Newbie from Brevard county, FL (Melbourne/Palm Bay)

[James Tolson]

     Hey everyone, joined bigger pockets a while ago and have been reading, listening to podcasts, and just trying to learn as much as I can. This post is going to be long so TLDR: sick of my cubicle job and being someone else's employee, ran my own business for a while but it never really took off, now looking to real estate for financial independence.

     My main goal is time freedom, which obviously requires money, but also an investment style that isn't very time intensive long term. I've slightly narrowed down my interests, I would love to do industrial real estate but don't have the capital. So I'm focusing on multi family managed by someone else with the hope to grow capital over a few years and be able to land a very hands off commercial tenant. I also plan to own a couple short term rentals in areas I would like to vacation so I can have the freedom to go vacation when I want without worrying about costs.

     I've come kind of a long winding path. Grew up in a military family, moved around a bit, we ended up in a textile mill town just as textile mills were going out of country. Always got good grades in school, people told me to be a doctor or lawyer but I had no interest in either. I was always very technical and enjoyed tinkering so I ended up working in automotive shops for years because I didn't know what else I would do. I was at a small private shop, finished my 2 year degree from a local college. A few years in I ended up running the shop 3 days a week when another employee (2nd in command) left for another city. The owner would come in 2 days a week and other than that I was in charge of everything and I was planning to run the shop. Suddenly one day the previous 2nd in command guy came back and was right back in 2nd place. Since I was only a few years younger than him I knew I'd end up working for him the rest of my life if I stayed. I left for a dealership and had a manager who enjoyed making life miserable for people. One of my professors had been a retired engineer and basically taught for fun money and access to the shop and equipment at the school. I realized engineering was something I was interested in and I applied for a 4 year program at a state school.

Fast forward past engineering school, graduated and got a job with a giant corporation. Great pay, stable, good benefits, etc... They had some "innovation" projects that I was interested in and figured would be great for my career. I ended up entering several, including forming a team that won first overall nationwide. I got a pat on the back, the project taken from my team and given to someone else, and stuck back in my cubicle. At that point I realized my mistake was working for someone else, so a coworker and I found some government funded competitions that had the promise of leading to full time employment and big contracts. We entered a handful, and ended up taking 1st place in one with $10k cash prize. We formed an LLC, made some products, did some contracting work here and there (on top of our day jobs) and made a decent amount of money, but it consumed every ounce of free time for 2 years. We had a couple big deals fall through, my business partner got an offer he couldn't refuse in his home town, and he left. That pretty much sealed the fate of that company, I had no interest in maintaining the amount of time demand it had for some money that was never enough to quit my day job.

     So here I am with a well paying job I don't enjoy, what to do? Most engineers play in the stock market or save their way to retirement, but I just can't stand the idea of working until I'm 65. I start looking into real estate investing and listening to podcasts. Someone mentions cash flow quadrants, I watch the 5 minute explanation on youtube and a light bulb goes off. My whole life I've been trying to stay poor, through being someone else's employee or owning my own job where I'll never actually be able to just sit back and enjoy life. Now I am focusing on multifamily specifically for the value add/forced appreciation aspects with the hope of replacing my wife's income in the next couple years and mine within 5-10. Once I have the capital I would like to pivot to industrial space since I have some familiarity with it and it seems to have much less competition (maybe?). Plus the lack of landlording duties and the triple net potential feed my overall goal of just being able to enjoy life on my own terms.

         I basically do excel spreadsheets and math for fun for all of my hobbies, so if someone needs a numbers person I can potentially fill that gap. I'm currently about 200 pages into "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures".

     I'm in my 30s now, and I've finally realized why I just keep hitting roadblocks. I am not a people person. I avoid social gatherings in
general, typically to work on some project. When I do go to large events I never introduce myself to strangers, and basically do the minimal
amount of interacting before leaving. Not having a network has held me back and prevented me from finding opportunities and meeting potential mentors/friends/business partners. I've consciously been trying to work on that in 2020 but covid really put a damper on my plans. I do plan to attend local investing events, and would love to have any local members just message and chat. Posting this long winded life story is sort of a first step for me on this path.

If you made it this far, thank you very much. I look forward to meeting and learning from the community here!