LESSON NUMBER ONE

So my business partner (and loving husband), Sponge, says I need to start at the beginning...

I was born on a rainy night OH! He says not that far back... ok then... I want to summarize how we got here with just a couple or so posts (so we can get to the good stuff), so I'll go back about seven years...

Sponge and I have been white collar professionals for, well - without giving away our age - about a mellineum or so. He worked his way through the ranks as a mechanical designer/engineer while I was climbing the IT ladder. I made the mistake of climbing to the top of the ladder only to find out, apparently, I'm afraid of heights ! I really hated being in charge and STILL being told what to do. Caught between the P. and the V.P.'s dreams for the company and all the while working even harder and longer than ever. Who taught me that you made alot of money and got to sit on the beach drinking Mai Tai's once you got to the top? Hmmm... apparently I climbed the wrong ladder!

So back in mid 2001 I decided to wait 'til my options vested (I was miserable, not stupid), cash out, resign, and sit back for long enough to relax and figure out what I wanted to do next. January 18, 2002 was my last day as a corporate stiff - WooHoo!! On January 24, 2002, without warning, Sponge was the casualty of a RIF (Reduction In Force... ie., LAYOFF) of unprecedented magnitude for the company he had been working at for the last 11 years. And along with the unprecedented number of people that got laid off was an unprecedented severance check for only 3 weeks salary! Guess I was going to have to "relax" and figure out what to do REALLY FAST !!!!!

We were living "on the hill" (renting) in "the big house" and still had all 5 kids at home. One in college, one a senior in high school (which means more college tuition coming up later THIS YEAR!), another high schooler, two in Jr. High and we were both unemployed!! We're both educated, hard working, MOTIVATED (5 kids, remember?) and yet, after all our years of experience we were NOWHERE . Frankly, at this point in life we were both scratching our heads wondering, "Hmmm... what have we learned?"

So here it is...

LESSON NUMBER ONE

"Unlearn everything 'they'
taught you growing up about
how to be successful"

Stay tuned for Lesson Number Two...

MAKE A MESS

I wish we had started this sooner - to capture all the confusion and mistakes... ahhhhh - hindsight. In any case, I've decided to start this blog for all you new real estate investors out there. How much have YOU paid so far to the ever so benevolent gurus? Are you amazed that you can pay $2500 to get their "Step by Step" package only to find that they're really just glorified motivational books? Really... has anyone bought a guru's package and found that it actually had all the steps needed (and the paperwork necessary) to carry out a complete real estate transaction? I'd love to hear about your experiences.

This blog is going to "give away" all the steps as we do them - right or wrong. We're newbies! This has been our dream for years, postponed until we finished raising our kids (all 5 of them!), and now we're really doing it! We've joined the clubs, taken the seminars, read the books (and books and more books - we'll be putting up book reviews here for you too), tried to network... and the thing that really got us going is someone telling us one day, "Don't be afraid you'll do it wrong and don't wait until you get every little thing in place before you start - because if you do, you'll never get started! Just MAKE A MESS and then worry about cleaning it up!"

Well - that's what we're doing... making a mess (and learning along the way) and loving it!!!

You'll hear all about it and I'll share everything we learn - FOR FREE - as it happens.