Hey everyone. I hope you are doing well! If you’ve ever changed careers, you know how scary it can be.
I wanted to take a few minutes both for myself to kind of mark this switch and to share with friends and family about this new career I’m setting off on and why the change.
Many of you I have emailed or you have seen on Facebook that I am launching into a full time career as a real estate agent.
It’s always fun to set off on a completely new way to make income for your family – especially when your fourth child is on the way!! And I do mean, literally on the way. While Witni was in the hospital giving birth to Miriam, being the loving and supportive husband that I am, I was right there with her … helping her breath and studying for my real estate exam. Ha ha!
So, why the change? Well, here’s my teacher side coming out. There were three reasons why I changed careers:
- Inaccurate View of Work
- Investigation of My Strengths
- Interest in the Future
I. Inaccurate View of Work
First of all, I ha an inaccurate view of work. Let me quickly tell this story.
Going back to college and even high school, the question of “what are you going to do when you grow up?” always haunted me, because I didn’t know how to answer it. I ended up majoring in Accounting and Management, since I had a bit of a mathematical and business oriented mind.
But one day, there was a job fair on my campus. And this tall, good looking businessman from one of the top accounting firms in Nashville asked me, “how would you like to make 6 figures and golf 3x a week?”. I sat there and nodded in agreement because the truth was that was EXACTLY what my heart desired!
But, deeper in my soul, something really scared me about that. It was the fact that I knew I had a deep love of money. And, that scared me.
So, I ran away from it. I ran away from my Business degree and towards my Bible minor. And, basically the opposite of money – volunteer youth ministry!
Both during college and after college, I pursued youth ministry and really, my choice of work was shaped around my desire and efforts to do ministry and evangelism.
In some ways this was great, and in others it was bad.
JOBS BUILT FOR MINISTRY
I had a few jobs after college.I tried selling health insurance. Failed. Then, I delivered pizzas for a year at LaRosa’s. (In fact, I paid for Witni’s wedding ring with pizza money. It’s pretty humbling when you graduated summa cum laude and then go in to interview for a pizza delivery job). Then, I went into Financial Planning with Mass Mutual. But, I was young and terrible at them and the only thing that really drove me then was doing youth ministry.
Eventually, I ended up in the Internet Marketing world. I started with SEO, which is Search Engine Optimization – helping people rank in Google. And, I’ve been doing that for about 10 years.
Some of that work fit me very well. Other parts of it did not.
Over time, Witni and I started having kids, and my views on family started changing in a big way. I started thinking about my kids and their future and then their kids and their kids. I had this big shift around building a multi-generational family team that impacted every area of my life.
ELEVATED MINISTRY AND FAMILY TOO HIGH
And here is where my inaccurate view of work came in. In my life, I had elevated ministry and family so high, that I incorrectly categorized work as only a necessary evil – something that had to be done in order to fuel these other things that really matter.
And there were a LOT of consequences for that inaccurate view. One of them being that my clients often would not get my best because I cared more about Fathering or some other ministry venture. This was wrong. I had some close friends point this out in my life, and I repented to God.
TIM KELLERS BOOK LED TO WANTING TO WORK
Another good friend of mine then recommended Tim Keller’s Every Good Endeavor to me, and I have to say, this book had a profound impact on me.
Maybe I’ll do another video on that book, but needless to say, after reading it, work was restored and elevated to its proper place in my life. I now wanted to work and do good work for people because my God is a worker. There is great dignity in work. I can love and serve mankind just as well by doing good work – no matter the industry – and this brings glory to my God.
If you are struggling with work in your own life, I can’t recommend this book enough. It had a profound impact on me.
II. Investigation of My Strengths
WHO DID YOU MAKE ME TO BE? WHAT WORK DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?
So, now that I actually wanted to work and do good work, this led to an investigation of my strengths. I was now asking a couple of really good questions to God, “Who did you make me to be? And what work did you design me to do?”.
