What is the antidote to boredom, burnout, job insecurity, and other work problems? The answer is to diversify into real estate investing in your spare time, while maintaining your day job.
A new model
Author Marci Alboher, in her book One Person / Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work / Life Success, shows how multiple professions and multiple identities can converge into a unified and better life.
Since I am a real estate investor / author who also has a regular 8:00 to 5:00 job, I identified with the examples of people in slash careers that were more similar to mine. One such person described in the book was Robert Sundaley and a high school earth science teacher for over twenty years. During his summer vacation, he began investing in real estate. He was so successful that he now teaches other teachers how to do it and has published a book about his experiences.
When I started my second career in 2002, I was motivated to change because my day job didn’t give me the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment I wanted, and because I wanted an additional source of income. However, I wanted to stick with my regular job for the security it provided.
One race flows from another
My second career consisted of buying houses to fix and rent them. After doing it successfully for seven years, I felt like I was the master of my own mini-universe. I wrote an instruction book about my experiences (my third career) and I also do presentations (my fourth career).
However, reading One Person / Multiple Careers made me realize that I was not alone in the actions I took. Now I see that it is not uncommon for people to pursue a multi-track career as a way to balance their lives, as I did. Like when you buy a new car and suddenly you see a lot of cars like yours on the road, I suddenly discover a lot of people who have short races.
First develop an expertise in an area
As Alboher points out, writing, teaching, speaking and consulting are four pitfalls that accompany any other type of work. Once you develop expertise in one area, it is natural to deliver that knowledge to students, clients, and the public, and doing so may involve wearing different hats.
The unadorned truth is that a single identity can be a liability. It leaves you vulnerable to the sudden winds of economic change. To be successful and healthy, we must develop multiple identities, which we can trust when conditions change. Slash’s careers can also be an invaluable fortress against mental and physical illness.