A great hello and huzzah to all of you!
Let's jump right in (quoting Josh from the podcasts). I'm 17 years young, and finishing high school with plans to attend either the University of Virginia or William and Mary in the Fall of 2017.
*note: first two paragraphs are a bit of background about me and my story, if you jump to the third you won't miss much and I won't be offended. :)
My whole life I have known I was different than my classmates, and while my grades didn't struggle throughout middle and high school, my spirit sure did. As senior year approached I felt the increasing pressure from friends and family continually asking, "What do you want to study?" and "What do you want to be when you grow up", to which I had no answer. When I attended 3-day real estate investor seminar in October 2016 I was drooling. Of course the 2000$ class was only to sell their $20K course, which I wholeheartedly believed in. The problem was, I had no money, and more importantly, I had no idea that I was buying into the classical guru's emotional promise. My mom refused to lend me $20K (in hindsight probably a good idea), so I left the seminar with a bitter taste in my mouth. For months I tried to learn about this promising vehicle, and gave up many times.
Fast forward to two weeks ago and I find myself wanting to catch a ride on the REI train yet again. This time, I had a plan. I cut out xbox, social media, gaming of any type, and the worst of all—warm showers. That's right. If you are looking for extra energy every day and am not a morning person at all—like me, take cold showers every morning. I will probably post a separate thread on the benefit they have given me. :) Anyways, I suddenly had so much time that I wasn't wasting anymore. Weekdays I get up, listen to a full podcast, then go to school. I bought a aux cord from the local gas station so I could listen to them in the car. Shoutout to podcast #77, that hooked me to start from the beginning, 001. After school I have work where I am an assistant teacher at a daycare/preschool, which purpose is to simply pay for gas and as I would find out, books.
I might be rambling, so if you are still reading, god bless you and thank you. :)
So those books I mentioned. I had been reading Wholesaling how-tos for a couple months though, with no real intent. Plus all the books I picked up were free, and were all on my iPhone. Two weeks ago I decided I was going to change my life. I spent hours on my laptop, trying to find the best way to start my REI education without paying thousands of dollars. God bless you forever and always, Bigger Pockets. I had made an account before, but never did anything with it. I started binging the podcasts. really, really good stuff. If you are reading this and haven't listened to any of BP's podcasts, what are you doing. They do a wonderful job. And I'm rambling again. OK, so my books came in the mail yesterday and straight from when I came home from work, I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad out of the box and read 75% of it with maybe getting up once. I finished the rest of it this morning, and am more motivated than ever. All my thoughts I've had over the years have sitting in writing, waiting for me to discover. Such a great book. Today I went over and gave it to my friend, who is in a sticky financial situation herself. While she reads that, I have 9 other books, ranging from The E-myth to Pitch Anything, to The Snowball and 7 Habits of highly effective people. Im excited. So to sum up, I've got goldmines of information sitting in a box waiting for me to dig it up.
So I got all these books, why come to Bigger Pockets and make this post? Because you can't learn how to ride a bike by only reading books. I'm excited to engage, learn, and listen to you guys on here. Whether you are a bigger noob than I am (which would be hard to believe), or if you have been doing real estate investing since before dust, I am eager to hear what you say and what advice you have. Glad to be here!
Thank you everyone, and God bless you!
P.S. I'm in Northern Virginia, so if any of you investors out here want free labor, it would be my greatest pleasure to put some elbow grease into deals and just watch how they are done firsthand.