The answer did not come overnight. This was about an 18 month long process.
PERSONALITY TESTS
I did a lot of soul searching and prayer. I took different personality tests – Strengths Finder was one. The Birkman was another. I talked to friends and loved ones and sought a LOT of counsel.
And one thing that kept popping up was real estate. Over the past 10 years, I have been attracted to real estate and have done some investing. However, I never thought of it as a full time career – mainly because I didn’t want it to control my schedule.
However, as I looked at my results from these tests, a lot of the statements began to line up with what a real estate agent career looks like.
Here were a few statements about me from my Birkman test:
- You enjoy and can be effective at helping other people and making their lives better or more productive
- You like getting things done, including dealing with hands-on problems or situations
- You enjoy being outdoors and doing tasks that are associated with being outdoors or away from the office
- You enjoy working with numbers, or being involved with tasks that involve the use or manipulation of numbers
- You meet people easily and relate well to others when they are involved in group activities
- You’re structured and organized in your thinking and approach, and you bring these tendencies to the work you do
- You tend to be something of a natural authority figure; you can take charge when there seems to be a lack of leadership
- You’re self-confident, and you know how to make that self-confidence inspire those you work with
- You’re generally logical and objective, able to get to the heart of the problem faster than people who are more emotional than you are
As I reviewed these, I thought they lined up pretty well with being a real estate agent. Likewise, the below list is my top 5 from my Strengths Finder.
- Connectedness
- Relator
- Context
- Consistency
- Activator
One of the things that bothered me about my Internet Marketing work was that the relationship was nebulous and could end at any time. It often didn’t have a clear start and stop. In a real estate agent role, these lines are much more clear.
Also, strengths of context, connectedness and consistency help me analyze data well, see the big picture and do the work to get a deal done.
STARTED WEBSITE ON THE SIDE, LED TO LICENSING, LED TO THIS IS THE ANSWER
Last year, I started a new website to fuel my real estate investing, not thinking about going full time into real estate. This led me to getting my license, and while I was getting my license, all of these connections were hitting me.
Since then, some of you who know me well have been incredibly reassuring to me of when you heard the news. Your comments that you think it’s a great fit for me have been extremely encouraging. So, thank you!
II. Interest in the Future
This is probably another video, but what is most important to me is my faith and my family. This switch into real estate full time is an opportunity to fit to aid a vision that I’ve had for years.
ASSIST A VISION I’VE HAD FOR YEARS
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BUILD ASSETS
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WORK WITH MY KIDS
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HAVE MY KIDS AND GRANDKIDS LIVE NEARBY
I want to build wealth knowing where my investment dollars are at work and that they are providing a home for another family to grow in.
I want to work with my children. I want my children to grow up and have a home to live in. I want to give homes to my grandchildren.
When I am 75 years old, I want to sit around my table with 20 grandchildren around me. I want them to live in my city.
Being in this business full time allows me to work towards this vision God has given me around a multi-generational family on a mission.
My family is on a mission to love the Lord, to be fruitful and multiply, to rule and subdue the earth, to make disciples of all nations. And, God willing, we will do all we can for his Kingdom while on this earth.
These verse from Psalm 128 have been on my desktop wallpaper.
Psalms 128 A song of ascents:
1 How happy is everyone who fears Adonai,
who lives by his ways.
2 You will eat what your hands have produced;
you will be happy and prosperous.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
in the inner parts of your house.
Your children around the table will be
like shoots from an olive tree.
4 This is the kind of blessing that will fall
on him who fears Adonai.
So there it is … that’s why I made a career change with baby #4 on the way. I am super excited! I am fired up to work. I am excited to work with my family and friends. I am excited to be able to serve my city by doing good work!
Thanks for watching and reading this. If you are looking to buy, sell or invest in real estate, give me a call. Or, if you know someone who is, I would love to serve them and honor the fact that you were the one to give me the referral.