Submarine Officer turned BP fanatic!

[Garrett Jacks]

Hello BP!

This is my very first post, and I couldn't be more excited! I've spent the last 2 weeks or so perusing the site and listening to the podcast on my daily commute to and from the naval base and the amount of knowledge I've already gained is breath taking. So before I tell you about myself, I want to "virtually" shake your hand and say "thank you."

Like the subject says, I am a submarine officer currently stationed in southern Georgia. I graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2009 and have spent the last 5 years working for Uncle Sam. I currently reside in the Jacksonville, FL area, but will be moving to Dallas,TX in the late summer/early fall. So yeah, I've got about 6 months until I transition into the "real world" and the paychecks stop coming in. Sounds scary to most, but it screams OPPORTUNITY to me.

You see, I've always wanted to own a business (never knew what it would be exactly) and I never thought I'd be starting now. I fully intended to work in sales or consulting until one fateful day last month. I was driving home from work and had had an absolutely awful day. I was there for 10+ hours and felt like I had accomplished nothing "useful." My bosses and I were not on the same "mental playing field." They all wanted to make the Navy a career. Most of them don't like their jobs, but they stay in for 20 years for a "retirement check." To me, this is insanity, and on that drive home I thought to myself "I refuse to work at a job that I don't like, for people that don't think like me, for a paycheck not worth my time." So I told my wife the minute I walked in the door that I was going to start a real estate investing business, and here we are!

I still spend over 8 hours a day at work, but every minute I have to myself I am LEARNING all that I can. During my commute... my lunchbreak... my evenings... I am learning real estate and how to build business systems. I have not yet succeeded (I'm only 30 days into my education), but I will.. I have no choice.

So that's why I'm here. I want to learn, network, learn, network, and eventually teach guys like me how to be successful in real estate. And with such a helpful bunch of people that I've already found on BP, I know that my goals will be reached and surpassed far beyond my wildest dreams.

At the moment I am learning how the wholesaling business works, and fully intend to start marketing and finding/evaluating deals within the next month. I'm debt free, but I don't have a huge amount of capital to begin, and wholesaling looks to be a promising strategy. We shall see!

Again, thanks for showing me the way, BP! Let the journey begin.