From a 9-Figure Exit to Inspiring the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs with Scott Lingle – EP 282

March 19, 2026

Interview with Scott Lingle

From a 9-Figure Exit to Inspiring the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs with Scott Lingle

Building a successful career in the corporate world and reaching the pinnacle isn’t easy. Walking away from that success, with four kids and looming college bills, to bet on yourself is even harder. Most people never make that leap. Fewer still build companies that exit for eight or nine figures while pursuing a life of freedom, faith, and long-term impact. That’s exactly what today’s guest did.​

After two decades at UnitedHealthcare, Scott Lingle made a pivot into entrepreneurship later in life, launched multiple healthcare tech companies, and had two exits — including one for nine figures in 2024. But what makes Scott’s story compelling isn’t just the financial outcome. It’s how he built businesses that didn’t depend on him, positioning him to shift from wealth creation to legacy and impact.​

In our conversation, we dive into his pivot toward impact, from launching High School Hustle to mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs, and how his faith was a compass that shaped his decisions along the way.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✅ The leadership decision that allowed him to scale without sacrificing his time and sanity.

✅ How finding a way to replace yourself as the top salesperson leads to exponential business growth and unlocks financial freedom.

✅ Why Scott believes that using the 3% rule to invest in your personal development is the best money you’ll ever spend.

Featured on This Episode: Scott Lingle

✅ What he does: Scott Lingle is a healthcare tech entrepreneur who exited two companies (including a nine-figure exit in 2024) after leaving corporate America at age 46. He is now focused on mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs through High School Hustle and building faith-driven impact initiatives.

💬 Words of wisdom:  “No better money spent than investing in yourself, in health, and in your mind.” – Scott Lingle

🔎 Where to find Scott Lingle: Website | LinkedIn

Key Takeaways with Scott Lingle

  • From Corporate America to An 8 and 9-Figure Exit
  • From Zero to $6M EBITDA in 6 Years
  • Selling a Second Business for a 9-Figure Exit
  • Hiring The Right People & Delegating Is a Cheat Code
  • The 3% Personal Growth Rule For Optimal Lifestyle
  • Deploying Wealth for Impact & Legacy
  • The Inspiration For Creating High School Hustle
  • Replacing Yourself in Sales
  • Using Faith as a Compass for Business
  • How To Learn More From Scott & His Programs

Impacting the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

Inspiring Quotes

  • “I think God wired all of us to have a purpose and to have a challenge and just have a battle to go fight every day. I’m a big faith guy. And I just felt really like God was leading me, almost like a call into the ministry. And my ministry is helping to find and grow the next generation of entrepreneurs, including my kids.” – Scott Lingle
  • “Entrepreneurs need to have something bigger than themselves and get people to rally behind that. And for us, it’s always been something in the lane of faith.” – Scott Lingle
  •  “In any given year, you should invest 3% of all the money you earn into your own personal development.  There’s no better money spent than investing in yourself, in health, and in your mind.” – Scott Lingle
  • “ I’m a big faith guy and I just felt really like God was leading me, almost calling me into the ministry. And my ministry is helping to find and grow the next generation of entrepreneurs, including my kids.” – Scott Lingle
  • “The definition of the business we love, you can buy all your supplies on Amazon for about a hundred bucks. You can watch five YouTubes and you’re off to the races. And what we really teach kids is how to get over their fear and go knock on some doors.” – Scott Lingle

Resources

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  • Tax Strategy Masterclass
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    lifestyleinvestor.com/tax

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Read the Full Transcript with Scott Lingle

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Justin Donald: What’s up Scott? Good to have you on the show.

Scott Lingle: Hey, Justin, great to be here. Appreciate you having me on.

Justin Donald: Well, I just love having friends on the show, so anytime I have people that I think are doing amazing things, especially the stronger our friendship becomes, the more we hang out, the more I’m like, I want everyone to hear your story and see all the cool things that you’re up to, and you’re literally top of my list. We’ve been trying to set this thing up for a while.

