Judicious
Contributor
Hello,
I spent many years working full time while attending college at night (took 7 years) and then moved on to a corporate career. I moved up the ladder pretty quickly at a $100MM company with 250 or so employees. I spent over 16 years there (managing IT and Finance) and left for a multitude of reasons. It was like that movie Groundhog Day and I was just so sick of it all. I was earning about $200K when I left and it made my friends and colleagues uncomfortable watching me do it. They seemed certain I was making a mistake to go out on my own and that I would eventually fail. I said to myself "F them, they don't have the guts to break away." OK, I'll admit I did have a very good friend trying to convince me to give it a try. She saw the hours I was devoting to this company that had been struggling for years and wouldn't listen to my suggestions for changing the business strategy so we could be more competitive. She was about to give up on me, and then she told me this story. She said, "That's alright, you're scared. You think you have a good job and have reached the top in that company so it can't get any better. You're like a little frog down in the bottom of a well and you're looking up at this bright blue circle and saying: Look, the sky! There's the sky, isn't this great!" Then she went on, and she said "I'm trying to tell you the sky is much, much bigger than what you're seeing. I'm trying to get you to climb up out of that well you've been in for 16 years, no wait, 23 years with your working full time while attending college, and see that there's a huge blue sky out here. Set yourself free. Don't spend so many of your best years down in the bottom of that well even though you get to see a little bit of the sky." That conversation did it. The next day I was sitting in my office looking out this one window where I could see planes flying into LAX and I thought "my god, there's the well...she's right, I'm stuck in here." I worked at least 11 or 12 hours a day at that company for 16 years. I saved what most people would consider a lot of money. That turned out to be my ticket to get this little frog up out of the well. That was about four years ago.
I moved quickly into a real estate career as an investor. I formed a relationship with a good partner (yes, the one who called me a little frog) even though I found myself doing most of the "heavy lifting." We began running vacation rental properties through sites like Airbnb, HomeAway, etc. We aquired about 10 locations scattered across the U.S. (mostly Los Angeles and NYC). The business was a success from the beginning even though some months were quite slow and you had to work hard just to cover your costs. In the good months we had gross margins of 60 - 70%. It was very lucrative for a few years. Then the municipalities came in with task forces and enforced new rules that prevented us from continuing. We had "hosted" over 1200 reservations with stays from one night to three weeks and we maintained a 4.5 star out of 5 rating at all our properties. We were good at it and made a lot of money but like they say, all good things must come to an end.
In addition to the vacation rentals I also bought a somewhat run down 14 unit apartment building. I immediately began renovating every unit. I have a lot of information to share about commercial multifamily investing if any of you are interested. I think it's one of the best investments out there but you have to be involved. If you think landlords just sit back and collect money every month you're mistaken. You won't do well in the business with that attitude. I've finished renovating all 14 units which were complete tear-outs, in other words, new everything right down to the light switches and receptacles. I increased my rents by almost 40% in three years which almost doubled the market value of my building. My real estate broker tells other clients about me. He says "Yeah, this guy in two years did what it takes my other clients 10 years to figure out, usually because the bank forces them to do it for refinancing purposes." They ask him how I knew to do that and he jokes that I was new to commercial real estate so I didn't know any better. In a way he's right.
So that's where I'm at. I'm just about to finish Unscripted and Millionaire Fastlane is next in my queue. I'll admit this, I've gotten to a point where I have too much freedom. The vacation rentals are all shut down, 80% of the building renovation is done and paid for, and in 6 months or so it will be 100%. I'm here to learn, to share, and to get motivated. I need to find something new that contributes value and has meaning and purpose. I'm not looking for a get rich quick scheme or anything easy. I get that the "difficulty is the opportunity." I'm not the absolute smartest guy but I'm pretty sharp. The thing that separates me from most people is my work ethic and that I never give up. I'm looking forward to participating in the forums. I hope my introduction wasn't too long or boring. Thank you for taking a few minutes to read it.
