Transitioning to Real Estate from Self-Employment (Non Real Estate)

[Drew Clements]

Listening to podcasts and reading articles, etc. it's clear that investing in real estate while simultaneously holding a full-time job is possible and common. But I'd like to target this question to a more narrow population and I really hope there's some of you out there...

If you are/were self-employed (and have employees under you, and possibly share ownership with partners), how do/did you invest in real estate at the same time and/or ultimately transition into real estate full time? Any particular strategies? What did you find difficult? What did you have to give up/change? How would you do it differently, etc.

I love being self-employed, but my business model (advertising agency) makes it nearly impossible to remove myself without staffing up in a big way... which has it's own challenges. So I feel like I've maybe painted myself into a corner. Anyone else have this experience?

It often seems impossible to escape during (and even before and after) regular business hours, so I'm not sure how I'd go about business on the real estate side.

Right now, I'm rehabbing a duplex nights and weekends (my first property), but that's no fun... so just reaching out for ideas and advice from those of you who have "been there".