If you’re anything like me, the idea of working long hours at the same desk for someone else’s company until you can, hopefully, retire and do the things you really want to do just doesn’t sit well. But quitting your corporate job to build a business from the ground up gives you pause. I felt this way so much, in fact, that I almost stuck it out and stayed in a field I clearly didn’t belong.

Considering my options, I knew that going back to school at my age wouldn’t work because I had a family to feed. Yet, careers that don’t require a degree or years of experience to get into are few and far between. Then one night while discussing these concerns with my wife, she asked whether I had considered a career in real estate investing. In her opinion, it was right up my alley. I decided to find out for sure.

The Benefits of Choosing a Career in Real Estate Investing

It didn’t take long for me to identify the reasons why career suits like me choose real estate investing as their corporate escape hatch. Sure, you’ve got to have a tolerance for risk. But these days, nothing is guaranteed—not even your position as a cog in the corporate wheel. Assuming you’re reading this because you are indeed like me, let’s take a look at why jumping the corporate ship to start a career in real estate investing might be the way to go.

You are your own boss.

As a real estate investor, you truly are your own boss. You choose the projects you want to work on and the professionals you want to work with. You set your own schedule, from the amount of hours you work in a day to the number of days you work in a week and how many months you work each year. You decide how you do business and where, including whether you prefer a brick-and-mortar office with employees or a home office near the neighborhoods you invest in. In a nutshell, you have more autonomy—and earning potential—than working for someone else will ever afford.

You can work full-time or part-time. How quickly you grow your real estate investing business is up to you. You can dip your toe in the water by buying, renovating, and selling houses a few times before leaving the corporate grind behind, or hang on to your day job indefinitely while investing occasionally on the side. Or, perhaps you want to dive right in and start building your property portfolio on a full-time basis. How far you go, and how fast you get there, are byproducts of your professional goals, not someone else’s.

You won’t be bored.

Real estate investors are rarely, if ever, bored. There are many hats you’ll have to wear and a lot of chances to do more. Of course, you’ll leverage the strengths you already have—whether that’s in accounting, marketing, hiring, or negotiating—but you’ll also get to improve areas of weakness and learn new skills. In addition, the challenges that sometimes arise when buying and renovating a property can serve as opportunities to adjust your strategies and reevaluate your trajectory in real-time. Additionally, as the boss, you can delegate the mundane tasks you might have been responsible for in the past and focus on the work that inspires you.

You will have a positive impact on your community.

When you start flipping houses, you soon find that it’s about much more than turning a profit. It’s about changing people’s lives and communities. Rehabbing a house provides jobs, restores property values, and frequently rescues homeowners in distress. The effect your efforts have on those around you can be palpable. But what might surprise you is how the work changes you too. When you spend your days passionately engaged in giving back, the rewards keep coming.

You don’t need a degree or previous experience.

Real estate investor training programs for beginners abound. A good one will get you out of class and on the road to realizing potential profits in no time. You don’t need a degree or a certificate either. All you need is comprehensive training from a reputable source, an entrepreneurial spirit, and the kind of work ethic few corporations appreciate—or pay for.

All-in-all, becoming a real estate investor looked like it would suit me just fine. So I started to think, “Why not give it a try?” I couldn’t think of any reason not to.

A Real Estate Investing Franchise Could Jump Start Your New Career

Of course, shortly after going over the benefits of becoming a real estate investor with my wife, she had another great idea: why not become an independently owned and operated HomeVestors® franchisee. Having done a little digging of her own, she discovered that HomeVestors® franchisees come from all walks of life, often with no real estate investing experience like me. But because HomeVestors® provides training, continuing one-on-one mentorship, and access to other HomeVestors® franchisees for support, franchisees get a head start on their new career from the moment they sign on. And with the nationally-known “We Buy Ugly Houses®” brand to back them up, finding motivated sellers to build a strong portfolio and a solid business is almost as easy as giving two weeks’ notice—which is exactly what I did.

Ready to join me and your fellow corporate refugees? Then contact HomeVestors® and jumpstart your career in real estate investing today!

Each franchise office is independently owned and operated.