Scott Lingle: Love it. Can’t wait to jump in.

Justin Donald: Yeah. So, we have to start with just the hot news of you building your new home because you and I, we’ve played some pickleball and I love pickleball, you love pickleball. You are a great player. We’ve done some damage being teammates.

Scott Lingle: No doubt.

Justin Donald: But you are building an indoor pickleball court in your basement, I guess it’s already done, next to a golf simulator. You have like all the toys in this new place.

Scott Lingle: We’re pumped. So, we’re building our dream house and in that, we’ve got indoor pickleball in the basement with 25-foot ceilings so you can lob, and it’s got all the specs. And then if you don’t like pickleball, we got a golf simulator right next to it. So, literally, they just both got done. The house isn’t even done, but I made it a priority that we got those two done first.

Justin Donald: Well, I like that. So, you’re able to use it before you’re really able to use it.

Scott Lingle: Yep. It’s fun.

Justin Donald: That’s awesome. Well, as a former tennis player, I think you’ve transitioned into pickleball quite well and it is fun playing with you. I’m excited that you’re getting several days of the week at your place. I mean, just the ability to organize, even from like the community sense, the masterminding, like just getting a bunch of guys and gals that you really enjoy spending time with to play and then talk and hang out and do life, I just think is beautiful. It’s masterful.

Scott Lingle: I think that’s how you and I met. First time we ever met was on a pickleball court.

Justin Donald: That’s right. Now, did Peter SerVaas introduce the two of us? Was that our first meetup?

Scott Lingle: No. We actually met up at Wellspring.

Justin Donald: Oh, that’s right.

Scott Lingle: And we were at Tim Tebow’s event. And we had a pickleball tournament with Tim, and you and I were partners. And since then, you’ve elevated your game. Man, you 10x your games since we first played.

Justin Donald: Well, thank you. You’ve done the same. I just wish I was better back then. I mean, we did well enough to beat Tim, so I do want little shout out there. That guy, he is a freak athlete. And you’d think he’s too big for the game, but that guy can move. He is good.

Scott Lingle: He can play.

Justin Donald: He can play. He can play all sports. It’s pretty impressive.

Scott Lingle: For sure.

Justin Donald: So, Scott, your story is just incredible to me. You were a corporate guy. You worked at UnitedHealthcare for most of your career, and then at age 46, you’re like, you know what? I want to do some things differently. I want to transition into becoming an entrepreneur. So most people don’t start that late in life and you’re like, hey, this next chapter’s just beginning. You started a couple of healthcare tech companies that you sold to private equity for over $200 million.

And then I love like all the things that you’re up to now with giving back your High School Hustle that you’ve built out. So, I mean, we got to talk about all this, but first, let’s get into like why you decided to move from corporate America when you had a good gig, you’d moved up to starting a couple of healthcare tech companies.

Scott Lingle: Yeah, 46, not the ideal time to get started at that time. So, I got a wife and I got four kids, and we had one going off to college. And it might be the peak time in your life for expenses. And so, my wife was like, “What the heck are you thinking?” And what was going on in my head? I was kind of born to be an entrepreneur. Always knew I had that in my blood. From the time like, age 12, started doing a newspaper route. And they would have competitions for new starts. And I learned how to go door to door selling at age 12, and it just got in my blood.

And so, finally at age 46, I told my wife, I said, “If I don’t try this, I’m going to have a massive regret when I go to my deathbed.” And so, I had two buddies wanting to start something. We had enough in the bank that I told my wife, I said, “I think we can do this for one year without compromising our lifestyle that much.” And my fallback plan was, I’d done so well at United Healthcare. I thought like end of the day, if it fails, I can go back and get that gig. Or I was like on the sales side and I had built up a lot of relationship capital, and so I thought Plan B will be either go back to United or go work for Cigna, Aetna, Blue Cross BlueShield.

