My Journey to $20M in assets

[Dan Zambrano]

Hey all,

After thinking it over I decided to create a new thread.

I am a small time passive real estate investor who has ambitions to expand greatly, first to $20M and perhaps maybe more. i guess I will give a little bit of background on my journey up to now.

I am 38 y/o, Electrical Engineer by day, Architectural enthusiast by night. I was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and through a mentor got word of a book called The Fountainhead. Incredible book that has probably changed my life more than any other book I have read (though admittedly I do not read much) As I poured over the 700+ pages I fell in love with the spirit that was protagonist Howard Roark, who defied convention to make more beautiful architecture and was loathed by society, especially the ruling class. I forgot how the book ends but one of the high points was his design of a chapel "for the worship of God and the service of Man". I had no idea what Ayn Rand was writing about was a REAL person: Frank Lloyd Wright. Fast forward a year later I am at home (Chicago) and find myself in the beautiful suburb of Oak Park. Imagine my surprise as I walk up to this structure, thank god I was "awake" enough to be able to notice this beautiful piece of Architecture:

The enigma that was Roark hopped out at me in real life in the form of his temple, in reality it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This was a turning point in my life. Since then I have dedicated most of my free time to study Wrights work, developing myself as 1st an Architectural Drafter, and now as a conduit of beautiful Architecture and interior/exterior design in the spirit and style of Frank Lloyd Wright. I have moonlighted for several Architects and through hard work and good fortune stumbled on an opportunity to become an apprentice electrical engineer. 10 years later I am a senior engineer, together with my wife, have a decent portfolio of Real Estate. I always suspected that to achieve anything of great notoriety in Architecture one needed to have access to wealthy friends or develop projects oneself. Not having the latter I find myself on a journey to build a portfolio not just for wealth's sake, but to move the proverbial needle on beautiful design and provide a more pleasant built environment for all!

So that is me. Thanks for reading and I look forward to posting weekly progress on here. Cheers and hope you all have a great weekend!

[Jonathan Klemm]

Hey @Dan Zambrano - Really appreciate the share.  Thank you for your service, it goes without saying that you are an amazing civil servant.  

Your story caught my eye...I started out studying architecture and quickly shifted to construction engineering as I was a bit more analytical than I was creative at the time.  Nonetheless, I still appreciate great architecture.  Love the part of your post about "worshiping God and serving men and women!"

I am down in Chicago, but out in that area often so if you ever want to talk architecture and construction let me know.  Excited to see your weekly updates!  Given your background I expect you to be pretty disciplined in that task.