What I'm Doing Now

I have a few short term goals:

Get Real Estate License - Since my work takes me all over the world and offshore, I elected to get my real estate license online. I have heard all the advantages and disadvantages of having my license and being a huge fan of the BG podcast, I'm going with @J Scott and @Brandon Turner's advice and getting it. I signed up for Allied Schools online Real Estate License and it cost me about 500 dollars. I've been taking the course before work, during downtime at work, and in the evenings.

Read and Research - Along with blogs and articles on BP, I have downloaded all the BP free books and ordered all the books that applied to what I might be interested in on this article: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/04/1... One of the advantages of working offshore is the downtime. I have a ton of time for reading and will take advantage of that.

Meet Present Investors - One of my old highschool classmates is a successful real estate investor. We only see each other on Facebook and the school reunions, but I felt comfortable enough to ask to meet. The worst thing he could have said was no. We are meeting Saturday for lunch and I plan to pick his brain. I'm going to outline the options I have in real estate investing that I feel comfortable doing, walk him through the steps I would take and see what his advice will be. I'm also hoping to understand what it is he does and maybe acquire a mentor in the process.

Pay down Debt - Since I plan on using my own credit for the first deal, I want to make sure my credit is as good as it can be. I paid down my credit cards so my credit to debt ratio is under 30%.

Save Cash - For what I think I want to focus on, I think $50,000 should be my target savings. I don't have many bills, but I am also in the process of paying for a website that I am a silent partner in. My wife has her own business and came up with an online business idea based on her company that I believe in. 

Since I'm on land right now, I spend my drive time to and from site listening to the BP podcast. I am learning so much in my commute. Tomorrow is the 4 hour drive back to Houston for the Thanksgiving holidays and I plan on listening to podcasts the whole time.

My hope is to be educated enough in the next couple months so I can do my first deal by the end of January 2016.

~S