As I have stated in previous articles, since leaving the oilfield I intended to move more into real estate. Part of working towards that goal is to become a real estate agent.
I began attending an online Louisiana Real Estate Salesperson course and successfully completed it over the course of a month while taking a week vacation during the same time period.
I have now completed the next step required to become an agent by passing the state and national portions of the exam.
I will begin onboarding next week with a local office of a national franchise.
That’s all for now. I just wanted to let everyone know about my progress.
The oil and gas industry is in turmoil and service companies, in particular, are reducing their footprint in an attempt to weather the double-pronged attack of oil price wars and pandemic lockdowns.
Until yesterday, I worked for one of those companies, as some of you long-time readers may know.
I received a phone call from my manager, and HR, telling me that due to the current environment, my position was being eliminated.
It is not a bad thing. I only took the position back in January because I was unsure of what I wanted to do when my regional position was eliminated. I figured that they went through a lot of effort to keep me in the company and I didn’t have an immediate alternative plan, so I worked the job in Houston.
Then the pandemic hit and everyone was on lockdown. Luckily, I was able to continue working, from home.
BUT, during this time, I realized that I did not want to go back to Houston for work. We decided that I would continue working, as long as I could do it from home, and as soon as I was told that I needed to show up in Houston, I would resign.
It seems things have worked out for the best, because instead of just resigning, I am leaving with an early retirement severance package!
Because of this, I am now free to explore other opportunities…One will be to continue to be involved in real estate, but to a larger degree. I will continue to invest, but now I am pursuing a realtor’s license.
I will also be available to consult on any innovation projects that might come my way. This will allow me to flex my mental muscle “coming up with cool shit” as a colleague is fond of saying.
I will also look for small businesses that the owners are preparing to retire with no one to take them over. I will only pursue them if they are profitable. It should be easy to make a good deal on something like that when the options are sell at a discount or shut it down.
