Satisfying your "why" while staying small

[Anna Buffkin]

I just finished reading Chad Carson's bp blog post, "Why the Massive Real Estate Empire You Think You Want Won't Give You the Life You Imagine".  It really rang true for me.  I see a lot of wannabe investors, newbies, aggressively scaling investors, and very successful large scale investors on the site, but the little guys like myself tend to get lost in the wind on bp. 

I would assume must of us "little guys" as satisfied with our portfolio and our goals because it satisfies our why.  Here's my why:

My husband is a high school English teacher who loves teaching the lower level often underprivileged student.  He has a passion for seeing those others have given up on succeed.  He has no desire to give up his teaching career anytime soon.  I call him my silent credit partner.  My husband does little to manage our units, but his government job and near 800 credit score looks great to underwriters.

I work part time from home doing accounting and admin projects for the company I worked for full time prior to becoming a mom.  You see I have twin boys who are about to turn 2.  After 8 years of marriage and trying for 5 years for children, the Lord doubly blessed us.  We waited a long time and I want to enjoy every minute I can with them.  I call them the junior partners.  They often go with me to our properties and even attended the last 2 closings.  

My husband and I currently own 7 units and will be closing on number 8 on March 5th, if all goes well.  My goal is to have and self manage 10-15 doors by 2020.  Many would find this to be a modest goal, but it will allow me the income my family needs without sacrificing time with my boys.  

I know defining the small investor is like defining the middle class, but to all the little guys, share how being small accomplishes your goals and your why.  Go ahead brag like the big guys!  

Note: I mean no offense to those of you with large real estate portfolios.  In fact feel free to share how having large numbers of deals meets your why as a counter point to my post.  I also know the bragging about how may doors or deals one has is only done by small minority of posters and do not mean this as a insult to the masses.