TexasFlyer
Living the Dream (well at least trying to)
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND LEADING ME TO FALCON AVIATION:
My dream has always been to be a pilot. It's not been easy. I'm 35 now, but finally pursuing the dream... Here is the brief background on how I got to this point after all these years.
After graduating high school in 1991, it was clear flying was out at that time. I had walls full of posters and shelves full of model aircraft. But that's as close to the dream I would get for awhile. There was just no way for me to pursue the flying dream with my options back then. But the dream never left me...
I completed college by 1996 with a Business Degree. Then went to work at a CPA firm. Not exactly flying, or something I enjoyed. But it was a start since I knew a degree was important to get things rolling in my life. Oh, I did however, manage to get my Private Pilot at a local FBO by saving a little money and a little help from my grandfather. Unfortunately, I had no money to pursue further ratings. So after about 45 total hours I had to let the flying fall to the waste side. I didn't fly again until 2007!
I went on with my professional career. My goal was to pay off my college loan, pay off the car, and save enough money to be in a position where I knew flight school would be a reality. Back at this time, I was looking at Comair Aviation Academy (DCA now), Mesa, and Westwind. Yeah, how things change! Thank you Jet Careers! Anyway, this goal was my sole motivation that would drive me for the next 10+ years! It's been my sole motivating factor for success.
I left accounting in 1998 after my second year out of college. Why? It was clear to me that the pay was not going to be enough for me to be debt free and accomplish my flying goals anytime soon. Oh, and working those 50+ hour weeks in the CPA firm really left no time or desire to focus on flying. So, a career change was needed if I was to get the money I required to accomplish my flying dream. And I knew one thing. In sales people make big bucks! So I went on a job search focusing on big money positions in sales.
Jackpot! In 1998 I went into the Executive Recruiting industry. And I was right. There is a lot of money in sales! By the end of the year 2000, I was still a young 27 years old, not to mention about ready to clear my first $100k year in income. Things were coming together nicely and my sights were on my flight training goal.
On a side note: Want to save money for flight school and be debt free? Or just be rich? Get into the Executive Recruiting business and work hard at it. It's a 60 plus hour a week job to do it right and do it well. But it's also a $150k to $200k a year job for the highly motivated (and if you stay it in for 10+ years and don't get burned out or lose our mind working 60+ hours a week, it's easily a $300k+ job per year long term).
Anyway, in order to advance my recruiting career and accelerate my income and flying goals, I moved from Ohio to Boston, MA. It was clear that in Ohio my income would top out in a small office at around $120k. But in Boston, it was clear I would be able to make over $200k within a year or so after getting there. Well, that never happened... Life's funny like that sometimes!
I moved there in April 2001 and was off to a great start. By August of 2001 I was well over $100k in income and would come close to my $200k goal in my first year there. Well, then 9-11 happened. It wiped out my industry since I supported the banking and financial industry in New England (mostly NYC and Boston). My income stopped, immediately!
At this point, my cars and my motorcycles were paid for. Okay, I admit, I did have a few too many toys. But it's hard to not spend when you make a lot and work alot. The toys make you feel good for awhile and give you some sense of accomplishment and sanity when working 12 hour days. Kind of was my short term reward for doing well, but I was still on track to make my flight school goals. After all, I only had about $10k of student loans left which I'd have knocked out in about 3 more months. Then I'd save the cash needed to retire from my exec recruiting industry insanity and pursue my flying dream.
Well, in 2002 due to 9-11, I did not even make enough money to pay for my rent in Boston. My rent was $2,525 a month in the city! Add basic utilities and parking fees and you are well over $3,000 a month just for rent in a 850 square foot apartment. Suddenly when your income stops, that amount becomes a large sum of money! So I had to live on credit and take out large cash advances on credit cards. I also sold everything I owned to get the cash back out of it. I now lived day to day and my dreams seemed to be crushed.
Life was not good anymore!
Anyway, by mid 2003, not much recovered in my recruiting niche in the Boston and NYC area. I was very pretty depressed. I now had a roommate so rent was a little less, but it was crowded in that little apartment. I only owned a bed and a computer since I had to sell everything else. And I was approaching $80k of credit card debt very quickly. I seen the end of the road in front of me. So I had to make a drastic move.
Being very creative, and usually pretty smart, I put together a plan. So I moved to Texas. Why? After a little research, it was clear to me San Antonio Texas needed a person like me. The law of balance was in effect. New England was in a crunch, but Texas and the Southwest was doing very well. It always seems, if one area is doing bad, there is always another area doing well. So remaining on your toes and flexible is important.
