One of my favorite activites with my dad used to be heading out on a Saturday to look at real estate with my dad and his best friend Larry, a local real estate agent. You never knew what you’d find. It is possible that on a few occasions when the key didn’t work, the two 70+ men would hoist me (considerably the youngest and slimmest of our trio) through an unlocked window to we could enter an unoccupied unit. (If any of you are looking for an example of white priviledge, I am exhibit #1. It was an adventure to us, and we knew if anyone ever DID end up calling the police on us – which they never did – we could explain what we were doing and they’d be fine with it! Just saying – wouldn’t have worked that way for some of my friends.)
Fun AND funds!
Soon after I bought my first investment units, it occurred to me that It would be great to get a cut of the commissions. I loved real estate investing and planned to continue it for a long time. It didn’t take a lot of brains to figure out that I was going to end up paying 10s of thousands of dollars in commissions in the future years. So I set out to get my license and became a full-fledged feal esate agent.
It was a blast. I don’t mean to say it was always easy, because it wasn’t. But it was absolutely a blast. My gosh, I got to do something I was willing literally break into a house to do. AND people were paying me for it.
Teaching was my first love, and I knew I wasn’t going to quit the steady pay check and deep fulfilment I got from the classroom. But I sold real estate pretty much full time in the summer and then part time during the school year simply because I really liked it. I would rather work with clients than watch TV in the evenings, so that’s what I did. It also gave me a really valuable perspective to take back to my students, and I’ve spoken at career days and other activities as needed. Plus, selling real estate allowed me to save enough money to pay for my M.Ed. in cash.
Lovin’ it
I’d say there were two really important and inseparable lessons I gained from my real estate agent side hustle. First, do what you love. Second, even things you love are sometimes only for a season, not forever.
I’ve already explained that I loved selling real estate. It didn’t get old. I didn’t get tired of it. It was an absolute blast. Every day (or almost every day – nothing is perfect) that I went into the office, I was excited to see what would happen, who I would meet, and what houses we would see. Honestly, I probably could have kept doing it forever.
But the second part of the lesson entered in, as well. I knew deep in my soul that I wanted to be a mom. I knew it more surely than just about anything in life. And so I decided that I would become a mom, even on a teacher’s salary, even as a single woman, even no matter what. By night, I dreamt about adoption. And by day, I made changes in my life to ensure it could be more than a dream.
Good-bye
There were a lot of steps in the process, but the bottom line is that since I was already a full-time teacher, I was going to have to choose between selling real estate and being the present, involved mom my child would need.
Today, I am the mom of 3 kids. My sweet wonderful oldest son who made my dream of adoption a reality and a biological daughter and son whose dad I met while I was in the adoption process. I look at my family, even on our WORST days (and there are some tough ones) and feel absolutely no regret for giving up a side job, even one that lit me up.
Being a real estate agent was great, but it was for a season, and for me that season is long over. I’m thankful for what I learned, what I earned, and how it changed me. I got to keep all of those gifts. But I’m much, much more thankful for what has come since.
My wish for you is that you find a side hustle or business that you love as much as I loved selling real estate. And that if you then find something even better, that you are able to leave it behind without regrets.
As you build your side hustle, whether you love it, tolerate it or hate it, please remember one thing: you’ve got this!