How BiggerPockets Saved my Life
I swear this started out as just a sentence:
I was born to a father that would drive me to school teaching me about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, anything and everything that involved money. He didn’t drill it but I craved it. When that day came that he ran out of information we would start over and he would teach me again. Before I was a teenager I had a couple hundred dollars worth of Microsoft, Intel, and Disney stock. For my birthday and other holidays if I asked for 5 shares of Disney (it was sub $35 back then) and my father would double it since I was making the right decision.
When I was in college I loved the idea of teaching so I took a course called Intro to Education. I did pass that class with an A and soon realized that teachers don't make any money. My next semester I took the polar opposite. I took Intro to business. I also passed that class with an A but soon realized that the other students wouldn't think twice to lie, cheat, and steal from their own mother to get ahead in their field. I naively thought if that’s the way I need to be to succeeded as a businessman then I would surely fail. So, I tried out the second education course. The professor told us a theory about why teachers get paid so little. Theory 1: If you pay teachers to much then bad teachers will flock to the profession and end up teaching for the wrong reason. Inevitably creating students that aren’t learning as much as they would from good teachers. Theory 2: If we don't pay teachers that much money the teachers that stick around will do it for the love of teaching and those students will get the best education possible. I call ********. The government doesn't want to pay teachers properly because they don't have to. There are to many of us to pay generously and why pay more when less is sustainable. I’m a firm believer that you get what you pay for and I’ve seen the worlds best teachers leave because why should we have to work 2 or even 3 jobs to live a comfortable life. If you find a contractor that charges a **** price, then you’re probably going to get a **** product. After hearing that professor finish that class I realized very quickly why I left teaching in the first place.
I then thought, I love aviation, I’m extremely logical, and love problem solving. Why not become an air traffic controller? I went up into a tower and found out from the source that after jumping through burning hoops there is a 40% drop out rate. Either you can’t hack and quit or they fire you because… you can’t hack it. I wasn’t going to let 3-4 years of my life fall apart for 40% failure rate. In retrospect, I probably should have fought through the odds but like most of you, I’m a numbers guy. By this point I received an AA and I better figure my **** out quick cause come fall I need to sign up for a course. Just to put dates in order, I started college in 2003 and became a permit expeditor. I was working 40-60 hours a week and then going to class. I only took 2 classes a semester and I also had a few sports injuries that I needed to get fixed. By the time I got my AA completed it was 2009. It took me forever to get my AA because of all the setbacks and delays. Many of my friends walked the stage with in their caps and gowns to get a rolled up piece of paper that said, “Congratulations on blah blah blah ******** ******** ********.” My father asked me why I didn’t walk with my friends. My response was short and sweet, “Why would I celebrate something that wasn’t my goal?” Even though my AA took 6 years instead of 2, my goal was to get my bachelors. An AA was just celebrating a hiccup before the peak.
As an expeditor I was making $1,500 a week CASH and there was even one job that I made $750 in 15 minutes. Several electrical permits that I just had to stand in a line, get a process number, and then make a payment. That lunch was the smoothest lunch I’ve ever had during a work day.
After getting my AA I called my cousin, a Yale graduate that worked in NY city for some major investment firms, for advise. “What should I do? I can sell but in that field its not what you can do for me yesterday its what you can do for me today. I can be fired tomorrow if I don’t make my quota.” By the way that was an actual quote after being ranked #2 in all of Sports Authority in commissioned sales by a manager. Plus, in my defense, I was only a part time employee. The girl that beat me was a full time manager. Put my numbers up against hers dollar per hour and I bet I was #1. My cousin told me that it doesn’t matter what piece of paper I had from what college I went to. All that mattered was that I was intelligent, willing to learn the details, and willing to work hard. The obvious move was teaching. I loved doing it and why not get a piece of paper in something I loved? So, I did. My company went through the construction crash and now couldn’t support my 2 other partners. I was still living at home being supported by my father and the noble thing was to step down. I told them that I would split my 33% with them but if I were to come back I would also get my percent back. They soon after split up in a few months from that day. I went to Florida International University and I worked 95 hours a week and took 4-6 classes a semester. I had 5 jobs and a girlfriend so we might as well make it 7 jobs… I told people that sleeping was my hobby. I was averaging 3-5 hours of sleep a night. I always tell people, “I work hard now so I don’t have to later.”
Fast forward 5 years, I was just recertified and I'm able to teacher for another 5 years. I am broke and I want more. Not greedy more just comfortable more. Early this year I had to miss work do to an illness for 10 weeks. It was absolute horrible. I've had 2 ACL surgeries, a rotator cuff and labrum surgery on the same shoulder, and I had surgery done on my pinky from breaking bricks in martial arts. I successfully broke the bricks and they broke me… we're even. If you add up all the days I've been in physical therapy for a year of my life. Most devastating 9 weeks of my life started in September of 2016. I could only sleep for 2-4 hours a night due to the pain. I had to take 10+ hot baths a day to numb my body from the pain. All I could do was watch youtube and much like you guys, biggerpockets found me. I watched Brandon Turner for an hour and I was hooked. Every bath was podcast. Every midnight hour was a webinar. When I found the energy to sit at the computer for 10 min I was running numbers on the BRRRR calculator. This website was the distraction from reality. It is what kept me as sane while I weed be in-between sleepless nights. I engulfed my life in thoughts of hows and whys, coulds and shouldn'ts, and of course the ultimate what ifs.
After 10 weeks I found my remedy and regained my energy. I slowly went back to work. Thank god that my school backed me up 100% and my coworkers carried my weight as much as I needed. Thank you to my principle and thank you to Gorge, my closest coworker.
Based on the info that I learned I put my home (a beautiful 3/2 in a perfect neighborhood next to all the sights you would want) up for rent, bought out my sister out on a home that my mother left us 50-50 (2/2 in a dream space of Miami), and moved into my girlfriend’s parent’s rental for $500 a month. I’m cash flowing on both properties and saving a stupid amount of money on renting. They are the most selfless parents I know. I’ve since filled both properties and I have to say I’ve taught 100s of students at once and running rental properties eclipses that 7 fold. Collecting rent with an iron fist but smooth tempered from an improperly vetted tenant as well as first week in a property having noise complaints from neighbors. “The dog is the size of a horse!!!”, one phone call opened up with. On a positive note, both properties have appreciated a total of $130k since inception. So, yes the tenants are a hassle and yes the accumulation of info you need to know about rules, laws, and regulations are unobtainable but as the bigger pockets team says, “Have a process and build yourself a good team.”
I’m not a success story in dollars and cents but I will be there some day. Why do I want to make 10k a month… so I don’t have to depend on my principle to back me up or my coworkers carry my weight. I want to sustain my family lifestyle if I get sick again and after I die. My goal is to be a speaker on the bigger pockets video some day for more than just how many units I have. Hopefully by that time it will be a larger number than 2. My podcast will be called How BiggerPockets Saved My Life.
“Work hard now so you don’t have to later.”