Could what drives people to be real estate investors also drive them to be bloggers?
At age 30, I had a plan to own 10 rental properties by age 40. Sometimes life gets in the way. I'm a bit past that end date and I own three. But it's still the plan. Maybe the end date is a little farther in the future. In the meantime, I've taken up a side project that is quickly taking up more and more of my time.
I'd like to outline below how I think real estate investments and blogging are similar (which is why I probably have gravitated to both).
Passive Income
The reason I wanted the rental properties was of course for passive income. My dad had those Carleton Sheets DVDs and I watched them intently. I remember the scene in one of the DVDs where the couple was walking down the street pointing at all the houses they owned. I wanted that to be me.
What I soon learned after buying my first three properties is that if you don't have a property manager, real estate investing is not really a passive activity. Soon I got a property manager on board. Things got much better after that!
Blogging is also all about passive income to me. My hope is that by pouring my energy into creating my mental health blog about social anxiety, that it will one day outpace the income I earn from my freelance work. I also like to think that it will help many people in the process. Which is also kind of how I always viewed real estate: I'm filling a need by providing housing to people who need it.
Teaching Myself
Nobody taught me how to be a real estate investor. Yes, I watched the Carleton Sheets DVDs, but I certainly never took anything in school about how to buy and rent out houses. It's really all a learn as you go process, which means that it really is anyone's game to figure out.
I feel much the same way about starting a blog. There is a ton to learn but it's not something you will ever receive a formal education in. It's mostly about teaching yourself and knowing where to invest your time and money to learn.
Building a Strong Foundation
Real estate investing and blogging both depend on building a strong foundation. In the case of buying and renting out real estate, it involves choosing the right properties in the right locations, finding the right tenants, choosing the right property manager, etc.
In the case of blogging, it involves choosing a niche topic, finding your readers, and eventually hiring a team if you grow enough. While I believe analysis paralysis is a real problem, and it's often better to get started imperfectly rather than to never start—it's also best to learn from those who have gone before you. How did they build a strong foundation? See what they did and replicate it.
What does all this mean? At the heart of it, real estate investors and bloggers have a similar mindset—that of an entrepreneur. So it's just natural that I would gravitate to both. I'm hopeful that in the next five years I'll round out to those ten properties, and also have a blog earning passive income that I can rely on each month.
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