Geez, I am TERRIBLE about writing here consistently.  However, the important thing to remember is that “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” which also tastes terrible and sour unless you add sugar.  So, I guess it’s equally important to find someone sweet to mix with the life-lemonade.  What, you ask, does this have to do with Part 2?  Nothing, I just ramble sometimes.  I suppose if you didn’t like my rambling you wouldn’t have made it this far into my blog.  So…. you’re welcome?

I left Part 1 off somewhere after we got Cody and I’m supposed to start part 2 off with job hunting.  This one will cover the now 10ish months since I got laid off March 31, 2017.  Don’t worry, it won’t take you 10 months to read.  Job hunting sucks, so I don’t care to relive it detail.

My plan was thus:  Take a few months after getting laid off to relax, decompress, re-evaluate my life and decide on the best direction to move.  My though process was this:  I no longer enjoyed what I was doing (Financial advisor recruiting, relationship management, and firm business development), and this was an excellent opportunity to make a career change and find something I DO like, and fulfills me emotionally.  Guess what?  It’s harder than it sounds.

First of all, my plan was going swimmingly until at the beginning of month 4 (July 2017), when I was really getting into the groove and applying to jobs that sounded interesting (Account Manager and Relationship manager positions at tech firms) I got injured.  And not the kind of injury where you’re like, okay, I’m injured but still functional.  Not me, I don’t do things half was.  I got the kind of injury where I’m COMPLETELY OUT OF COMMISSION for months and months.  I was on so many meds and painkillers there was no resume updating, no interviewing, and certainly no job applying going on during this time.  I still looked at jobs to help me keep an eye on what was out there, but… no real luck.

A quick note on the injury:  I squished a disc in my neck between C5 and C6 which is bulging out, narrowing the pathway in which nerves exit the spine.  What this really means is EXCRUCIATING PAIN in my neck, shoulder, and left arm all the way down to my fingers.  Sitting?  Excruciating pain.  Walking?  Nope.  Carrying anything heavier than a couple pounds?  Dear god please no.  When you’re in pain doctors always ask you, “On a scale of 1-10 where is the pain now?”  I’m too detail oriented, I suppose, because this drives me crazy.  How do I quantify my pain level on a scale of numbers with no corresponding state?  I have to assume 10 is MAX PAIN, right?  So that would be pain that renders me unconscious, right?  A 9 would be pain so bad that all you can do is cry on the ground in a fetal position begging for unconsciousness.  An 8 is pain so all encompassing that every thought in your head is 100% focused on “how can I make this pain stop right now.”

I spent some time at level 8, and might have tapped a 9 at some point.  It’s MISERABLE.  There were literally only 2 positions I could be in that limited my pain…. hmmm… I’m totally off track here.  Let me bring this back around to the job.

I was in terrible pain and on mind-melting medications until mid September, when I finally started feeling well enough to take short walks outside the house.  It was on one of these walks that we stopped at an open house in the neighborhood.  I’ve met the realtor here a number of times, and my community is his “farm,” which means he’s worked this area for many years and does most of the listings here.  Really nice guy.  We chatted for a bit and he suggested I might like being a real estate agent.

I thought about it for a while, and realized it checked the 3 “big picture” boxes I had for me ideal job:

1. I want to like the company I work for and enjoy what I’m doing.
   • I’d be working for myself, but with the tech and support of a big company behind me.  Also, I like working with people, and everyone needs a place to live!
2. I want what I do to have a positive impact on other people’s lives.
   • Helping people sell their existing homes for the most value seems like a great thing to do.  One the flip side, helping buyers find their “dream home” or even buy their first “starter” home seems like it would be changing the world for the better, one family at a time.
3. I want to make enough money for Jas, Cody, and me to live comfortably in San Diego.
   • Full time realtors who work hard, are honest and personable, and don’t give up when times are hard can make a GREAT living in a market where the average home price is around $600K+.  In the immortal words of Frito from “Idiocracy”: I like money.

So I have embarked on my real estate career!  Signed up for Keller Williams real estate pre-licensing courses in the beginning of October.  Finished the 3 classes and passed their final exams by mid-January.  Sent my application along with licensing fees to the California Bureau of Real Estate (Cal-BRE) and have approximately 5 weeks to wait until they process my application and open my testing window.  I then have… a year, maybe to pick a test date and pass.  Irregardlessly (eat it, grammar check.  I adverbed an imaginary word and there’s nothing you can do about it!), I’ll take the test as soon as I can.  In the meantime I’m doing a lot of studying and attending another Keller Williams training course called IGNITE which is AWESOME.  Learning a ton and excited to get started hopefully at the end of February or (more likely) beginning of March.

So there you have it!  I’m going to be a realtor in San Diego.  So, if you’re reading this and planning to list your home or buy a new one later this year definitely let me know!  If you’re happy where you are but know some friends or co-workers who are planning a move I’d love to talk to them as well (once I’m licensed!).  If they’re friends of yours we’ll try to find them a home near yours.  If you don’t really like them that much we’ll find them something far away. 🙂

Living the Dream,

Humble Dave