The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.

No plan survives contact with the enemy. 

No battle was ever won according to plan, but no battle was ever won without one.

Life gets in the way. 

You know how it goes, you set forth on a journey down a specific path and next thing you know you're waking up 4 years later in a totally different place nowhere near where you intended to be. Well, that's where I am now. 4 years ago I was ready to dig in and begin assembling my real estate empire. I was going to retire from my day job as an engineer at 35 and sail the world with my family. The whole time living on passive income and documenting my success here on my bigger pockets blog to act as a bastion of hope for those seeking to be. 

Well, things didn't really go according to plan, I ran the numbers on a few hundred properties in my area and decided direct mail would be a better way to find leads. I sent out a few mailings and got a pretty good response rate but could never seem to get anyone to bite. To be honest, I'm not a salesman, nor do I really have the desire to be one. I'm good in a group as I tend to be the smart ass cracking jokes but one on one I'm not really the guy you want carrying most conversations let alone a negotiation for a house. I also had the little problem of no money to speak of. I was making high 5 figures, but also making a sizable mortgage payment on 10 acre homestead so cash flow was pretty tight. So as it goes with many people in my position, I became disenchanted, cut my losses and walked away without ever having made a deal. 

I didn't just sit on the couch and give up though. I still wanted to invest in real estate I just didn't have the finances or the time to do it yet. So, always forward, I doubled down and refinanced the 10 acre homestead from a 30 to a 15 year note and started getting some real equity. I also recommitted myself to furthering my education and succeeding at my day job as an engineer. I was already enrolled in an online engineering course via Clemson University but I was disinterested and floundering. I made up my mind that the only way to dig out of the hole was to get a bigger shovel, so I pressed forward and in 2016 I became the first online only student to graduate from Clemson's Engineering program. In the years since, I have passed my Fundamentals of Engineering Exam and  will sit for my Professional Engineers Exam later next year. I've also been promoted at work a number of time and increased my income substantially. Additionally, both my kids are in school now and my wife has gone back to work as a 3rd grade teacher. 

4 or so years later, we have doubled our household income, we have more free time than we've had in years and we've paid down our mortgage substantially. The journey was not the one I was expecting, but I'd say it's worked out pretty well. Life is good and we are definitely glad it's worked out this way. It felt good to accomplish all those old goals that had become stale and arduous over the years. There is definitely something to be said for embracing the suck and pushing forward, over, and through all obstacles.

So, what now? Well, I still think real estate is the way to go and now I have a few more tools in my bag to accomplish my goals. Most notably, I'm days away from securing a $100k HELOC on the 10 acres homestead. I've also got much more cash flow to act as a cushion should things get sideways on me. I'm back to analyzing deals and I'm in contact with a realtor friend of mine in the hopes of securing a small multifamily unit.

None of this is sexy and arguably it has nothing to do with real estate yet. However I think it it's a good lesson for the average person. It's easy to listen to the Bigger Pockets Podcast every week and think you can just skip all the initial steps and warp jump straight to financial and real estate success. The truth is no matter how flashy their stories end, all those folks started slow and snowballed to where they are now and it's easy to look past all that hard, boring work. So, I'm not going big, I'm not going 10X, I'm just going to move forward as I have always done, slow, steady and measured. 

Always forward.