Real Estate

Keep Your Day Job But Invest In Real Estate – One Person – Multiple Careers

What is the antidote to boredom, burnout, job insecurity, and other workplace problems? The answer is to branch out into real estate investing in your spare time, while keeping your day job.

a new model

Author Marci Alboher, in her book One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success, shows how multiple professions and multiple identities can converge into a better, unified life.

Since I’m a real estate investor/author who also has a regular 8-5 job, I identified with the examples of people in short careers who were most similar to mine. One such person described in the book was Robert Sundaley and a high school earth science teacher for over twenty years. During his summer vacation, he started investing in real estate. He was so successful that he now teaches other teachers how to do it and has published a book about his experiences.

When I started my second career in 2002, I was motivated to change because my day job didn’t give me the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment I wanted, and because I wanted an additional source of income. However, I wanted to stick with my regular job for the security it provided.

One race flows from another

My second career was buying houses to fix up and renting them out. After doing it successfully for seven years, I felt like I was the owner of my own mini-universe. I wrote a how-to book about my experiences (my third run) and I also do presentations (my fourth run).

However, reading One Person/Multiple Careers made me realize that I was not alone in the actions I took. I see now that it is not uncommon for people to pursue a multi-track career as a way to balance their lives, as I did. Like when you buy a new car and suddenly you see a lot of cars like yours on the road, I suddenly discover a lot of people who have short careers.

First develop an expertise in one area

As Alboher points out, writing, teaching, speaking and consulting are four cuts that accompany any other type of work. Once you develop expertise in an area, it’s natural to pass that knowledge on to students, clients, and the public, and doing so may involve wearing different hats.

The unadorned truth is that a single identity can be a liability. It leaves you vulnerable to sudden winds of economic change. To be successful and healthy, we must develop multiple identities, which we can rely on when conditions change. Slash racing can also be an invaluable fortress against mental and physical illness.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *