My Job was Outsourced, What followed was the best year of my life!

On March 31st, 2016 something epic happened, the company I worked for let me go.

It wasn't just me, it was also another 400 or so people or about 85% of my department as all of our jobs were outsourced to another firm.

While it was difficult to walk out of the door after being there for 9.5 years, relocating for the company 2 times and after earning multiple promotions, there was also a calm over me because 17 months prior to this, I had seen the writing on the wall and took massive action to replace my income prior to this event.

In September 2014, I was in the middle of moving my family from Orlando, FL to Ft. Myers, FL where the company was moving its headquarters. We had just sold our home, we were living in temporary corporate housing with about 2 months to go on our dream home when I turned on CNBC's Mad Money show to find Jim Cramer placing the current CEO on his wall of shame.

I looked at my wife and said, "We are in trouble."

Actually, I think I said something much worst, but I think you get the idea.

You see, I served as an executive of this Fortune 300 company and I knew that a change in CEO's would bring big changes for me, especially at my level.

I began trying to determine how I could protect my family, how I could protect my salary. I had always been told, it will take you 1 month to find a new position for every $10,000 per year you need to replace, based on that rule of thumb, I was going to be out of work for a long time.

I also didn't want to move my family AGAIN and the jobs and career choices in this area are very limited. This company moving its headquarters to this area was a very big deal, they were and still are the biggest fish in the area.

My first thought was trying to find something involving real estate investing. I had for years dabbled with it, I invested in mobile homes, invested in tax lien certificates, bought and sold notes, but nothing quite clicked with me. I really wanted to flip houses or rent them, but my capital was tightly held in my company's 401K, locked up from me for other investing.

Then I stumbled onto another full-time land investor and his land investing program. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

I knew that land was an underappreciated asset class, I could see all of the tax liens on raw land, it's like no one cared about it, But who really buys land except for developers, right?

I spoke with this land investor, listened to his podcast and was blown away by the sales other land investors were making with raw land.

There were 3 big draws here, 1) the land was really cheap, I mean, really, really cheap.  2) Other land investors were reporting 300% to 1000% returns.  3) you could sell the land on owner financing without worrying about Dodd-Frank or any other regulations, so I could create a passive income stream from land.

I purchased my first property on November 8, 2014, for $4,000. It was a 40-acre property and I sold it on December 29, 2014, for $12,100, with $100 down and $100 per month for 120 months.

My second property was a 1.25-acre property I purchased for $700 and sold for $3,000 cash.

From there I was hooked. In my first month, I purchased 5 properties and within 2 months sold them all, 4 on terms and 1 for cash.

I just kept doing deals. In 2015, I sold 68 properties and by March 31, 2016, my last day on the job, my monthly note payments (passive income) from the sold land was greater than my corporate salary. I walked out of the building with mixed emotion, excited to scale my land investing business and scared to death without having that corporate salary coming in every 2 weeks.

I finished 2016, with 198 sales and sold over $1,000,000 of land.

Looking back at the last year, I have to say, that getting outsourced truly lead to the best year of my life.

Being your own boss is incredible. There are so many benefits you can't list them all, but the one I enjoy the most is the freedom.

I work when I want, how I want, where I want, I don't have to worry about how my boss judges my work, I'm the man.

After enjoying this year of freedom, I want to help others. We all have that self-doubt, at times we all wonder, can this work for me? My advice is simple, decide on your goal, put your head down and work toward that goal, hard for 3 months.

After 3 months, firm up your next goal, put your head down and plow again for 3 months and just keep believing in yourself. You can do it! You will create the life you want, just keep driving toward your goal.

For me it took 17 months and 3 days to earn the freedom I was seeking, I hope you can get there even faster.

So, here's to my second year of Freedom and I hope you will soon join me on the freedom side of your 9-5 gig.