And so, sure enough, we got started, had two buddies wanting to do something. We tried both. One of them went from 0 to 6 million in EBITDA in six years. And we sold it for an eight-figure income. And the other one, like most startups, like total struggle bus. I didn’t think it was ever going to make it. And that one ended up being bigger than the first one. We had a nine-figure exit at the end of last year in ‘24. So, God just really blessed them, and sure glad I took a shot.

Justin Donald: No kidding. And you’ve got a couple other businesses that you started that likely have exit potential here in the coming years, right?

Scott Lingle: We do. We still have– well, I rolled on Remodel Health, the second exit, we rolled 40%. So, I’m no longer involved day to day, but I still am on the board and I have skin in the game. And then we spun up a couple others that I’m just a passive owner in, but everything I know came from UnitedHealthcare and so everything I know is in the health insurance space, and generally, tech in health insurance.

Justin Donald: Wow. So, you went from corporate America and understanding that space, to starting companies in the space. So, you have some expertise. You knew what they were missing, you knew what they would need, right? So, that’s a nice little added advantage. You got an angle there. But from an investor’s lens, what made those businesses truly exit ready? And how should entrepreneurs focus on, like what specifically do you think they should focus on early if they want that type of optionality later?

Scott Lingle: Yeah. So, the privilege of starting at age 46, tons of knowledge, industry knowledge, tons of contacts. So, what we did with the first one is called ISG, Insurance Specialist Group. Think about like back in 2015, the Affordable Care Act just passed ObamaCare. What I knew from being an insider for the last 20 years is this is probably not going to go over well. People are not going to like this.

And me and a buddy created a platform. We weren’t tech guys, but we knew how to find tech guys. And we went to a buddy and we said, “Hey, can you build this a platform that literally has every affordable alternative in the private healthcare market?” So, think of individuals that don’t get benefits from work, they buy from the individual market, self-employed or small business owners. We built a platform that was all things affordable alternatives for that marketplace.

And then the beauty of me being in the industry for 20 years and marketing, like with the number one brand, UnitedHealthcare, to every single big distributor around the country, they would all pick up my phone call, like first ring or first text. And we went out. Instead of selling that product, what we did is we said, it’s completely free, but we want to make $5 per member per month on every product you ever sell. And that thing exploded. Every one of our friends said yes, and it was just right place, right time. And it went, like I said, 0 to 6 million in EBITDA in six years with three people. So, it was me and a founder and one employee that was the only folks that ever worked there.

And then the only reason we sold is healthcare is so volatile. And the next president can literally blow up your deal. And so, we exited in light of that back in– that first one sold back in ‘21.

Justin Donald: Okay. And then when did the second exit happen?

Scott Lingle: Second happened in end of ‘24. So, just a year ago, almost a year ago.

Justin Donald: That was the big kahuna.

Scott Lingle: Yep. And that one, we got little over nine figures and rolled 40. And that one’s called Remodel Health, and also in health insurance, but on the employer group side. So, the analogy I like to use, the space that we’re in, it’s called Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA). Think of the analogy, back in the day, everybody had a pension plan where the employer would help you buy your retirement and they would invest in the fund for you. And then we got smarter, we went to 401(k), and the employer said, “Hey. I’m going to help invest, but you can pick whatever plan you want.”

Same thing is happening right now in healthcare, and it’s called Individual Coverage HRA. And we’re like the leader in that market, probably 50 competitors. We’re number one in revenue and number one in EBITDA.

Justin Donald: Now, you’ve done something impressive because you built one that scaled fast. You built one that didn’t scale fast, that was kind of a pain in the butt, and then you figured it out. And then you got a couple more on the way, but many founders of businesses unintentionally build businesses that really just trap them. We both know those people. So, from your understanding of what you did and what many of our friends have done, what structural or leadership decisions did you make that allowed you to scale value while protecting your time, and of course, your sanity?

Scott Lingle: Yeah. I think I was blessed with having a boss back at UnitedHealthcare that really taught me delegation. And what I noticed early on is like she got a lot of things done, but she didn’t work crazy hours. And I thought, man, that’s like genius. And about that same time, I was really into like Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Workweek. And so, I’ve always been a guy that likes to play more than work. I love to play pickleball. I play golf. I like to travel.

