Advice for aspiring real estate agent?

[Christian Estrella]

Hey everyone! 

As the title states, I am in the process of becoming a real estate agent in CT, I was wondering if any seasoned agents can share some insight on their experience of being an agent. Currently  I have a full time job making about 75K per year. I’ve been with the company for 5 years now which puts me at the top of the seniority list. I work 4 days (10 hours per shift) and I have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. This is perfect for me because I take Saturday morning classes until I reach the 60 hours required. 

I applied to 2 jobs in the same industry which is aviation, 1 job pays about 20K more and the other is the same pay but working for the Port Authority of NY and NJ. The downside to the PA job is that I would be working 5 days and each week my schedule is rotating, morning, afternoons, and then overnight. The other job which I didn’t do as good in the interview also requires me to work 5 days. Since both jobs are in the aviation industry weekends off are rarely a thing and the schedule is not a normal 9-5.

My question is basically, how long did it take you guys to become profitable enough to make a decent living, did you leave your current industry to pursue real estate, are you currently working a full time job, if so, how do you focus on being an agent?

Any and all answers would be truly appreciated as I am a bit stuck on where to go from here. I do think that real estate is the key to wealth, however, the PA job comes with a lot of security, benefits, pension and a lot of opportunities to do Overtime, basically I can make an extra 20K per year with OT. However, working so much OT I don’t think I would have the time to really serve any clients and focus on being a real estate agent. I would love to be an agent full time but not sure if I should pass on a good job working for the PANYNJ.

Thank you!