- Judicious
I spent many years working full time while attending college at night (took 7 years) and then moved on to a corporate career. I moved up the ladder pretty quickly at a $100MM company with 250 or so employees. I spent over 16 years there (managing IT and Finance) and left for a multitude of reasons. It was like that movie Groundhog Day and I was just so sick of it all. I was earning about $200K when I left and it made my friends and colleagues uncomfortable watching me do it. They seemed certain I was making a mistake to go out on my own and that I would eventually fail. I said to myself "F them, they don't have the guts to break away." OK, I'll admit I did have a very good friend trying to convince me to give it a try. She saw the hours I was devoting to this company that had been struggling for years and wouldn't listen to my suggestions for changing the business strategy so we could be more competitive. She was about to give up on me, and then she told me this story. She said, "That's alright, you're scared. You think you have a good job and have reached the top in that company so it can't get any better. You're like a little frog down in the bottom of a well and you're looking up at this bright blue circle and saying: Look, the sky! There's the sky, isn't this great!" Then she went on, and she said "I'm trying to tell you the sky is much, much bigger than what you're seeing. I'm trying to get you to climb up out of that well you've been in for 16 years, no wait, 23 years with your working full time while attending college, and see that there's a huge blue sky out here. Set yourself free. Don't spend so many of your best years down in the bottom of that well even though you get to see a little bit of the sky." That conversation did it. The next day I was sitting in my office looking out this one window where I could see planes flying into LAX and I thought "my god, there's the well...she's right, I'm stuck in here." I worked at least 11 or 12 hours a day at that company for 16 years. I saved what most people would consider a lot of money. That turned out to be my ticket to get this little frog up out of the well. That was about four years ago.
I moved quickly into a real estate career as an investor. I formed a relationship with a good partner (yes, the one who called me a little frog) even though I found myself doing most of the "heavy lifting." We began running vacation rental properties through sites like Airbnb, HomeAway, etc. We aquired about 10 locations scattered across the U.S. (mostly Los Angeles and NYC). The business was a success from the beginning even though some months were quite slow and you had to work hard just to cover your costs. In the good months we had gross margins of 60 - 70%. It was very lucrative for a few years. Then the municipalities came in with task forces and enforced new rules that prevented us from continuing. We had "hosted" over 1200 reservations with stays from one night to three weeks and we maintained a 4.5 star out of 5 rating at all our properties. We were good at it and made a lot of money but like they say, all good things must come to an end.
In addition to the vacation rentals I also bought a somewhat run down 14 unit apartment building. I immediately began renovating every unit. I have a lot of information to share about commercial multifamily investing if any of you are interested. I think it's one of the best investments out there but you have to be involved. If you think landlords just sit back and collect money every month you're mistaken. You won't do well in the business with that attitude. I've finished renovating all 14 units which were complete tear-outs, in other words, new everything right down to the light switches and receptacles. I increased my rents by almost 40% in three years which almost doubled the market value of my building. My real estate broker tells other clients about me. He says "Yeah, this guy in two years did what it takes my other clients 10 years to figure out, usually because the bank forces them to do it for refinancing purposes." They ask him how I knew to do that and he jokes that I was new to commercial real estate so I didn't know any better. In a way he's right.
So that's where I'm at. I'm just about to finish Unscripted and Millionaire Fastlane is next in my queue. I'll admit this, I've gotten to a point where I have too much freedom. The vacation rentals are all shut down, 80% of the building renovation is done and paid for, and in 6 months or so it will be 100%. I'm here to learn, to share, and to get motivated. I need to find something new that contributes value and has meaning and purpose. I'm not looking for a get rich quick scheme or anything easy. I get that the "difficulty is the opportunity." I'm not the absolute smartest guy but I'm pretty sharp. The thing that separates me from most people is my work ethic and that I never give up. I'm looking forward to participating in the forums. I hope my introduction wasn't too long or boring. Thank you for taking a few minutes to read it.
- Judicious
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