40 Years Old Today - 9 Years of REI and Still Excited

[Owen Dashner]

I turned 40 today.  It seems like this birthday is a big bummer for a lot of people, but I woke up today at 5 am excited to get out of bed and get my day started.  I have been getting Facebook messages saying, "Take the day off today and do something awesome!", and "Hope you aren't working hard today", etc.  

I did take the day off from my jobby-job.  And part of me feels like I need to go do something super exciting just to live up to other people's expectations of what a 40th birthday should be.  I started thinking about what I really enjoy doing, but don't have the opportunity to do often enough.  But you know what I realized?  What I really enjoy doing is finding great real estate deals.  Even after 9 years, a dozen flips, and 18 rentals while working a full-time job.  

Sure, there are things that I don't love about it.  I'm not a huge fan of tenant move-outs, property management, dealing with insurance claims.  But the one thing that always keeps me coming back for more is the fact that on any given day, I could find a deal that will make me and my family $10,000 - $40,000.  

And that is reason enough for me to spend at least part of my day doing something awesome - finding my next deal.  Make it an awesome day everyone!