Newbie from Minneapolis, MN

[Martin Pulrang]

Hey Everyone,

My name is Martin and I am completely new to this.  I have always been intrigued and interested in real estate and the romance of building my own business.  That is not what has guided me here.  My journey here started in January of 2008 when I was 33.  My wife and I gave birth to our little girl (second child).  She went to heaven two hours later and took my fear of dying along with her.  Three months later I had a stroke.  It impacted the left parietal lobe.  Three months after that had a device put in my heart to close a hole that was found by my doctors at the Mayo clinic.  My wife and I ended the year welcoming our second boy to the family - born healthy, ticked off at the world and driven to make everyone conform to him.  

The next 18-24 months were focused on recovery, proving to my partners at work that I was still an awesome IT consultant and much introspection focused on why I am here on this planet and what I am going to do with the small amount of time I have. It was during this time I really found Jesus and realized I was given a gift of perspective from which others might learn from. I also realized I was spending FAR too much time (70hrs/week) on my consulting business and nowhere near enough time with my family. It took me awhile to convince my wife that I needed to move on. She got onboard in 2011 thought and I now have a fantastic job leading an awesome team. However, I have recently internalized the fact that success in the corporate world is rewarded with more time spent at work and less time with my wife and three boys - that's some bad math. Enter REI.

My mission in life is to help and guide the development of others, help them reach their goals and do these things in a way that glorifies God. That starts at home with my three boys and, with REI, I can teach them through it and build something that I can include them in 100%. And, my 12 year old already has a mind for this. Fun story from this morning - I was telling him that you make money on the purchase and I asked if that was confusing to him and he told me it makes perfect sense. I was the one that was confused until he showed me how he did exactly that by finding a really good player in Madden Mobile for 30,000 coins. He then turned around and immediately sold the player for 244,000 coins. RE investor (and my partner) in the making ;)

If you've read this far, thank you. I am a firm believer in fully understanding the why behind our choices and this represents my why. I am currently building my foundation of knowledge through books, family members who have formerly done some REI and some really good friends - one of which led me here. I have A LOT to learn yet and I am really excited to put in the time and the work and I thank each and every one of you that will learn from in my future here.

See you around in the forums!

-Martin