And so, I thought, man, this is the cheat code for life. Like, find smart people that are smarter than you. Give them all your work. Hold them accountable. And so, I’ve kind of been wired like that, even back to my corporate America days. Like people would say, you really don’t work that hard. Like, how are you getting all these results? Well, I knew how to hire well and I knew how to train well and I knew how to delegate all my work just from learning from my boss.

And so, I translated that into my two businesses. Remodel Health, I get zero credit for anything that happened there because the first three or four years, I made all my money in this company called ISG and I didn’t even pay attention to Remodel. It wasn’t working. I thought, man, this thing may never work. But I was smart enough to put the right people in the right places. I had a co-founder.

Justin Donald: That’s the key.

Scott Lingle: That was great. And then we ended up hiring a CFO that we put in charge of running the business. And that guy runs it 10 times better than me or my co-founder could ever run it. So, I think picking the right people and letting them do all the work has been lifesaver for me.

Justin Donald: Well, that’s key. And I think that you model that really well. And I see you modeling it with your kids too. So, I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of your sons, some of their friends as well. I’ve seen you coaching and guiding them during their entrepreneurial or part of their entrepreneurial journey. It is so cool to see. It’s so refreshing. So, I definitely want to get into that here in a little bit.

But before we do, you, like me, are big into investing in the future, and from the standpoint of like health, longevity, wellness, next generation stuff, I think like you specifically are just so intentional about optimizing your health, Scott, and you’re a top one percenter in terms of fitness at your age. I mean, I would just say fitness in general, plus fitness at your age. But how does longevity thinking influence the way that you approach work, approach investing, and then even just life by design?

Scott Lingle: Yeah, I think early on, I got turned on to personal development. So, back in the day I was into like Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy. I mean, I was like a junkie, like 24/7, I had those guys in my car back in the cassette tape days. And I just got this idea in my head of being growth minded in all areas of life. And I heard this thing called the 3% rule, and it just says, any given year, you should invest 3% of all the money you earn into your own personal development.

And how that looks for me is books. I’ve graduated now where I’m totally into masterminds. You and I are in one together. So, I spent a ton of money on that. And then longevity health, I mean, God’s given me this body. I absolutely love to work out, to run. I run every day. I’m addicted to running, play pickleball, play golf, travel, ski. And if I couldn’t do those things, like honestly, I would hate life. And so, I’m 57 and I want to be able to ski and play tennis and play golf at age of 80. So, I really got into– there’s a book out, you probably read it, Peter Atia, Outlive.

Justin Donald: Oh, yeah. Great book.

Scott Lingle: Probably came out five years ago, and I thought, man, I want to find some doctors that practice that methodology. And I actually found one, Longevity Health Clinic. They’re out of Boulder, Colorado. And I spend six figures, combination of that 3% rule, either on masterminds, conferences, and longevity health. I’m spending six figures a year, best money I could ever spend, but that kind of bleeds over into every area of my life is just investing. No better money spent than investing in yourself, in health, and in your mind.

Justin Donald: Yeah. You couldn’t have articulated that better. I love the 3% rule. Like you, I am religious about this, and I think that when I look at money, I work hard and have means so that I can spend it (a) on health and longevity; (b) on epic experiences for friends and family; and (c) on learning more, educating myself, investing in my peer group, investing in mentors and experts and just people that can help me play the game of business life and wealth creation at a higher level. And I love that you do that too.

Scott Lingle: Love it. I love that you said peak experiences. I think you and I both have read Die With Zero. And that book was a game changer for me. Just thinking about, he talks about memory dividends. And I love that. Like I just went to the Big Ten championships, where IU beat Ohio State. We’ve been lifelong IU fans, Indiana University.

Justin Donald: Hey, congratulations. You can finally celebrate that at a large scale.

Scott Lingle: No doubt. But I spent a lot of money on good seats, took all my boys, flew my brother in, and it was epic. Like, I’ll remember that day the rest of my life. So, investing in those experiences, you can’t touch that.

