WHO ARE YOU? What do you do besides real estate?

[Kyle Grimm]

Hello BP nation! 

My question for BP nation is what is your day job? Although we would love to be, most of us are not yet full time investors.  

As I grow older and try to figure out the direction of my career, I love hearing the stories of other successful real estate investors and how they got there.  I am currently...struggling... at my day job (100% commission insurance salesman) and dream of finding a job I can enjoy while I slowly grow my real estate portfolio. 

So BP... What is your day job and what does your life look like trying to work it while you grow your investing career? 

Ready...GO!

[Kory Groves]

I'm a Minor League baseball player in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Pretty fun job outside of real estate investing :)

[David Krulac]

@Kyle Grimm

I'm full time now.  I've bought and sold 900 properties for my own inventory.  I did Bigger Pockets Podcast #82.  I was speaking this weekend at a real estate convention.  I wrote several books on real estate.

When I started I had a full time job, for one 3 year period of time I traveled with my job 505 of the time.  When a tenant fell and broke a leg, and I was in the Manila (it was no thrilla).  Real Estate investing started slow, but while having a full time non-real estate job I bought and sold 74 properties in one year.  I'm not buying and selling 74 this year.

[Christina L.]

I was in a corporate, management consulting career for 15 years. The stress, excessive travel and 60+ hour work weeks made me made me hungry for a better life for me and my family. So I started searching for something more and didn't give up until two years later when I eventually discovered the world of real estate investing. My husband has a stable, W2 job so that allowed me to leave the corporate world fairly recently to pursue REI full-time. It's been a long, slow and, at times, painful road but it's finally starting to pay off. The goal is to cultivate what we've started with REI so he can have the freedom to leave his corporate job in the near future as well.

[Andrew Hughes]

I am a police officer in Akron Ohio. I enjoy it quite a bit.

[Geoffrey Schnake]

house carpenter for 30 years. my wife and I have run a property management company for 15 years. we are firing our clients one by one, and within the year hope to just have our own 13 units to care for. I'm gonna be a rent getter and a toilet unclogging consultant. 13 sfrs are easy to take care of and because they are f/c, we probably won't have to eat cat food. we are 65.

[Account Closed]

Be something related to real estate. Realtor, mortgage guy, construction, title insurance even.

[Thomas Weidner]

I have worked in the energy field for the past 11 years. This job has a excellent 6 figure salary, benefits, and allows me to only work 6 months out of the year. The down side is the holidays and the all the days away from my family. We currently have one rental that we have had for the past 4 yrs with great tenants. Looking forward to  acquiring properties as well as building new homes. 

[Ben Dols]

I own a Fitness Franchise as well an an Online Fitness Certification company :)

Realestate is a nice switch up from the fitness industry :)

[Jeffrey Hotz]

I was leaving active military service back when the job market was crap, so I decided to create my own job and buy a franchise of HomeVestors of America, Inc. the "We Buy Ugly Houses" guys.

Was a tough decision since I had no real estate investment experience, but it's been highly worth the costs for me.

[Jacqueline Mann]

I'm an elementary special education teacher. It's my passion. I plan to retire from teaching when I am well into my 60s (or beyond). However, I have been interested in investing in real estate for about 20 years. It's an interest that just won't go away, so I know that I'm serious about investing as well as teaching. The difference is I use my regular income to help create my dreams and real estate investing to supplement my dreams. 

[James Johnson]

@Kyle Grimm, My day job is Executive Protection, I protect Corporate Executives and their families and other High Net Worth individuals. Did some time in Iraq and Afghanistan as a security contractor...I've started a Real Estate investing company and plan to be a RE Tycoon...one of these days...lol!

[Corey Melkonian]

I'm a RE agent, Investor and have a development company. REI is a wild, wonderful, wacky business and not for everyone.

[Ron Martin]

I'm retired Navy and currently get lots of money for barely teaching nine months of high school. My son and I were about to start our investing career when he got home from his third deployment in two and a half years. But, he got orders to another operational billet in California. 

