"Big Law paid well, and it solved the cocktail-party question, but I always felt something was missing. The hours were brutal. I was always on, 24/7. I couldn't touch, feel, or smell the product of my work. I struggled with the politics and zero-sum outcomes. In 1999, three years out of law school, my wife and I bought a two-family house in Brooklyn. It was a few subway stops from my office but felt like it was a world away."
"We lived downstairs and rented out the upstairs apartment. I found dealing with tenants and doing simple repairs rewarding. When I painted a wall or fixed a pipe, I could immediately see the product of my work. And I didn't have to send memos into the void or polish any apples to collect the rent checks. Real estate, I thought, might be my ticket out. In 2013, I purchased a mobile-home park in central New York and began running it as a side hustle."
A career in tax law at Big Law, Big Four firms, and banks delivered high pay, status, and perks but produced persistent dissatisfaction due to brutal hours, constant availability, office politics, and lack of tangible results. A two-family house purchased in 1999 provided hands-on satisfaction from repairs and tenant relationships, revealing a preference for visible, practical work. Real-estate investing began with a 2013 mobile-home park purchase as a side hustle and expanded with another acquisition in 2018. The legal career ended and full-time management of mobile-home parks followed, bringing new responsibilities and greater personal fulfillment.
Read at Business Insider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]