BiggerPockets

Dean,

Like you I held a career for many, many years while still investing in real estate. It is a balancing act but with a little planning you can get most of what you need to do done with little impact on your employer.

The primary thing is your employer needs to know they have your undivided attention devoted to doing the job you were hired to do when you are supposed to be doing it. You have breaks, down time, lunches and time before and after work. Those are going to be more than enough if you do a little planning.

get a job in real estate.

I work commercial real estate. i get introuble if i'm not talking real estate all day every day.

I'm surprised no one has told you to get a friend, family member, or spouse that you trust and that has the time and/or freedom during work hours to handle your daytime business. They can be your assistant or make up some creative title that makes them feel important. Then you compensate them when a deal closes like $500 or a percentage or ...you get the idea.

They can give you daily updates via text messaging or after work for more in depth reports. If they don't know the business you can train them after work or on the weekends.

Maybe print out sheets to track work and make it easier. This way it gives people you are dealing with someone they can call during the day and talk to.

Its good to have a team anyway and your business will start to grow then you can quit your job and become a CEO! Just make sure that person that helps you gets to be VP or something!

if you were my employee and you were out in the hall making personal calls and spending time on the computer on your personal business, I'd fire your butt.

Unless you are working completely on commission and not receiving any salary at all, what you are doing is stealing from your boss. He's paying for your time for you to be working on his business. He's not paying for your time for you to work on your business.

This is a tough job market. This is not a good time to be fired for incompetance, theft, and just generally not doing your job.

A lot of real estate can be done on weekends. Many sellers and buyers both have jobs, so they want to do their business on the weekends.

You can call escrow companies and banks while on your coffee breaks and lunch hour.

If you think your business is a lot more interesting than your job, keep in mind that nobody is going to pay you to have fun. You always have the option of resigning your job and using your own time during the week to work on your real estate.

What are you doing that requires so many phone calls? You could probably 80/20 that down and increase your phone efficiency while making your boss happy.

And don't believe the J.O.B. crowd. You want to know what a full time real estate investor is? Glamorously unemployed.

Originally posted by Stephen Leblanc

Originally posted by Tim Wieneke

What are you doing that requires so many phone calls? You could probably 80/20 that down and increase your phone efficiency while making your boss happy.

Most of the calls I get between 9-5 are tenants calling with their problems. Not stuff I can avoid. When purchasing new properties, I can get most of that done on lunch breaks.

Examine your own words. Tenants are calling you with their problems. They are requesting an interruption of your day for their problems. You need to prioritize this in respect to your time.

Send a letter out to your tenants instructing them to call only between the hours of 4 and 6 p.m. Then change your voicemail to reflect this. Finally, if they call outside those hours, don't answer. If the house is burning down, 911 has been dialed and there's nothing that you as the landlord can do about it. If the pipes have burst and the house is flooding it's already an insurance claim and there's nothing you as a landlord can do about it. That's why you have insurance. If you must give them a means of emergency contact, tell them to text you. You're a landlord, key word "lord'. You're not a 24/7 on call employee to them.

I've had tenants call me 8 a.m. sunday morning. Guess what happens when I get those calls? Nothing until Monday. If it's a disaster you can't stop it and insurance will get you back into shape. Learn to let some "bad" things happen.

The work ethic is alive and well in America today.