Colleen Raponi

Probably the most valuable thing that I can tell you about myself is that I dropped out of high school the summer before my senior year. Yes, I find that to be valuable. I tested out of my GED program after a month, it wasn't that I wasn't a smart kid, it was that I didn't value an education. When I was 21 I attempted college for the first time. I took online classes, 4 of them, while working 4 jobs to support myself and living on my own for the first time. It wasn't that I wasn't smart, I still didn't value an education. But darn it I was a hard worker. One of those 4 jobs was in an office of a trucking company. They paid me minimum wage to answer the phones there. One fateful day, the woman that ran the transport side of their business quit, and I was unapologetically thrust into her position. I had no experience, I had no education, I was learning as I went, but I was learning, and I was thriving. I took the knowledge and experience that I gained there to a construction company where I was hired as the office manager. I wrote policies and procedures, developed and implimented a safety program, helped grow their company from 5-10 employees to 30+, but I still felt like I could learn more, like I could do more. So in addition to my office work, I took a full time job on their job sites as a laborer. It was there that my passion for real estate and my desire to be an investor was born. Growing up I had always imagined that I would own investment properties some day. I'd have some rentals, create some passive income, and retire comfortably somewhere other than Western New York because it's just too darn cold here for me. But learning the construction trade, building and doing with my own hands and marveling at the beauty that I could create drove my interest from investment properties into rehab, renovation, and development. I still want to own rental properties, but I want my real estate ventures to be so much more diverse than that now. I've worked a couple of other jobs since then, each time taking a step up the career ladder. Then somewhere along the line I decided that part of what I loved about taking a new job and advancing my career was the new skills that I would learn in the process. I started back to school as a part time student a little over two years ago and will graduate with my associates degree in May of 2016. The path that I chose wasn't easy, in fact, it really didn't even exist, I blazed my own path right through the middle of a forest. But that is exactly what makes me different than so many other people out there. I did everything the hard way. I dropped out of high school and people are allowing me to run their companies. The reason for that is my work ethic is second to none. I don't expect life (or business) to be easy, I enjoy being challenged. My dropping out of high school was valuable because it taught me valuable lessons. It taught me the value of hard work. It taught me that I can truly do anything that I put my mind to, even something like school that I have failed at over and over again. It taught me dedication and perseverance. It taught me to believe in myself. It taught me the value of education regardless of whether it comes from a higher learning institution or a community such as this, and ironically enough it taught me to love learning. I am currently 33, a part time student, a full time employee, a full time volunteer as the president of the board for my local YWCA, a business owner, and an aspiring real estate investor. I am here on bigger pockets to learn from those that have came before me. I look forward to connecting with the community here.