This blog and my future

For a while now I've been feeling sort of bad for not giving my blog enough attention. Sometimes I feel like the posts are little more than a recounting of what I've been doing, when the real purpose of this blog is to have an outlet for expressing my thoughts and feelings.

This is strange to me because I thought that once I stopped working full-time that I'd have so much more time to devote to my blog. I figured the posts would be better and more meaningful than before. But in reality I've had to 'catch up' by writing 2 or 3 day's posts in 1 day (and back-dating them) in order to not miss a day.

So if you've been a fan/follower/reader of this blog for a while but have disappointed with the content recently, I understand, and I promise to make it better. I can't change the past but I can try to affect the future, starting now.

By way of an update, I have decided to discontinue looking for a traditional job. Spouse & I have talked about it at great length. Instead I'm going to enroll in real estate school (starting in Jan) and become a real estate agent. Why?

There are several reasons.

One is that there are very few professional jobs here in our area. Most of them revolve around the large medical center, and I have no experience or interest in working in the medical industry. I applied for a position with the State that was well below my abilities and former salary, but was not considered for the position because I had no experience in that specific field, despite the fact that I had transferable skills.

Spouse suggested I look for positions back in the DC area where I could stay for free with his mother (temporarily) and work Mon-Fri and we would see each other on the weekends either at home or at his mom's. I was not fond of the idea because I remember how difficult it was when we did that 4 years ago. Spouse had to start his new job in DE but I had to stay in DC until our house got rented. It was very difficult to be apart so much. Plus life in DE is very different than life in DC and I am not eager to return to the life I chose to leave 4 years ago. I want to keep the life I have in DE. I applied for a few positions in DC anyway, but none of them have turned out, which is fine with me.

But the most important reason for not pursuing another traditional job is that I'm tired of that. I want to do something new and fun. Confucius said "If you do what you love, you'll never work another day in your life." When I thought about this, I asked myself what do I love and came up with "real estate". It quickly became clear to me that this was the direction in which I wanted to focus.

I am a self-identifying real estate junkie. I love looking at real estate. Spouse & I have been investing in real estate for years. I watch all of the real estate shows on cable TV and even peruse the public MLS site as a hobby. Spouse & I always keep up on what's for sale and what's sold in our area. It just makes sense that I work in an area that I find so much fun!

I was hoping to take the pre-licensing course (pre-requisite for getting a real estate license) right away, but found that none of the venues were offering it in Nov & Dec, presumably because enrollment is low during those holiday months. So the earliest I can enroll is in Jan, which is not so bad in that I get to really enjoy the holiday months. Its Dec 8 and I am already finished with writing, addressing, stamping, and sealing all 142 holiday cards! I've never been done this early.

I figured the best thing I could do while waiting to go to real estate school is to ask questions and listen to successful realtors. So I've had conversations/interviews with 5 friends who are realtors. All of them have said that real estate is hard work, but if you enjoy it then you probably won't mind working hard. Each conversation has brought me more and new information. The slogan "You don't know what you don't know" certainly holds true for me here!

After identifying my next career I had to figure out how to pay the bills until I could actually start working in it. My last severance check is on Dec 24th (Merry Christmas!) so I will be applying for unemployment benefits the following Mon. We have some savings we can use and I plan to cash in an asset to help bridge the gap between the unemployment income and our expenses. The real estate school costs money too, but it is a necessary investment in my new career and is probably deductible. So we should be okay financially for a while as I get licensed and select a brokerage for which to begin working.

But even once I'm working I won't get a paycheck for a while, since realtors are paid commission from real estate transactions. That's probably the biggest adjustment for me, both mentally and financially, since I've always been employed in an industry where I got paid every 2 weeks.

But I'm not going to allow fear to stop me.