Looking for where to start as a complete beginner. (Brain is Scrambled)

[James Rutherford, iii]

Hey all,

Looking for some advice on where to start my journey.

Backstory:

I am 21 years old and just beginning to find my way. After working a grueling job with EMS for the last 2 years, working 24 and 48 hour shifts with little to no sleep, only to bring in the average salary, I knew I needed change. About 2 months ago I started to become interested in real estate. I began taking my pre-licensing course in the beginning of June to become an agent and quickly fell in love with every aspect of it. Selling, Buying, Flipping, and Investing. I am now on course to become an agent within the next month and feel as though I finally found something I am truly passionate about. I recently purchased and read the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and it completely changed my mentality on not only my finances, but life itself. I come from a lower-middle class family whom I love dearly, but with that being said, I have had to turn to books and youtube for advice on Finances and Real Estate. I am the most driven and ambitious I have ever been in my life. I see the pieces of the puzzle laid out in front of me, I am just struggling to put them together.

I have an idea of what I want to do. I see the finish line (financial freedom) and parts of the race track (steps to get there) , just having a difficult time putting the all of the pieces together. I know this is a hard and addictive industry to get into, but I am ready for all of the trials and hardships to come. I know there is countless amounts of knowledge to be gained and I can learn 100 new things everyday for the rest of my life and still not know the half of it.

I have a current idea on the path I want to take to financial freedom, but being a beginner and with no experience in the industry, that is very much subject to change and I am craving feedback and guidance.

My current plan (listing it out so it's easier to follow)

1. Finish my Pre Licensing Course and become an Active Agent

2. Learn the Market to the best of my ability while working as an agent

3. Supplement or Increase my current income with my Real Estate Agent Job Alone

4. Scale my business and begin paying off current my current liabilities (Truck Payment Alone is killing me financially)

5. Create a strict Budget and raise money for a 20% as quickly as possible for a down payment on my first investment property

6. Fix and Flip Investment Property within 6 months while continuing to work as an Agent

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 multiple times to get a good understanding of how to fix and flip

8. Create Investment LLC for fixing and flipping properties

9. Begin Putting Profits of Fix and Flips into more investment Properties

10. Begin Investing using the Brrrr Method to create monthly Cash Flow

11. Continue Scaling using the Brrr Method and Fix and Flips

12. Become Financially Free

I want the experienced people in this industry to pick apart my plan and tell me if there are any flaws in my logic, and if so, help me to understand a faster or better path to become like the rest of you. I will continue posting on this Forum, talking about my journey and surrounding myself with like-minded individuals such as yourselves. Thank you for your time in reading my first post, I truly hope you will take the time to provide honest and harsh feedback as I thrive on constructive criticism.

Respectfully,

An Ambitious kid

[Seth McGathey]

Hey, congratulations on working to become your families first generation financially literate. That is no easy feet and means your are thinking for yourself rather than just following what's "normal" and easy. Your future decendents, if you have any, will greatly appreciate the work you are putting in now to better yourself. 

As far as your plan goes:

Is there a reason number 5 is not house hacking instead of saving 20%? This is going to be the fastest and easiest way to get your first deal. And if you combine that with a BRRR, then you could also set yourself up for a quicker move into your second deal.

6. Flips are one of the riskiest of the investment strategies. If you go that route, make sure you know what you are doing and have trusted contractors to do the work. 

10. why wait until 10 to start doing BRRRs? To me, BRRRs are a great way to learn to flip. Rather than a full flip, you are taking some of the risk away because you can do less intense work and be less at the whims of the market. Plus you get reoccurring income off of it rather than a one time profit. 

Side note, be aware that being an agent is a lot of work to become a full time job. You need to really market yourself and put a lot of time and effort into building a client base. Many say you won't likely make a full time income for the first 2-3 years of dedicated work. (One thing that might help is make sure everyone you know is aware that you are becoming an agent now so they will already be thinking of you if they decide to make a transaction. I had many people say "dang I didn't know you were getting your license, I  just signed with an agent" right after I announced I got mine.)

Also, keep in mind you will be less lendable as an agent compared to having a w2 job. If I were you, I would try to get my first property before leaving my w2. Then you can at least be building equity while you are building your businesses. 

Also, be aware that becoming a full time agent and a full time flipper means you are working two full time jobs. Expect to work a lot of hours if you do both full time. Or expect to do one full time and the other on the side, making only a small amounts of money from that part time one. 

Finally, why do you still have that truck if it is a financial burden? If it is worth enough, sell it and buy a cheap reliable used one for cash. I have never spent more than $5,000 on a car and always paid cash. 

Good luck with your endeavors!