People always ask me how I ended up in real estate considering my background.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Political Science and a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from New York City. So naturally people ask:
“Why real estate?”
“Why aren’t you using your degree?”
“Was this always the plan?”
And honestly, no.
Real estate actually started as my backup plan.
My first real career was in the corporate world. I worked as an Operations Manager for a Florida based company and stayed there for almost 10 years. I was one of the longest employees there.
At first, it was a solid job.
Good salary.
Benefits.
Company phone.
Travel points.
Flexibility.
I pretty much came and went as I wanted.
It honestly wasn’t bad.
But around year five or six, the company started struggling financially. Salaries weren’t always being paid on time, and things became unstable.
A lot of people would have left immediately, but I stayed. I was loyal to the company, and at the same time, I quietly started building something on the side.
That’s when I got my real estate license.
Not because I thought I was going to become some big time realtor, but because I wanted a backup plan.
At first, I barely made anything.
I think my first year in real estate I made around $6,000.
The second year maybe $7,000.
It definitely wasn’t glamorous.
Meanwhile, while still working full time in corporate America, I started learning everything I could about real estate. Not just selling homes, investing, renovations, rentals, negotiation, financing, all of it.
Then I bought my first condo at 26.
I renovated it, and shortly after another condo came on the market in my community. I ended up buying that one too as an investment. I moved into the second condo and rented out the first one.
That’s really when something clicked for me.
When I saw somebody else paying my mortgage every month and rent checks just showing up, I remember thinking:
“Okay… this is actually kind of cool.”
That changed how I viewed money completely.
Real estate stopped feeling like a side hustle and started feeling like freedom. Then COVID happened.
Our company went fully remote, and suddenly I had a lot more flexibility to focus on real estate. I started doing more deals, meeting more clients, and building momentum.
And eventually there came a point where I was making almost triple what I was making at my corporate job.
That’s when I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my career.
Because despite everything, leaving corporate wasn’t easy.
People love to act like entrepreneurship is some obvious decision, but walking away from stability is scary, especially when you have benefits, consistency, and a predictable paycheck.
But I also realized something:
I didn’t want to spend my life sitting in meetings anymore.
I didn’t want someone else controlling my income, my schedule, or my future. I wanted to build something for myself.
And that’s when real estate stopped being my backup plan and became my full time career.
Looking back now, I honestly think real estate combined everything I was naturally good at: – Negotiation
- Psychology
- Communication
- Marketing
- Operations
- Reading people
- Problem solving under pressure
And the interesting part is that my background probably prepared me for this career more than I realized at the time.
Sociology taught me how people think.
Political Science taught me strategy and communication.
Corporate America taught me systems, structure, and operations.
And real estate forced me to learn resilience.
Because there’s nothing glamorous about building a business from zero.
There are years where nobody sees what’s happening behind the scenes. The self doubt.
The stress.
The inconsistency.
The fear of leaving security.
The pressure of figuring things out as you go.
People usually only see the results later.
Now, after hundreds of transactions, investment properties, difficult negotiations, luxury listings, stressful closings, market shifts, and years in this business, I can honestly say I made the right decision.