Hey everyone-
Just left the EDGE 2013 event! WHOOO! So much great information and opportunity in an AMAZING 3 days. I was brought to DG thru my significant other Jeff(who is amazing-by the way) about 6 months ago when he started as well. We relocated to NW Indiana and have been doing this full time. I was a Licensed RE Broker in Washington State before coming to the Mid-west and have always known that Real Estate was "my calling". I am an entrepreneur thru and thru and have tried many other avenues and self-implemented programs to find my way in being independently secure but none of them seemed to fit my goals and ended up being a burden rather than a joy. WELL that has changed.
Doing RE has been an exciting and fulfilling part of my life for many years. From building my own home to selling real estate to now becoming an investor-I know I am on the right path. Since moving to Indiana in Jan we have completed 9 deals and have 3 pending.(3-wholesale, 3-fix-n-flip, 3 buy-n-hold).
I am excited about moving forward with the additional information from this past weekend and can say that ALL the presenters offered something to move us forward. That being said-Jen's presentation touched me the most.
Let me back up a bit and share a bit about me. I grew up in a typical middle class family, had all my needs met and a great family and home life. My dad worked and mom was home. We were a close nit family and still are today. Where’s the struggle in that right? As I got older and moved out on my own I found myself, more often than not, doing what I thought others wanted me to do or what was the accepted Norm and left myself feeling a bit lacking in many areas of my life-there lies the struggle.
I got married welcomed 3 children into my life thru adoption and had a wonderful step son. I was happy for some time. But as it does-life happened and there were some negative life changing occurrences and decisions we could not recover from that caused my marriage to vanish. I felt defeated and like a failure.
BUT I knew I was meant to do something big and something that would not only affect my life but the lives of others in a positive way.
I began to revamp my way of thinking and sought out ways to move my personal life and professional life to the next level. I began to see things in my past as not problems but challenges that needed to be solved and overcome and began to see that I deserved to be happy in my skin and be happy with who I was. It was at that point I got my RE License. My first year in the Biz I was Rookie of the year and did over 1M in Volume. In an effort to move my business and my life forward I came up a plan to market the heck out of my self and push life forward. Little did I know there was a greater plan for me ready to unfold.
I posted an ad for good old fashioned home Sellers on Craigs list and got one response. It was a Guy who had just gone to an investment conference and needed a realtor to help him build his business. I was eager to do the work he needed and promptly got him what he needed because I thought he could be my BIG BUYER, My WAY out of the life I had been struggling thru. LOL little did I know that the light he would shine in my life would light a path and take me on a journey that would and will change my life for the better.
Anyway, we worked together for several months and realized that we were like minded in several areas of our lives and that RE was a way for both of us to create the changes we needed to move forward in our personal and professional lives. We continued to work together for several months and he became active in the IE portion of Deans-program in November of 2012. He relocated to the mid-west and I followed a few months after and we have been running full speed ahead ever since. SOOOO Needless to say my Craigs list ad was a GREAT tool/avenue for me in more ways than one-lol. But in all seriousness-It brought an amazing man into my life who I am proud to say today is my business partner and a wonderful part of my daily life.
What I enjoy most is seeing the excitement and happiness we get from doing what we LOVE. We have time to do what we are passionate about as well as an opportunity to make a living and that is-to me- one of the true meanings of life.
This past weekend has brought all the things we have been working on together. It’s been like looking at all the puzzle pieces on the table, understanding the concept of the image we are to put together but not really seeing the box top to know what your supposed to be completing... but now I see that box top and the end result and we are ready to put those pieces of that puzzle together.
We enjoyed all the presenters but as I said earlier Jen's message slapped us both in the face hard and mine especially. Her message about personal struggles and feeling unworthy of greatness resonated with me. Although I have not faced many of her struggles I still have felt boxed in by others standards for me. I have been saying yes to so many "other" standards and was saying no to myself and my self-worth. Jens pursuit for self was like a neon sign and made me see and realize one very significant thing--- I DO DESERVE TO BE A SUCCESS! Thanks Jen
We have goals set for the next week-one garage door at a time- and big goals for the next year-so watch out cuz here we come!
Thanks everyone !