Podcast Summary: The Entrepreneur DNA with Justin Colby

Episode: How This Couple Built Freedom: Rentals, RVs & a Media Agency | Shane & Victoria Childress

Date: October 20, 2025
Guests: Shane & Victoria Childress
Host: Justin Colby (Jess)

Episode Overview

This episode features Shane and Victoria Childress, a married couple who built financial and lifestyle freedom through determination, unconventional choices, real estate investing, and entrepreneurship—including running an RV dealership and launching a successful media agency. The conversation centers on how their backgrounds shaped their drive, their approach to business, and how they prioritize family, flexibility, and fun over chasing traditional markers of success.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins: From Tech & Tough Upbringings to Entrepreneurship

• Backgrounds: Shane started in tech after leaving college, rising through hard work. Victoria grew up experiencing poverty and instability due to her parents’ substance issues, which gave her the grit to negotiate with landlords as a child. ([02:38–05:19])
  • Victoria: “One of my goals in life was to own properties and be the landlord.” (04:30)
  • Shane: “If I’m down, what does my family do? … It’s my job if I leave this world to make sure they're taken care of.” (03:51)
• Entrepreneurial Spark: Both realized early on that the conventional path wasn’t satisfying or secure enough, so they began investing in real estate and exploring side ventures.

2. Building a Real Estate Portfolio

• Strategy: Started simply—“keep it simple.” They acquired properties based on straightforward math, focusing more on bottom-line profits than sophisticated real estate metrics. ([13:38–14:22])
  • Shane: "The simpler it is, the more profitable it is ..." (13:56)
• Scaling & Challenges: Grew to nearly 55 properties at their peak but underscored the reality of maintenance and the importance of economies of scale. Realized managing rentals remotely is onerous without Victoria’s hands-on management. ([13:38–15:20])
  • Jess: "If you’re gonna buy five rentals, do something else with your money." (14:39)

3. Pursuing Freedom—Geographically and Financially

• Adventures: Sold almost everything, lived on a sailboat, traveled Asia and the Caribbean, homeschooled their kids, and lived in an RV for more than a year. [10:25–12:29, 24:52–26:43]
  • Shane: “We were traveling … the traveling piece of it, you have to be close together, right?” (11:18)
  • Victoria: “It lets you shed like all of—What kind of car do you drive? ... We lived well below our means. Stuff doesn’t matter to us.” (12:02–12:25)
• Philosophy: Experience and family connection outweigh material status. The journey is more rewarding than the destination.
  • Shane: "If we stay here for another 10 years, we’re not going to make it. Like, this shit is boring. We gotta shake this up." (08:15)

4. Stumbling into New Ventures: RV Dealership & Media Agency

• Origin Story: Bought real estate zoned for a dealership, started with cars, hated it, pivoted to RVs (following their own needs and interests).
• Media Agency Emergence: Competitors took note of their marketing prowess, requesting help, leading to the birth of Savva Media Group. ([16:34–19:21])
  • Shane: "Our competitors are coming to us saying, 'Why are you—why are my customers walking in with your ad?'" (16:52)
  • Victoria: "It's just, it was born inside the RV dealership." (18:54)
• Approach: Focus on results, not vanity metrics. Only take clients where they can drive real outcomes.
  • Shane: "We focus on results...I want to be able to say, you gave me $10,000 this month, I put 50 back in your pocket." (19:57–20:23)

5. Adapting to a Changing Business Landscape

• AI & Search: Early adopters of AI in marketing, finding ways to rank first in AI-driven search even when not on page 1 in Google ([22:01–22:46]).
  • Shane: "We pop up first. So that’s caught the attention…" (22:16)
• Broader Insight: Future belongs to personal brand and AI, and the entrepreneurial space is shifting rapidly.

6. Entrepreneurship as a Couple: The Personal Side

• Partnership: Deeply collaborative—share everything from work commutes to running businesses side by side for 20+ years.
  • Shane: "There's days that we do not like each other at all… but we chose each other for that reason.” (33:01–33:15)
  • Shane: “Finding the right partner means the world. I would give every last bit of it up today, no questions asked, because I know that we can build it back together. No questions.” (32:37)
• Navigating Egos: Learning to keep each other’s egos in check, maintain focus on fun, and keep life interesting ([32:55–34:20]).
  • Shane: “At the end of the day we’re like, ‘Hey, if it ain’t fun, we gotta change it up or it won’t last.’ Period.” (34:17)

7. Building Businesses Around Lifestyle—not the Other Way Around

• Freedom vs. Grind: Acknowledged how hard it is to break out of "hustle culture," but value designing their work to fit their life.
  • Shane: "Breaking that habit of building your companies to support your lifestyle is just as hard...takes a tremendous amount of focus every day to stay on task." (28:45)
  • Jess: "You guys have done it, in my opinion, the right way." (28:22)

8. On Mistakes, Resilience, and Authenticity

• Learning by Doing: Mistakes are inevitable and essential; they openly discuss struggles from real estate headaches to learning car dealership operations ([42:27–45:14]).
  • Victoria: “The first 13 cars that I sold, I owed them thousands of dollars…did it all backwards.” (42:57)
  • Jess: “Part of that is the authenticity of, like, I don’t care how long you’ve been doing it…you learn from it.” (44:18)
• Advice: Perseverance and authenticity are more important than trying to seem perfect or following the crowd.

9. Looking Ahead: The Next Chapter

• Media Agency Focus: Aim to stabilize and grow Savva Media Group, with an emphasis on travel-focused “working vacations,” leveraging barter and partnerships with international clients.
  • Shane: "We want to see Savva Media in the Middle East…talking to boat manufacturers in Eastern Europe right now." (41:14)
  • Jess: "The media company is going to be a head down venture for the next 36 months to build it." (41:46)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Victoria: "I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. We just keep moving and grooving and trying stuff." (07:12)
• Shane: "If you have a home and a white picket fence and two kids and a dog, that's perfect…We achieved that early on and it wasn’t. It wasn’t it." (08:15)
• Victoria: "We own an RV dealership. We’re not from the industry…We’re like, fuck it. Why not? Let’s go." (09:33)
• Jess: "If you ask anyone who’s actually made it in business, they’ll tell you: Enjoy the journey." (42:02)
• Shane: "Bigger is not always better…If we’re happy and it’s given us the freedom to do what we want, that’s what I want." (38:51)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Early Upbringings & Mindsets: 02:38–05:23
• Real Estate Beginnings: 04:23–08:33
• Breaking from Convention: 08:15–09:32
• RV & Travel Lifestyle: 10:25–12:29, 24:52–26:43
• Launching the RV Dealership / Media Agency: 16:34–19:21
• Organic Marketing Success & AI: 19:47–22:46
• Partner Dynamics & Living Authentically: 32:37–34:20
• Building Lifestyle-Driven Businesses: 28:22–29:45
• Mistakes & Resilience: 42:00–45:14
• Looking Forward (Three-Year Plan): 39:43–41:51

Final Takeaways

• Shane and Victoria’s story is a testament to designing life and business on their terms—trading the rat race for adventure, opting for meaningful work, and prioritizing family and flexibility.
• Their path hasn’t been linear or without mistakes, but they own their failures, learn fast, and aren’t afraid to pivot.
• They remind entrepreneurs that success is not about having it all or being perfect—it's about building something meaningful, enjoying the journey, and doing it with people you love.

Follow: Savva Media Group on Instagram (@savvamediagroup) and Shane Childress (@shanechildress).

“If it ain’t fun, we gotta change it up or it won’t last. Period.” — Shane Childress (34:17)