A fork in the road, tired of losing

[Joshua Dees]

Hello all! I am writing from Wylie, Texas where I live with my wife and 3 kids. we recently moved from Dallas, to get away from the inner-city feel. My wife stays at home and homeschools our 3 kids. I used to work construction, but the only license I held was Plumber Apprentice. I was working for a couple companies, first an Independent Maintenance contractor who work a variety of multi family properties and did odd jobs, we did a small portion of a rehab of a 50+ unit apt complex,in San Antonio. But that guy had problems, left him and started working for a Custom Luxury Home builder in Dallas, where I got to see a lot of really cool homes. but I never felt like I was REALLY doing anything, just fetching tools and riding along for the most part. I guess when your dealing with High Profile Clients, you can't afford to have your newbie make mistakes... understood. but I gt tired or sweeping floors and being told to stay home because there was no work for ME to do. So I switched it up, as I tend to do about every 2 years, I changed industries and locations, I now work as a Pawnbroker in South East Dallas. I've learned about loans and interest and qualifying and buying and selling, but now I've reached The Plateau... I'm starting to get antsy, and I'm starting to tell my wife over and over again, How much I HATE working for a SET WAGE making other people rich. That being said, I feel I'm a pretty smart guy, went to college at 17, there I earned my Associates Degree, chasing a vision of helping people with addiction and crisis by working in Psychology. I still love helping people, but I'm more into WORKING AS MY OWN BOSS, Having my own employees that I can TRAIN and TREAT WELL. Building a life for myself and my family. I want to teach my children about Money and Investing and making your own business, being independent. Having a nice looking, Clean, professional Company that does a SERVICE to its community. I want to teach them to be good people, but also Make Money. Make money and honest, professional way. and have passive income. I currently work in a Pawn Shop, I quit my last job at the luxury home builders, mostly because I ACTUALLY want to DO something and have something to show at the end of the day for my work completed. It just wasn't happening there. So I switched gears, Now I write Loans and sell things all day inside, with A/C, but I'm still not happy, I want to BE THE GUY. The MAIN GUY who does things, I would also like to have Passive Income so I can spend more time at home Teaching my kids and watching them grow. It makes no sense for me to be GONE from 7am to 10pm every single day, and hate what I do. I have been researching and reading and watching everything from Bigger Pockets Podcasts and forums to Motivational Speeches and Growth Conferences to DIY shows and books, I would like to buy properties, fix them up and resell them, but I'd also like that passive income that can come from buying, renting and managing my own Multifamily properties. I want to make more money than I spend, to get to Financial Freedom. I have 10k saved up now, but that was a gift from my wife's parents. I've been blessed many many times in my life, first with a loving, devoted, faithful wife and 3 beautiful children, and also with many things that I have received and experienced in my life. I've learned a lot, grew up in hard times, made it out, met a great woman who grew up with a remarkable foundation and support system. My wife are doing this whole "Life" thing together, as much as possible we like to involve each other and do things together, especially work. we make an awesome team. We have been really set on doing Real Estate, I'm thinking either a Flip or a Wholesale Flip, or SOMETHING, just that first deal to experience it. but it would also be great to experience it with someone who's been there or has experiences to draw from. It's a lot of info and SO many different ways to go, it's like a fork in the road under an overpass. Starting out, first deal, how to get to the point where I can have access to wholesalers, lists of homes for sale, should I get my Real Estate License? Any REALLY GOOD BOOKS or Sources of INFO that I can take in and submerse myself in? I wanna make moves, but I'm afraid I'm just not ready yet. Not sure where to go or what to do. I mean, I can go on craigslist, or 5mile, or some other classified aite, find a house, contact the seller, ask as many questions as possible, try to ACTUALLY go and See the property, try to INVISION the FLIP, have to get a buyer(s), if i I don't have one already, -where to get $$ for flip material -should I hire contractor(s) or try to do the work myself if it's small -what happens if it won't sell, or if I can't get tenants then I guess networking would come in handy This all feels like it's all still in the Brainstorming Stage, and I'm a little lost as to where to go next. Sorry such a long post