From Disaster to Resolution: Taking the First Step Towards REI

While most people spent Christmas tearing through presents, gorging themselves with Egg Nog and sweets, and engaging in some friendly banter with relatives, I was staring dumb founded at my bank statement. Well yes, I spent a little more on Christmas gifts than I might have budgeted for this year (who doesn’t?), but I was more surprised that my paycheck from my 9-5 job was never deposited on Christmas Eve.

My anxiety is still mounting to a feverish anguish even as I write this post. It looks like this might be an ongoing problem, and I’m in it for the long haul. I’ll spare you all the details – but suffice it to say I realized a very important lesson on Christmas day this year… I am WAY too dependent on the financial “support” (or lack thereof) of my measly 9-5 job! I’m talking, paycheck-to-paycheck, life-flipped-upside-down-without-even-ONE-paycheck dependent! Sure I have a little cash tucked away in a savings account, but it’s already been earmarked for my wedding this fall. Bah humbug.

I never thought this would happen to me. Ever.

I mean, I read about it from other people. On Bigger Pockets and in Real Estate Investing books it’s like a rite of passage. Someone loses their 9-5 job and they are in financial straits. They realize how absurd it is that we pour the best of ourselves into our jobs, leaving hardly anything left over for our family and ourselves, and they begin investing in real estate to gain financial freedom, time, energy, and to take back their lives.

But I swear, I never thought I’d be one of those people. I figured I’d read a few dozen books on investing, memorize half the Bigger Pockets forum, and then maybe in a year or two acquire my first “real” investment property. Sound like anyone else out there?

Well guess what… There’s no better time than yesterday. Of course you want to build your education. You want to know exactly what you have to do to succeed. You want to be perfect and amazing and rich on the first try (and every try) without any mistakes. But, life is messy. Things don’t work out the way you imagined they would. Obviously! So… Here goes nothing.

I am officially – today – a Real Estate Investor. I am owning it. I am going to be successful. I am going to be financially independent. I am going to become someone who is no longer living paycheck-to-paycheck under the authority of someone else. And I want you to do it with me. It’s scary and exciting. But the first step is commitment.

Are you ready? Are you ready to take the plunge? Are you ready for the massive learning curve? For slow and steady progress? For freedom? AND for (some) bumps and bruises along the way?

Choose to do something amazing in 2015. We will figure it out together.

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity, and the first chapter is New Year’s Day.” – Edith Lovejoy Pierce