Justin Donald: That’s so cool. Well, I do want to talk more about your kids and some of the impact that you’ve had because we talked about you becoming an entrepreneur later in life and, and what I will say is it’s never too late to become an entrepreneur. And you even said like, “Hey, maybe it wasn’t the ideal time.” And I would actually argue, maybe it was the ideal time, at least it was the ideal time for you. And I think wherever that shows up, I want people to lean into it and I love that we’ve got you as a case study for that later in life, right?

What you’ve done with the next 10 years has been tremendous. But what’s even more inspiring to me about you, Scott, is really just the way that you have intentionally pivoted towards impact since you’ve had your exits. And you’re going to have more, and that’s great. Most people aren’t even blessed with one. You’ve had two going on, likely two more, maybe three more. We’ll see. But I’m curious what prompted that shift and how do you think about wealth as a tool rather than a finish line like most people?

Scott Lingle: That’s a great question. So, after my second exit, I thought, wow, this is amazing. I’ll play a lot of golf, I’ll play a lot of pickleball, I’ll travel a lot and life will be great. And about 90 days then, no lie, like I’m bored out of my mind. I think God wired all of us to have a purpose and to have a challenge and just have a battle to go fight every day. I’m a big faith guy. And I just felt really like God was leading me, almost like a call into the ministry. And my ministry is helping to find and grow the next generation of entrepreneurs, including my kids. And so, that’s what we’ve done. So, Peter and I have built, a friend of ours that you know too, Peter SerVaas…

Justin Donald: I love Peter.

Scott Lingle: Amazing guy. And we built a nonprofit that’s called High School Hustle. And we think the world needs more entrepreneurs. And so, we’re helping to kind of grow up the next generation of entrepreneurs. And what we– at first, we said, “Okay, can we find something that already exists in the market that we can just join?” Because like, if there’s something out there, great. Let’s just, no sense in like recreating the wheel.

But we really couldn’t find. We found a lot of like pitch competitions that are like theory hypothetical. We believe hardcore, you learn entrepreneurship by doing it, and nothing that beats learning by doing. And we really couldn’t find anything in the market that really taught kids how to be entrepreneurs by getting out there and doing it. And what we do is we help launch kids that do sweaty startups.

So, most common things that kids are doing are pressure washing, lawn mowing, car detailing. Girls are doing a lot of babysitting, a lot of house cleaning, things like that. The definition of the business we love, you can buy all your supplies on Amazon for about a hundred bucks. You can watch five YouTubes and you’re off to the races. And what we really teach kids is like how to get over their fear and go knock on some doors. I think you and I both did that growing up, right?

Justin Donald: I mean’s the scariest part. That’s right. Well, I mean, when you can put that fear in its place and realize it’s actually not that scary, it’s just the unknown, you just have to kind of work through the unknown, that is one of the greatest fears to ever conquer because if you can conquer that, or I should say when you conquer that, everything else is such small potatoes. I mean…

Scott Lingle: Couldn’t agree more.

Justin Donald: It’s just so much easier.

Scott Lingle: And just a kid that can overcome rejection and fear is a kid that you can’t stop them.

Justin Donald: That’s right. Well, and you guys have brought this now to over 2,000 high school students. I have had the privilege of meeting some of these students, which is so cool. In fact, I invited Peter SerVaas, and a handful of you guys, Peter was the only one that could join us at Guardian Bikes’ grand opening of their new facility when Mark Cuban came into town. And he brought one of the high school students that is doing incredibly cool things, built a business that. I mean this is a big-time business. I mean, this kid was coding and building video games as a child. And now, he’s got a business that this thing could be– I mean, it’s going to get acquired by someone for a ton of money and he’s still in high school.

Scott Lingle: Kids, 16 years old, and he’s raised over a million dollars in a tech business. Peter and I both put money in, like, we believe in this kid.

