What Do I Do?
I am sitting here in my dorm room in Morgantown W.V. struggling to finish a midterm paper thats due next week and I know that I dont want to end up like so many other college grads these days and going back to live at home while I take a min. wage job at Wal-Mart or what have you. I have been researching rei for almost a year now and I want to get started but something always seems to get in the way. My goal is to move to the Raleigh NC area and work the RE scene there. Everytime I tell some one what I really want to do they tell me to stay in school and its the only way to get anywhere but I know that that is not true. An education is important yes but i believe the key is the kind of education you get. I want to get an education that will help me to make real money not just enough to get by. Im looking for advice and some helpful words of encouragement. 
I am sitting here in my dorm room in Morgantown W.V. struggling to finish a midterm paper thats due next week and I know that I dont want to end up like so many other college grads these days and going back to live at home while I take a min. wage job at Wal-Mart or what have you. I have been researching rei for almost a year now and I want to get started but something always seems to get in the way. My goal is to move to the Raleigh NC area and work the RE scene there. Everytime I tell some one what I really want to do they tell me to stay in school and its the only way to get anywhere but I know that that is not true. An education is important yes but i believe the key is the kind of education you get. I want to get an education that will help me to make real money not just enough to get by. Im looking for advice and some helpful words of encouragement.
Dmb10483,
I welcome you here at TCI, just as I was when I found this site.
A word of advice to you is don't let those people steal your dreams! While education is important, it boils down to the kind of education you receive.
I think a majority of the population has there "traditonal" hat on. That is:
Go To School
Get a good job
Life will be grand
Retire
That may have been the norm at one time but all you need to do is take a look around and see the struggles everywhere you look.
In school, we are never taught how to make money, we are taught how to go
GET A JOB (J.O.B -Just over broke)
I beleive that to really excel in life and not be dead financially, the JOB is not the answer.
One of the biggest struggles I have had in my own life and still struggle with to this day is your center of influence. So many people will pull you in the wrong direction and although they don't mean to, like a bad computer virus, they somehow find their way into your system.
Don't let this deter you. If your serious about REI, there is a family here at TCI to support you. I am here constantly just to keep motivated and move forward because I refuse to let the dreamstealers, steal my dreams!
We have got to break away from the traditional "MOLD" of how one goes through life as far as financial issues are concerned. We already know the "job' is not the answer. Most of us know that, thats why we are here. Pushing, encouraging, and striving for something better.
If your serious about REI, I would encourage you no matter what to keep pushing. You will have more than you can handle of people saying "oh do this, do that, blah blah blah"
Take a minute and analyze those people.
Although they might be loved ones, people you respect and look up to, their idea of financial freedom may be different then yours. While a job may provide comfort it is not the answer that most of us seek.
I beleive you want to be in control of your time as most of us do.
Keep reaching, think big, don't do the norm and you will come out on top!
I wish you well and hope that others will add to this!
Brandon
Thanx for the words of encouragement brandon. I do hope that other reply as well. Thanx for the support all.
I graduated from college in April 2002. Had a job that I hated. In October 2002 I decided I wanted to move towards RE. July 2003 I purchased a 24 unit apartment complex at about .75 cents on the dollar with a partner. I no longer have a job. I have 2 investors lined up for the next deal. The property pays my expenses, and I'm looking to bigger and better properties.
It's not easy, but it's an easy way to make money.
"People helping people..." Can you feel the love?
Speaking as someone who has started and sold two businesses, college gives you a base, but it really teaches you how to work for other people, not be a success. Follow your dreams, even if you have a few bumps in the road, its a far sight better than a 9-5.
I'm 22 and did the college to making moms happy.
so proud, now I have a nice frame on my wall with a degree in it with all my little cords all drapped over it (you know how important them stupid cords are) and the damn thing just sits there. It got me a "nice" job....but I always ask how do you define nice. When I come into work I see people who have bought the lastest version cars and such and they park all the way out in the middle of no where, just so no one hits their car. And I think to myself, they spend all this money on these nice toys, but they to spend 50 hours plus a week just to keep it. It looks nice outside, but they are inside slavin away just to lease it.