I needed a plan. The plan was to bring my business to the Texans. Plus it was dirt cheap to live there compared to Boston. So that too would help my negative cash flow issues. I put my computer in an old car I bought that barely ran and drove to San Antonio, TX. A fresh start!
Wow, how things came together. I got to Texas in August 2003 and by mid-2005 I was making over $100k again. Plus I grew my business from the local Texas market to a national market. And since I was burned out and stressed out after the whole Boston episode, I started a new niche in the industry. I focused on executive recruiting within business aviation and only working as a specialist on select positions within that niche. A niche that treated me very well.
So even though I never did like the recruiting industry (remember, I only did this for the money to pay for flying eventually), I did at least enjoy the fact that now I spoke to aviation professionals throughout the country all day long.
By early 2007 I was debt free. Goal one accomplished, finally! Ten years of hard work and interesting times, and I was finally debt free. Oh, and I learned to live more modestly. Lets say I was quite humbled by my experience in Boston. I did get my Harley back as I paid cash for it. That was my reward, my one and only reward for doing well. And while I wanted a big bike, I settled for a little Sporster. A much more modest reward that cost half of what the big bike I really wanted did, but flying was the mission. This bike is a cheap hobby that's paid for when I am a broke pilot. So it works out well. And the bike has to last me 10 years!
So step two. I bought my new truck for cash. I needed to buy something new that wold last 10 years and was versatile enough as my life changed. After all, as a pilot starting out I'd not be able to afford much of a car for the first 10 years and I need something reliable to keep maintenance costs to a minimum. So this works out well.
I was living quite well in San Antonio with a great group of friends I met and a cool girlfriend. And I was able to pay my debt down at a rate of $6k to $8k a month. Which meant, once the debt was gone, as now it was, I was able to save that much each month in cash. And that's where I was now.
So step three. In May 2007 I toured several flight schools around the country as I horded my money away. Skymates. White Air. Falcon Aviation Academy. Air-Ben Aviator. Wright Flyers. A few others. I decided that Falcon Aviation Academy in Georgia best met my personal goals from what I seen during my visits (I stayed 2 full days at each place lurking in the background and talking with everyone).
And my forth of five steps at this point was the toughest. The money decision. How much really is enough? Well, knowing what happened to me after the Boston move, I did not want to get greedy and risk anything going wrong. I could have saved money very quickly to stash away enough to pay for me to live 2 years and all of flight school without worries. But I did not want to delay since in June of 2007 I was in a position to take out a loan for $30k (reasonable in my opinion since I actually had more than that saved up in cash anyway at that point already). I had enough money stashed away to live on for almost two years plus pay for about another $15k of training on top of the $30k (I planned on $38k to complete their program though CFI, CFII, MEI... so overestimating a bit $45k sounded reasonable). I did not want to work another 10-12 months at 60 hours a week to also be able to pay for training in full. From past experience, who knows what could happen if you wait. And I was very burned out after my life adventures and all this hard work. So I took action as I decided, I did have enough to be comfortable and was in a good position now to make my transition.
Side note: Through all this experience, I learned that debt is bad. Debt means you are owned by someone else. And being owned by someone else limits your options. And when your options are limited, you can not make the best choice.
Side note to the side note: I also learned though, you can leverage debt to advance your life. Some debt is not bad since if you still have a lot of equity (fairly liquid cash), you are still not owned by anyone. There is a point where debt can make you money by improving cash flow that you can re-invest in yourself and/or business. But it's a careful calculation, since again, too much debt or a down turn of events can have you owned by someone else real quick. So unless you are very business savvy and have a true understanding of economics, stay out of all debt. Own your life. Don't be owned!
Now, on with step five. The last step. The first week of July 2007, at 34 years old, I left my old life behind to start a new one. I first left my girlfriend since she could not come with me (she knew for quite some time I was talking about this, but of course no one ever believed I'd actually do it!). I also left my friends behind (man I miss them). And I closed the doors on my aviation recruiting business (to this day, many people are shocked I left a business where at 50 years old I could have retired and never worked again... of course these people are not addicted to the flying drug like many of us are). All of step five was in July 2007.
The final move. The last week of July 2007, I relocated to Atlanta Georgia to pursue flight training at the school I decided had the best program to match my goals professionally. Falcon Aviation Academy.
There is so much more than what is above. But it gives you an idea of what I been through to get started as a career pilot. It's not easy. But with perseverance and focus, you can do it! Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can.