Justin Donald: Well, and it’s tech that makes all the sense in the world that, like what Google is doing, this tech is better. And it will integrate. I mean, it’s a company like that that’s going to buy them. It’s really cool. And you guys award a hundred thousand dollars to the top 10 students with the highest sales. And I just love the impact that you’re giving the opportunities there, but talk about the impact that that’s had with your boys. And you first started with them and then their friends, and now, it’s with a bunch of people you don’t know, you don’t have a relationship with that you’re building it with, but this has to be the coolest thing for your kids to see.

Scott Lingle: Yeah, no doubt. My inspiration for kind of creating High School Hustle came from my youngest boy, Kyle. I think you met Kyle.

Justin Donald: I did.

Scott Lingle: Kyle was a junior at college studying business, and he called home and he said, “Hey, dad, I need to do an internship. Can I do it at Remodel Health?” And I said, Kyle, “You could.” But I said, “Honestly, like, probably wouldn’t add a lot of value to me. And we wouldn’t add a lot of value to you.” It’d be a lot of, be very boring, like data entry kind of thing. And I said, why don’t– like, I’m a big guy, I’m a big fan of, there’s a guy online named Nick Huber. I’ve had a chance to meet him.

Justin Donald: Oh yeah. I know Nick. He’s awesome. Great guy.

Scott Lingle: Good dude. I’ve golfed with him.

Justin Donald: He actually went to University of Illinois with me.

Scott Lingle: Oh, sweet. I didn’t know that.

Justin Donald: Or he’s younger than me. We both went there. We didn’t go at the same time.

Scott Lingle: So, Nick has kind of a website, Sweaty Startup, and I’ve been following him on Twitter. He’s just a really good follow. And I said, “Kyle, go read all Nick’s stuff and find a lane, like a sweaty startup, that you and your roommate can come home and see how far you can take it just in four months during the summer.” And sure enough, they came home and they started Naptown Washing. And it’s a pressure washing business. And they made like 10 grand each.

More importantly though, they put a website together, Naptown Washing. They ended up getting like 17 five-star reviews. They did door knocking. They did yard signs. They tested Facebook marketplace. They learned how to use Excel and tracking their expenses. Into the summer, they both said, “We learned more in four months by doing this business than we learned in four years of college.” And that’s not a knock on the college. That just tells you that entrepreneurs learn it by doing it, getting out there and grinding.

And then what they did that was even cooler, they both, like the next year, applied for jobs and on the top of the resume, they put co-founder, CEO, Naptown Washing, sales 20,000, learned sales, customer service, accounting. And they both got jobs way before their peers because employers see stacks of resumes of 4.0 students, but they don’t see a lot of kids that have applied it. And so, he called home after four interviews and he said, “Dad, not a single employer asked me one question about my college experience. All they wanted to know about was Naptown Washing.” And so, even for the kid that is not going to go be an entrepreneur right out of high school, we think this adds a ton of value for those reasons.

Justin Donald: Yeah, that’s awesome. I was just thinking, it’s actually a buddy of Nick Huber’s that went to U of I. He didn’t go to U of I, but one of his buddies started a company there at the University of Illinois. So, I just want to clarify.

Scott Lingle: I think he actually ran a track for an Ivy League school.

Justin Donald: Yeah, Cornell. Yeah, I got him confused with another buddy. But I love what he’s been able to do and build and the inspiration there for you to take that to your kids. It’s just awesome.

Scott Lingle: It’s been fun.

Justin Donald: So, for high performing listeners, people that are checking this out, watching or listening right now who are still building, but thinking ahead, how can they design their businesses and investments now to create freedom and purpose in the second half of life like you did?

Scott Lingle: Yeah, it’s a great question. I came up on the sales side of the house at UnitedHealthcare and I’ve done a few venture investments, and so I’m very biased here and you’re going to see this. But I’m biased toward people that learn how to sell and then figure out. I find that the entrepreneurs that can’t ever leave their job is they are the number one sales guy and they can’t remove themself from that role. They built it. They’re the biggest cheerleader. They’re the number one guy recruiting the talent. They’re casting the vision, but they’re also out there selling every day.

