Recent College Grad Working for Local Investors — Should I Get a Second Job or Double

Recent College Grad Working for Local Investors — Should I Get a Second Job or Double

Member since 2025 · 5 posts · 0 votes

Hey everyone,

I’m a recent college graduate (double major in Sport Management & Business/Marketing Education). I originally planned to pursue a Graduate Assistantship in athletics, but a series of events steered me toward real estate.

This summer, my mom met a local investor at a pottery workshop, introduced us, and now I work for her and her husband. I started with property management — communicating with tenants, bookkeeping, and helping with turnovers. Starting this fall, I’ll be working 25–35 hours/week at $26/hr. On top of that, they’re mentoring me in cold calling/prospecting, and any deals I bring in we’ll split 1/3. They also do private money lending, so there’s a real path for me to buy my first property soon.

I recently read Set for Life by Scott Trench and want to apply his concept of saving my first $25K. My question is: should I get a second job?

  • Option A: Pick up bartending/serving to stack quick cash.

  • Option B: Look for part-time PM work with another local investor for more experience/income.

  • Option C: Skip a second job and put that time into cold calling and building my own LLC/deal pipeline.

For context, I don’t own property yet, but I’m eager to take action and set myself up for success. What would you do in my shoes?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

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  • Real Estate Broker · Northeast PA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    1y

    Yours is a great story!  

    Have you talked with your current employer about more hours or expanding your role with them?  

    Of the options you outlined, I'd opt for "C" and cold call, prospect, and find a deal.  Spend your extra hours inspecting properties -- currently listed, expired listings, and FSBOs.

    Identify abandoned properties in your local area. It's fun to be a detective and track down the owners--you never know where those contacts may lead!

    Rather than trading your time for money serving drinks, consider taking the real estate licensing course.  The money and time invested in learning (and maybe becoming licensed) will return 10--100x your investment. 

    You are in an ideal situation; when you find a good deal, you are already plugged into a lending source, partnership opportunity, or referral fee*.

    Best of luck!

    *Check your state laws about receiving fees for real estate transactions without being licensed.  

  • Scott TrenchPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 6k+ votes
    1y
    Quote from @Account Closed:

    Hey everyone,

    I’m a recent college graduate (double major in Sport Management & Business/Marketing Education). I originally planned to pursue a Graduate Assistantship in athletics, but a series of events steered me toward real estate.

    This summer, my mom met a local investor at a pottery workshop, introduced us, and now I work for her and her husband. I started with property management — communicating with tenants, bookkeeping, and helping with turnovers. Starting this fall, I’ll be working 25–35 hours/week at $26/hr. On top of that, they’re mentoring me in cold calling/prospecting, and any deals I bring in we’ll split 1/3. They also do private money lending, so there’s a real path for me to buy my first property soon.

    I recently read Set for Life by Scott Trench and want to apply his concept of saving my first $25K. My question is: should I get a second job?

    • Option A: Pick up bartending/serving to stack quick cash.

    • Option B: Look for part-time PM work with another local investor for more experience/income.

    • Option C: Skip a second job and put that time into cold calling and building my own LLC/deal pipeline.

    For context, I don’t own property yet, but I’m eager to take action and set myself up for success. What would you do in my shoes?

    Thanks in advance for any advice!

    Welcome to BP and thanks for reading Set for Life!

    Working a second job best benefits your strategy if it accelerates you towards a financial milestone, digs you out of debt, or develops a useful skill.

    In your case, your part time job at $26 an hour is not going to be a valuable asset, from a lending perspective. Hard money or private money is great l, but unless you get a super deal, a conventional owner occupant loan is hard to beat on the first property.

    I’d encourage the following path:

    1) Lean into the sales opportunity at this job and give it your best shot to test the hypothesis that there’s real opportunity in this. 

    2) While you are at it, get your real estate license if you are serious about becoming a long term investor.

    3) Look for opportunities to get your first side sales in real estate which may synergize with this job. 

    If what you perceive is a high quality effort yields nothing after a year, it’s time to pivot, but to me these three would be higher probability than getting a more random side hustle just to bring in direct time for money  near term income, unless you have a specific savings goal and use for the proceeds.

    As you approach a year, start having conversions with both this lender and some traditional lenders to get an idea of what you can qualify for for financing.

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