Late last summer I took over running the family property management business. My father had always kept it as a small business just big enough to provide the income he and my mom needed, plus savings, but I've taken it into high-growth mode as he starts to transition into semi-retirement.
A horrible seniority integration with Southwest pretty much decimated my career expectations in aviation, and I had no desire to start over at the bottom of another seniority list. I wasn't really thrilled with the idea of leaving flying and going into the real estate industry, but I've turned out to really enjoy the work so far.
Residential property management is our current focus, though we're starting to expand into sales again as the housing market starts to pick up in Atlanta. The business generates a great deal of free cash flow, and rather than taking that as wages or equity distributions for my own compensation, I use the cash flow to invest in equities. An idea I stole from Warren Buffett's use of massive free cash flow in the insurance business to fund investments in a diversified portfolio. I keep my compensation and my father's at the same flat rate as the company grows, and all of the excess money gets reinvested. As we grow, we'll be purchasing multi-family properties to increase cash flow even more.
Excellent! Since I started last summer, revenue has grown 113%. And while I had always thought that I didn't want the stress that would come with running my own business, it turns out that it's actually a lot less stress than working for someone else if you don't allow yourself to work to death. Just set a reasonable schedule (I work 10 hours a day, but you could do less), stick to it and don't let the business intrude on your personal time, and working for yourself is the best thing you'll ever do.
I still hold my seniority number for now, and I fly enough to stay current. I'm mostly bidding reserve, because reserves aren't flying much, but the downside to that is that you can get called out to fly at a pretty inconvenient time for the business. But thankfully my father is only semi-retired, so he keeps things running while I'm gone. I've also bid for a regular line and then dropped almost my entire schedule.
At some point, probably early next year, I'll be turning over my seniority number and leaving aviation. To be honest with you, as hesitant as I was to go this route at first, I'm now looking forward to it. It's been a great experience.