If you can replace yourself as the number one sales guy, that unlocks all the doors in my opinion. And figuring that out and that takes a long time and you got to get people to mentor you, shadow you, but once you’re able to kind of unlock that, I think it unlocks a lot of things for freedom. And I’ve seen that a lot of my buddies that can’t get away because they haven’t figured out that skill. And part of it is just control. Like, if you’re control freak, good luck. Yeah, you got to give it up. Yeah.

Justin Donald: And it is tough, but you hired the right people and you have the right training systems and you’ll be shocked that people can do it better than you. And collectively, they can do it way better than you. They can run laps around you, right? Because there’s only so much you can do at any given time. Something cool that I really appreciate about you and another thing where I’ve just seen you give back to the community, the impact that you’ve had is the program that you helped build out at Olivet Nazarene. They have an entrepreneurship program. They have an entrepreneurship curriculum, but you kind of built out their programming around this for people to get real hands-on experience in this space. You’ve had some big-time speakers come to share. Tim Tebow this last year, Auntie Anne, the founder of Auntie Anne’s, was there the year before. I’ve spoken the last couple of years.

And it is just so cool seeing these young college students that are hungry. They’re ready to learn. They ask great questions. And I’d love to hear you share how you even had the idea to build this out because it’s got huge. I mean, you guys are going to be over a thousand students attending this conference that you guys built, probably in 2026.

Scott Lingle: Yeah. It’s been a blast. It goes back to kind of what my calling is. I feel like God’s called me to kind of raise up the next generation of entrepreneurs, and I’m doing that with High School Hustle, but also, I have a heart and passion for Olivet’s where I met my wife. Actually, all three of my boys went there. So, we love that place. And when I had my first exit, I noticed they had a really good business school, but no entrepreneurship department. I thought, man, what a miss. And so, approach them.

Justin Donald: Well, and most schools, I feel like don’t have an entrepreneurship department. So, hats off to you for identifying that. I think more universities need to pay attention here because the demand is here.

Scott Lingle: 100%. So, only thing I’m ever good at is relationships. I think relationships run the world literally. And so, I went, and it’s fun for me. I had a lot of coffee meetings with a lot of alumni and said, “Hey, here’s the amount of money we need to kind of get this thing out of the gate.” So, we did a little fundraising and we raised the money, and so, we were off and running. We had a major and a minor. Well, then the big question is, okay, how do we get people to think about all of that? It’s only a school of like 3,000 students. It’s near Chicago.

And what our dream was, can we become kind of the number one faith-based entrepreneurship program in the country? So, we’d start dreaming that up and we thought, okay, how do we make this like a magnet and get on the radar? And we thought, okay, top of the funnel is we’re just going to throw a gigantic conference every year. And we do it in April and we’ve started bringing in big name speakers like Justin Donald and Tim Tebow and Auntie Anne. And we got another big one lined up for this year. I can’t say yet because we haven’t locked them in.

And then what we do is we sprinkle in, we have the big headliners like you, but then we bring in, like a lot of my friends that are faith-based entrepreneurs that have killed it and they do all these TED talks throughout the day. And then we cancel all the business classes. So, it ends up being like, I think there’s a total of 500 or 600 kids in the business school. And we say, okay, all classes are canceled for Thursday and Friday, and all you’re going to do is attend and hear Justin Donald, Tim Tebow, and then all what we call the SparkTalks, which are like hour-long TED talks.

And then it culminates with the pitch competition for both a high school level and a college level, and we give away real money. I think we give away like 10 grand in each level. But what we’ve done, what’s cool, what’s different from every other college, instead of just recruiting pitchers from our university, we said, “No, we’re going to recruit from any and all schools.” So, we had a kid last year coming from Harvard. We had kids coming in from mainly all over the Midwest, but we do that with the high schools in the nearby area. And I think what we’re doing is just building this pipeline for kids to see us as like a legit place for a faith-based entrepreneurship degree.