And so it begins... (sorry Josh, I had to use your tag line!).... my flight training journey at Falcon Aviation Academy.
My dream has always been to be a pilot. It's not been easy. I'm 35 now, but finally pursuing the dream... Here is the brief background on how I got to this point after all these years.
After graduating high school in 1991, it was clear flying was out at that time. I had walls full of posters and shelves full of model aircraft. But that's as close to the dream I would get for awhile. There was just no way for me to pursue the flying dream with my options back then. But the dream never left me...
I completed college by 1996 with a Business Degree. Then went to work at a CPA firm. Not exactly flying, or something I enjoyed. But it was a start since I knew a degree was important to get things rolling in my life. Oh, I did however, manage to get my Private Pilot at a local FBO by saving a little money and a little help from my grandfather. Unfortunately, I had no money to pursue further ratings. So after about 45 total hours I had to let the flying fall to the waste side. I didn't fly again until 2007!
I went on with my professional career. My goal was to pay off my college loan, pay off the car, and save enough money to be in a position where I knew flight school would be a reality. Back at this time, I was looking at Comair Aviation Academy (DCA now), Mesa, and Westwind. Yeah, how things change! Thank you Jet Careers! Anyway, this goal was my sole motivation that would drive me for the next 10+ years! It's been my sole motivating factor for success.
I left accounting in 1998 after my second year out of college. Why? It was clear to me that the pay was not going to be enough for me to be debt free and accomplish my flying goals anytime soon. Oh, and working those 50+ hour weeks in the CPA firm really left no time or desire to focus on flying. So, a career change was needed if I was to get the money I required to accomplish my flying dream. And I knew one thing. In sales people make big bucks! So I went on a job search focusing on big money positions in sales.
Jackpot! In 1998 I went into the Executive Recruiting industry. And I was right. There is a lot of money in sales! By the end of the year 2000, I was still a young 27 years old, not to mention about ready to clear my first $100k year in income. Things were coming together nicely and my sights were on my flight training goal.
On a side note: Want to save money for flight school and be debt free? Or just be rich? Get into the Executive Recruiting business and work hard at it. It's a 60 plus hour a week job to do it right and do it well. But it's also a $150k to $200k a year job for the highly motivated (and if you stay it in for 10+ years and don't get burned out or lose our mind working 60+ hours a week, it's easily a $300k+ job per year long term).
Anyway, in order to advance my recruiting career and accelerate my income and flying goals, I moved from Ohio to Boston, MA. It was clear that in Ohio my income would top out in a small office at around $120k. But in Boston, it was clear I would be able to make over $200k within a year or so after getting there. Well, that never happened... Life's funny like that sometimes!
I moved there in April 2001 and was off to a great start. By August of 2001 I was well over $100k in income and would come close to my $200k goal in my first year there. Well, then 9-11 happened. It wiped out my industry since I supported the banking and financial industry in New England (mostly NYC and Boston). My income stopped, immediately!
At this point, my cars and my motorcycles were paid for. Okay, I admit, I did have a few too many toys. But it's hard to not spend when you make a lot and work alot. The toys make you feel good for awhile and give you some sense of accomplishment and sanity when working 12 hour days. Kind of was my short term reward for doing well, but I was still on track to make my flight school goals. After all, I only had about $10k of student loans left which I'd have knocked out in about 3 more months. Then I'd save the cash needed to retire from my exec recruiting industry insanity and pursue my flying dream.
Well, in 2002 due to 9-11, I did not even make enough money to pay for my rent in Boston. My rent was $2,525 a month in the city! Add basic utilities and parking fees and you are well over $3,000 a month just for rent in a 850 square foot apartment. Suddenly when your income stops, that amount becomes a large sum of money! So I had to live on credit and take out large cash advances on credit cards. I also sold everything I owned to get the cash back out of it. I now lived day to day and my dreams seemed to be crushed.
Life was not good anymore!
Anyway, by mid 2003, not much recovered in my recruiting niche in the Boston and NYC area. I was very pretty depressed. I now had a roommate so rent was a little less, but it was crowded in that little apartment. I only owned a bed and a computer since I had to sell everything else. And I was approaching $80k of credit card debt very quickly. I seen the end of the road in front of me. So I had to make a drastic move.
Being very creative, and usually pretty smart, I put together a plan. So I moved to Texas. Why? After a little research, it was clear to me San Antonio Texas needed a person like me. The law of balance was in effect. New England was in a crunch, but Texas and the Southwest was doing very well. It always seems, if one area is doing bad, there is always another area doing well. So remaining on your toes and flexible is important.
