The Big Why is not necessarily as easy to identify as one would think. It took me years to realize that my real passion is real estate. I toyed with the idea when I was 17, and promptly set it aside in favor of post-high school travel and adventure, then full tilt into Corporate America. My Big Why at the time was to make enough money so that I could do whatever I wanted to, whenever I wanted to, and be in the position to ensure those important to me could be helped by me if need be - of course with $$.
Almost 30 years later I had accomplished much of the above, and had known for quite a while that I had an intense dislike for what my JOB required of my time. 2 or 3 roundtrips EVERY WEEK out of Phoenix for 7 years really killed my desire to get on an airplane for anything other than personal "fun" travel, and the car service, hotel, meeting, entertaining routine was very "old". Where is your office? Seat 1D. Literally. If not there - then you can find me in the America West Club.
Then I finally woke up to the fact that I did have a choice - and made it. It seemed that the only thing that didn't require getting on airplanes was real estate! I exited corporate life after getting my real estate license and never looked back - except of course to help my sphere from corporate with their real estate needs!
My focus these days is on helping people. Helping them identify and clarify what their real estate NEEDS are, and then helping them achieve their objectives while keeping their best interests at the forefront at all times.
I was fortunate enough to form a friendship with someone who I consider a mentor. We had attended the same investment seminar and learned that we both lived in the same community. He invited me to be one of the founding members of the Rotary Club there, and even though I have moved and am now with a different Rotary Club - the only one that is Internet based! - we are still in close contact.
I didn't know until several months after we formed a great friendship that he is a Venture Cap guy with a significant net worth. He and his wife have a nice house and nice cars, but I wouldn't have known by their lifestyle how wealthy they really are. They are primarily philanthropists helping the community. For his birthday present to himself he paid for a pool to be built for one of the servers at the Country Club who had 3 disabled children who could only get exercise in a swimming pool. To learn that information I had to almost arm wrestle him out of it at one of our "mentoring dinners" when he let slip his birthday had been the previous weekend. I of course wanted to know why he hadn't let me know in advance - and the bottom line was that he doesn't want people to make a fuss about him - he prefers to be in the background and step in and help where he sees the need.
I did some research one day and found an article published in the mid 90's about him in one of the major business publications alongside a similar article about Michael Dell. At that time his net worth was over 2 Billion! Needless to say - I respect his desire for a low profile, and look to him for guidance as well as help support fundraisers for causes he identifies.
My Big Why has gone from making money with no clear purpose, to helping people with a clarity of purpose. Not only does that make money, but it is also spiritually rewarding.
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