Justin Donald: Oh, that’s so cool. And shout out to Caleb Roth. I met him through you, one of your buddies.

Scott Lingle: He’s amazing.

Justin Donald: Awesome entrepreneur and founder, but loves to pour into the youth, loves to teach and just super insightful. So, I hope he catches this episode because he’s one of my favorite people you’ve introduced me to, and we’ll keep up periodically over the course of the year. Just a great, great, wonderful guy.

Scott Lingle: I’m going to see him on Thursday. I’ve got a group coming in to talk about like next year’s conference, and he’ll be there. I’ll tell him you said hello.

Justin Donald: Oh, that’s cool. I love it. Please do. Well, one of the things that I love about you is you’re so open about building a faith-driven life and business culture, and I’m curious how your faith practically influenced your leadership decisions, especially during the high-pressure growth stage or during the exit moments where things just, they can get crazy.

Scott Lingle: Yeah, I think, that’s always been my compass. I was blessed to have parents that love the Lord and kind of put me on that direction. And I think from the very get-go, I wanted to build a company that kind of had redemptive purposes. And so, we’ve always kind of had, like even Remodel Health, I’ll give you a great example. We’ve kind of set our North Star. When we first started that company, we mainly served a lot of churches and a lot of faith-based nonprofits. And so, instead of just kind of setting it up and saying, hey, we got this large number we want to hit in both revenue and EBITDA, we said, “Okay, let’s reframe this a little bit.”

And what we did is we said, okay, in the first year, can we save churches and nonprofits in Indiana, which is kind of our target market, a million dollars that otherwise would’ve been spent on health insurance. They can now repurpose back into their ministries. And then let’s throw a big party if we hit that number and let’s bring in all those organizations and share, okay, what did they do with the money? Did they build a new wing at church? Did they reinvest in like a new– they needed a new youth pastor.

And sure enough, we hit that goal the first year and we hit a million. We threw the big party. It was super cool. And then what’s super cool is two years ago, we threw even bigger party and we celebrated a hundred million in savings. And same concept. But I think, entrepreneurs need to have something bigger than themselves and get people to rally behind that. And for us, it’s always been something in the lane of faith.

Justin Donald: Yeah. That’s powerful, Scott. I just love that. For those people that want to learn more about you, what you’re up to and High School Hustle, where can they go to find out more information?

Scott Lingle: Yeah, I love that. I’m all about High School Hustle these days. This year, we’re going to try to get in every school in the state of Indiana, and then next year we want to go national. And so, HighSchoolHustle.org, you can learn all about that and about me, and that’s where my passion is right now.

Justin Donald: I love it. Hey, this has been an awesome call. So fun just getting time with you. So fun seeing you live life. You really do live it to the fullest. You’re enthusiastic, but you do epic stuff. It’s so fun to be your friend and to live life vicariously with you and often, doing a lot of things together. We’re going to Vegas together here in what? About a month. Five weeks. So, really looking forward to that and just think the world of you, Scott. So, thanks for taking the time, and I really want to encourage anyone that is checking this out, if you’re watching, if you’re listening, check out High School Hustle and for those that are in that age range, let’s get them involved. Let’s make sure that they know that this exists and that there’s opportunities for them.

Scott Lingle: Love it. Appreciate your friendship. Thanks for having me on.

Justin Donald: Yeah. Well, it is an honor to be your friend, and I love ending every episode with a question for our audience. So, if you’re watching, if you’re listening, what is one step you can take today to move towards financial freedom and really living the life you desire on your terms? So, not by default like most people, but by design with intentionality, and really challenge you to find one thing, pick one thing that Scott talked about today and implement it immediately. Thanks so much, Scott, and we’ll catch all of you next week.

Scott Lingle: Awesome. Thanks, Justin.

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Justin Donald

Justin Donald

Justin Donald is a leading financial strategist who helps you find your way through the complexities of financial planning. A pioneer in structuring deals and disciplined investment systems, he now consults and advises entrepreneurs and executives on lifestyle investing.

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