Where Have You Been?
I got a call from a friend and former client last week. He asked: ”Where have you been? We haven’t heard from you in months”. Well, he was right. It has been almost 6 months since I posted on my blog and almost 9 months since I sent a newsletter out. I decided it was time to update him and now everyone else.
Many of you know that I was originally in Information Technology before I came into real estate. My last position was Sr. Director of IT for Caribou Coffee. During that time I had purchased a large number (28) of rental units which required a fair amount of time and I had burned out on corporate politics. I wanted a change and decided real estate was going to be it. Thankfully, God gave me the ability to succeed in both technology and real estate. That was 6 years ago.
Last summer I made the decision to take somewhat of a sabbatical from real estate. I wasn’t quitting, but I just wasn’t going to pursue a large number of new clients. I suppose it was like the Jerry McGuire movie that I wanted to focus more on just a few clients that I enjoyed working with.
At the same time, I found an opportunity to do consulting for a start-up software company in St. Paul. I thought it would be fun as I had never worked in such a small company (only 12 people). Could this be the next Google? The pay was terrible, but they offered a truckload of stock options. I was in. Unfortunately, once I was an insider, each week I watched the CFO sweat to make payroll and pay bills. I could see why the pay was terrible! Eventually, sales weren’t there and we parted ways after about 6 months.
That short, but very eye-opening experience introduced me to many IT professionals and it lead me to a new IT consulting gig, which I start this week, at US Bank. Pay is better, work is super interesting, and it is about 4 months long contract. After that, who knows.
During this same time, I took the opportunity to spend more time with my wife’s business, Mama’s Happy. In January, we purchased a 120 year old barn for her store which will eventually become our home, too. I have been having fun renovating and designing our living space. Throw in a trip to Dominican Republic for my wife’s 40th birthday party, coaching my son’s baseball, attending countless other sporting events with my 3 kids, and generally slowing down to smell the roses; I don’t know where the time went!
With all that said, I still consider myself full-time in real estate. I love helping both buyers and sellers. If you have any needs, questions or thoughts, just call or email.
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