Go to school, work your way up the employment ladder buy a house and invest in your 401k.

This means pulling rental data, city policy info, affordability, employment rates for the city, what are the businesses in that area employing the people, and more.

If you are going to maintain outside employment to pay the bills, have the skillset be at least partially transferable.

The city where you invest determines all long-term income characteristics.Many people choose cities with low property prices or follow recommendations for specific cities.

It allows you to pay yourself a salary and take the rest as distributions, which can reduce your self-employment taxes.I’ve also sent you some resources in DM that should help you decide!

Growing your network is great but I'd focus on keeping your expenses low, growing your skills and active income to give you that savings it takes to start buying

I have a great credit score and am employed.

Compal — which has built computers, tablets and smartphones for companies like Apple, Google, Dell and Toshiba has leased sites in Taylor and Georgetown, where it plans to employ more than 1,000 people at two buildings totaling nearly 600,000 SFhttps://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2025/11/05/compal-el...

I need to educate myself on the self employment taxes with LLC. 

Columbus has been booming with new developments, major employers, and solid landlord laws, which makes it a great market to diversify into.