[Abhishek Raun]

I am a real estate investor while working full time at a Bank. Immigrated to USA 9 years back (when I was 19 yrs old) with no money, got my engineering degree with no loans and became permanent resident, bought a car free & clear, saved up cash reserves, grew knowledge in RE, and have started out buying rentals.

I am in the process of buying my first rental in the queen city Charlotte. My goal being buying at least 50 rentals fully paid off in 5 years.

[Brett Silcott]

I am a 3rd generation worker at a cement plant in Ohio. My dad just retired a few months ago and my grandpa retired in the early 1990s after 37 years and I now have 17 years in. I love my job and I am starting to fall in love with real estate too

[Andrey Y.]

Originally posted by @Thomas Weidner:

I have worked in the energy field for the past 11 years. This job has a excellent 6 figure salary, benefits, and allows me to only work 6 months out of the year. The down side is the holidays and the all the days away from my family. We currently have one rental that we have had for the past 4 yrs with great tenants. Looking forward to  acquiring properties as well as building new homes. 

 Sounds like a dream job.. 6 months out of the year!

[Joshua Davies]

I am a former British Royal Marines Commando and Semi-Professional soccer player. Unfortunately injury struck a number of times, so I decided to go get my BSc in Real Estate and Business.

I taught Physical Education at a high school in the U.K. For a while, and now live in SoCal and manage commercial real estate for a multi-national company. I hope to start my investing journey within the next 12 months!

[Eric Li]

I am a mechanical engineer in the utilities industry.  Having W2 salary definitely helps a lot in getting access to mortgages.  I also work part time as a real estate agent which give more "first hand" experience in the industry as well as additional income for down payments.  

I am currently consider getting more involve in the real estate field but i am not sure how to get started.  I am trying to find a job in the real estate development firm or property management to learn more skills and put into my toolbox.   Sadly these areas doesn't pay as well comparing to working as an engineer.  I am trying to analyze if obtaining the new experience is worth a pay cut (a setback to get larger mortgages).  Not sure anyone has thought about this?

[Aaron McKenzie]

Awesome topic.  I am a sales rep for a digital advertising company in St. Louis named Vivial.  At this job, I sell digital advertising to many types of businesses.  Things like web design, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, and social media management are just a few subjects we are really good at.  The job is extremely rewarding in many ways and I have built up an incredible network of business owners and friends in St. Louis as a result of it.  It is also great because for the most part I can spend my time and days doing whatever/wherever I wish as long as I am writing my sales objective which I always do! :-)

[Alexander Parada]

Hello Guys I own a flooring store. We have three locations Houston, Katy Texas and in Woodland Hills, CA in the Los Angeles area.
I own retail stores selling to the trade and anyone with a home we specialize in hardwood flooring. Construction is not a consistent business so I invest in real estate to keep me up float through the ugly months. I have 5 rental props in The Houston market area. Looking to link up with people brain storm and buy houses out of state being in Los angeles your dollar goes so far.

[Jared Cuyler]

I'm currently on active duty in the Air Force, which I've been in for a little over five years now. I'm hoping to eventually reach my freedom number and not have to rely on good ole Uncle Sam to make a living.

[Randy Sergent]

I'm a UPS Driver in the SF Bay Area.  

I love the job but am working on an exit strategy.  

We're selling our single family home and pulling the trigger on a multi-family unit. 

Operation: BRRRR underway. Let's get leveraged!

[Mike Reynolds]

Originally posted by @Kory Groves:

I'm a Minor League baseball player in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Pretty fun job outside of real estate investing :)

 The good thing about that is you can buy in the winter and sell in the spring.

[David Gonzalez]

I am 23 years old, I have been a stock market trader since 16yrs old. Just recently moved on to trading commodities and futures. I just got my RE license and I am looking forward to selling some RE and grow my own RE portfolio

[Mercedes Beato]

I retired but I do Motivational Speaking, Performing Arts and Acting.