Everyone always associates nice with high paying, but with high paying comes.........
Anyway, you get the drift. Now I do the job thing and RE. I'm looking to walk away from this crap ASAP, but my mother wants me to stay a year....so I don't burn bridges. Regardless of when I walk away, them bridges are going to come tumbling down hard and fast. I've made more money in RE than I have 6 months at this "nice job"....
Follow your dreams and do what you want.
[addsig]
I went to school and worked the corprate dream. It didn't get mae anywhere. I too always wnated to get into REI, and I listened to people.
It was when I stopped listening that I really got what I wanted...Read this website and listen to the people here. They know what they are talking about. Finish School and make Mom happy though. You CAN do both.
hello
my advice is read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiosaki (excuse me if spelled wrong) this should shead some enlightenment on how those who give you advice to stay in school think. I always think about the richest man in the world when I hear comments on why I left school (which I am not advising for you, that was my choice and one of the best I ever made). Do I follow broke peoples path or the least traveled wealth path?
Anyway read the book it is great!
I also read Rich Dad Poor Dad. Great book on waking you up to reality. I love education. It teaches you how to learn and be confident. It doesn't teach you what you need to know to get out of the rat race. I'd much rather be out of the rat race. My husband and I are making as much money now (barely starting out in REI) as we would be after he graduates and gets a 'real' job, which we are seriously reconsidering. We only live in a small town so the deals aren't as many as you'd see in larger cities.
another good book is Robert Allen's book "One Minute Millionaire" which introduces you to more that just Real Estate
I agree with 'rich dad poor dad'
i loved that book.
I also suggest
'guide to investing'...im currently reading it for the second time now.
[addsig]
Thanx everyone for the great responses. I really feel like I have a family here that I can rely on for support. It's good to know that so many people are thinking the same thing that I am and have the same ideas. Thanx so much for the support.
Congratulations on having such insight at an early age. I went the education route (BS,MS,PhD) and have had a great career, however, I have often wondered how much better off I might be financially if I had energetically pursued RE at a much earlier age.
We all wish you well at fulfilling your dreams!
Regards,
Ed
Stay in school - not to be able to get a "nice" job, but to learn other things that will enable you to do CREI better! Of course, it also depends on what you are majoring in! Everything you learn is to your advantage, use it in the pursuit of your CREI career, the more you know, the better prepared for life you are.
Read a lot, not only RE literature but also history, economics, legal books (RE).
Never stop learning, you'll never be too old to learn. If you learn something new every day, the better. And remember knowledge which you don't apply, is useless!
You can combine your college studies with pursuing CREI in your "free" time, start small and grow as you learn more!
Wish you lots of success!!
Ladybug
Hey,
There are over a dozen responses here and only LADYBUG gave you good advice: STAY IN SCHOOL.
The overriding theory presented here is that school teaches, or in some other way promtotes, how to get a JOB. I must have missed that class. The school I attended taught classes about Science, History, Language, etc. What I chose to do with my new found knowledge was totally up to me. In point of fact, I actually had a class in Entrepreneurship.
The reality of Knowledge is you do NOT know what you need to know, so you need to learn as much as possible.
Do you think Accounting is boring? One day, your entire fortune my rest upon the fact that you understand a Tax Loss Carry Forward.
Can't stand going to Art Appreciation? The difference between closing a $10 million deal or not, might hinge upon you being able to talk about the difference between Monet and Manet.
The point is you don't know which set of knowledge you will need.
Right now you have nothing but TIME, use it to your advantage. If you are taking a full course load, you are in class around 15 hours a week. Double that for outside studies and now you have a 30 hour work week, including travel time. You will never have this much time, with this little amount of responsibility, again in your entire life. If you want to do RE, work 5-10 hours a week on it. By the time you graduate, you will have knowledge AND a ton of money.