Real estate is something that I always loved. When my parents were buying a house when I was in 4th grade, I remember the excitement of always going on the home showings and seeing the vacant home or how someone else I didn’t even know, lived in their home.
As I got into high school, I started to fall in love with the house flipping tv shows. If I wasn’t watching sports, I was watching some sort of flipping show on either HGTV or A&E at the time.
I also loved finance. That was my ultimate, dream job. To be a Financial Analyst in some high-rise in the middle of Manhattan.
So, when I went to Florida Atlantic University, I decided that I was going to major in Business Administration and Real Estate Finance. I was going to combine my two passions.
Well, I ended up graduating with a double major and a degree in both, so that part of the plan worked……the rest of it?
Not so much.
2008 Real Estate Market Crash
While I was in college, I started an internship working for a medical, mail order supply company. I started out stuffing envelopes and worked my way up to Affiliate Manager pretty quickly, and about 10 other roles in the small business.
This was in 2008.
I was beginning to study to take my real estate licensing exam when my manager at the time told me how bad of an idea that would be to get my real estate license during 2008.
I agreed with him and never pursued getting my license.
I also went on to self-teach myself SEO and other forms of digital marketing and that is how I started my own digital marketing consulting business, which I have been doing since 2009.
Making the Decision to Get My Real Estate License
Fast-forward to January 2019.
I had a discussion with my wife about how it’s been over 10 years since I first wanted to get my real estate license and it’s something I always wanted to do, so why not just do it?
So, that’s exactly what I did.
Online Real Estate Courses
I signed up for online courses at Real Estate Express.
I knew that I wanted to do online classes because I wanted to be able to learn at my own pace, as well, whenever I wanted to. There were nights that I was doing classes until 2-3 in the morning, just so I could get my license that much faster.
I would have completed all the courses in under 45 days, however, in the middle of the classes, my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes…..just like me.
That definitely threw a big bump into the journey of getting my license, but we worked through it. In April, 2019 I took my PA real estate salesperson licensing exam and passed on my first try…..I actually only got 3 questions wrong on the entire test!
License to Sell!
I started working immediately. I drove to the state capitol in Harrisburg and picked up my license directly from them and went home later that day and started hitting the phones and prospecting.
It’s been almost a year and it’s been a crazy ride. It’s been even more fun that I was expecting and it’s been a lot of crazy hours.
Things are definitely different than just working from home all day, every day, as I did for 10 years as a digital marketing consultant. I wouldn’t change a thing.
If you have ever thought about getting your real estate license, or doing anything that you are passionate about, then just go do it. Stop with all of the excuses and just do it.