I needed a plan. The plan was to bring my business to the Texans. Plus it was dirt cheap to live there compared to Boston. So that too would help my negative cash flow issues. I put my computer in an old car I bought that barely ran and drove to San Antonio, TX. A fresh start!
Wow, how things came together. I got to Texas in August 2003 and by mid-2005 I was making over $100k again. Plus I grew my business from the local Texas market to a national market. And since I was burned out and stressed out after the whole Boston episode, I started a new niche in the industry. I focused on executive recruiting within business aviation and only working as a specialist on select positions within that niche. A niche that treated me very well.
So even though I never did like the recruiting industry (remember, I only did this for the money to pay for flying eventually), I did at least enjoy the fact that now I spoke to aviation professionals throughout the country all day long.
By early 2007 I was debt free. Goal one accomplished, finally! Ten years of hard work and interesting times, and I was finally debt free. Oh, and I learned to live more modestly. Lets say I was quite humbled by my experience in Boston. I did get my Harley back as I paid cash for it. That was my reward, my one and only reward for doing well. And while I wanted a big bike, I settled for a little Sporster. A much more modest reward that cost half of what the big bike I really wanted did, but flying was the mission. This bike is a cheap hobby that's paid for when I am a broke pilot. So it works out well. And the bike has to last me 10 years!
So step two. I bought my new truck for cash. I needed to buy something new that wold last 10 years and was versatile enough as my life changed. After all, as a pilot starting out I'd not be able to afford much of a car for the first 10 years and I need something reliable to keep maintenance costs to a minimum. So this works out well.
I was living quite well in San Antonio with a great group of friends I met and a cool girlfriend. And I was able to pay my debt down at a rate of $6k to $8k a month. Which meant, once the debt was gone, as now it was, I was able to save that much each month in cash. And that's where I was now.
So step three. In May 2007 I toured several flight schools around the country as I horded my money away. Skymates. White Air. Falcon Aviation Academy. Air-Ben Aviator. Wright Flyers. A few others. I decided that Falcon Aviation Academy in Georgia best met my personal goals from what I seen during my visits (I stayed 2 full days at each place lurking in the background and talking with everyone).
And my forth of five steps at this point was the toughest. The money decision. How much really is enough? Well, knowing what happened to me after the Boston move, I did not want to get greedy and risk anything going wrong. I could have saved money very quickly to stash away enough to pay for me to live 2 years and all of flight school without worries. But I did not want to delay since in June of 2007 I was in a position to take out a loan for $30k (reasonable in my opinion since I actually had more than that saved up in cash anyway at that point already). I had enough money stashed away to live on for almost two years plus pay for about another $15k of training on top of the $30k (I planned on $38k to complete their program though CFI, CFII, MEI... so overestimating a bit $45k sounded reasonable). I did not want to work another 10-12 months at 60 hours a week to also be able to pay for training in full. From past experience, who knows what could happen if you wait. And I was very burned out after my life adventures and all this hard work. So I took action as I decided, I did have enough to be comfortable and was in a good position now to make my transition.
Side note: Through all this experience, I learned that debt is bad. Debt means you are owned by someone else. And being owned by someone else limits your options. And when your options are limited, you can not make the best choice.
Side note to the side note: I also learned though, you can leverage debt to advance your life. Some debt is not bad since if you still have a lot of equity (fairly liquid cash), you are still not owned by anyone. There is a point where debt can make you money by improving cash flow that you can re-invest in yourself and/or business. But it's a careful calculation, since again, too much debt or a down turn of events can have you owned by someone else real quick. So unless you are very business savvy and have a true understanding of economics, stay out of all debt. Own your life. Don't be owned!
Now, on with step five. The last step. The first week of July 2007, at 34 years old, I left my old life behind to start a new one. I first left my girlfriend since she could not come with me (she knew for quite some time I was talking about this, but of course no one ever believed I'd actually do it!). I also left my friends behind (man I miss them). And I closed the doors on my aviation recruiting business (to this day, many people are shocked I left a business where at 50 years old I could have retired and never worked again... of course these people are not addicted to the flying drug like many of us are). All of step five was in July 2007.
The final move. The last week of July 2007, I relocated to Atlanta Georgia to pursue flight training at the school I decided had the best program to match my goals professionally. Falcon Aviation Academy.
There is so much more than what is above. But it gives you an idea of what I been through to get started as a career pilot. It's not easy. But with perseverance and focus, you can do it! Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can.
And so it begins... (sorry Josh, I had to use your tag line!).... my flight training journey at Falcon Aviation Academy.
