which was so touching to me because, I, I'm, I'm nobody to her, but she was very interested in supporting my book and I was just so touched by that.

Shannon Russell: Shows a lot about who she is and how she cares for those around her, and, 

Betsy Pepine: yeah. 

Shannon Russell: what do your kids, they were so little when you left. Mm-hmm. They don't remember you working in the pharmaceutical industry. How about now that they're older, I'm sure, and adults, what do they think about everything you've built and how you've turned your life around?

Betsy Pepine: They didn't see me turn my life around because by the time they were old enough they, that was my life. True. Yes. It was such a blessing that I got divorced because. They saw me only as a very independent woman that they, 'cause they're both girls so.

I feel like I modeled some things [00:19:00] that I may not have would've modeled as strongly if I had been in a marriage. , and they're very independent, self-sufficient, contributing members of society, which I'm so proud of and they're happy, which is, that was my biggest goal, is that they are truly happy doing what they're doing.

I think they would say that they are proud of their mom. I don't know, but I think so.

All right, it's time for our five fast cues of the week. Here we go.

Shannon Russell: name one thing that these different chapters in your life have taught you.

Betsy Pepine: , Stay true to yourself. For me, that's a, that's a big task. Like always staying present in my body being very aware of what my body is telling me. Not what my mind is telling me, 'cause your body is your first sign. A body knows before your mind and just I have tended to overstay my welcome in like the marriage and, and in some business situations, ignoring my body signs.

Mm-hmm. Because my, my head got too involved. And so for me, I, I [00:20:00] constantly try to remind myself to check in with how is my body feeling. Mm-hmm. Great advice. 

Shannon Russell: Would you recommend taking a leap into a big life change to your best friend? 

Betsy Pepine: It would just so depend on the circstances.

I don't have a lot of fear in that category, but it just depends on their, it would just depend. 

Shannon Russell: Right. You don't wanna put your right ambitions onto someone else. Correct. Absolutely. Well, what is one piece of advice that you would give to someone who's about to start their second act?

Betsy Pepine: , Seek out mentors. Absolutely. There are people that are ahead of you and I like to have two types of mentors. One said are just a couple steps ahead of me and one's like Barbara who are way ahead of me. Mm-hmm. And they're, they're out there. People want to help others. As long as you express that you want help, there are people out there that have done what you wanna do, reach out and learn from them.

We do not have to be reinventing the wheel on anything in life. Mm-hmm. And so I would. Absolutely seek out mentors, get a coach. I wish I had gotten a coach earlier in my career. , [00:21:00] well worth it. Invest in yourself. 

Shannon Russell: Love that. Well, what does the next act look like for you, Betsy? 

Betsy Pepine: I am, I'm trying to decide that now.

, the course is coming out. It's, companion to the book. , would like to do more work with the nonprofit. I was asked the other day if you could do anything you wanted right now. , My first thought was pet rescue.

Like, I'm so passionate about pets and pet rescue and why I don't do it. I'm not sure. So I, I really don't know what my next act is. I actually think it, it will. be, very interested in the model of collaboration and collaborating with others and then making my competition my customer. So I do feel like in my future there's going to be a product or service that I will collaborate with another entity or person, and we will market it to what my current competition is.

Shannon Russell: Ooh, I love that. Yeah. That sounds really interesting and I can see you really conquering [00:22:00] that and you, you have a way of bringing different areas of your life or your business kind of together. Mm-hmm. Like you did with all of your businesses. So I can see that that's gonna be a great collaboration. Well, where can my listeners connect with you and follow you?

Betsy Pepine: Sure. So I have a website, which is just my name, betsy papin.com, and then I'm on all the social handles. At my with my name, which is at Betsy Papin. 

Shannon Russell: Easy. Yeah. Okay, great. I'll link to everything in the show notes and thank you, Betsy, for your time and for sharing your second act story with us. But you've got so many acts and more to come, and it's been such a pleasure.

Thank you. Thank 

Betsy Pepine: you, Shannon.

Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to second act, success. To view show notes from this episode, visit second act success.co. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode. [00:23:00] Reviews only take a few moments and they really do mean so much.

Thank you again for listening. I'm Shannon Russell. And this is second act success.