Looking for mentors for small business/real estate buying/investment

cathrynwile·Dec 05, 2022

Hello all,

I am looking to move my career into learning how to become an investor/owner of small businesses and real estate (that's likely secondary to business investment). I have worked since I was 15 when I worked for a small business soap company through college. In my professional career I have worked in finance, marketing, and operations in Fortune 100s, early stage tech startups, social enterprises and government contracting. I have learned a plethora of skills, and it is time for me to move on from my current role where I have led the operations of a $300M line of businss for the past 2 years.

I have always known I am a generalist prone to wanting to learn new things vs. become a subject matter expert. I excel at operations, organization, developing systems and efficiency, but what I have learned about myself is that I am great at building and crerating efficient operations around simple industries. What I mean by that is that I currently work in healthcare and it's not my strength as I have no clinical background, regulations out the wahzoo etc. I am more skilled at executing on what I consider "simple" things - while complex, real estate is easier for me to understand. I have recently come across social media folks who own RV parks, laundromats, power washing businesses etc. These are the types of opportunities where I can add real value - help bring efficiencies to simple but necessary businesses, help grow someone's business who may be looking to retire and keep people employed.

Does anyone do this (or have contacts who do) that would be open for a chat? Or know of any resources?

Cheers!

Cat

Iynna·Dec 06, 2022

I wonder if @HannahBaldovino might have insight as she has been looking at a lot of RE!

jessicap·Dec 06, 2022

I can possibly point you to some folks that I am aware of on social media that have begun these ventures (self storage, comes to mind specifically).To be frank, you likely have WAY more experience in operating companies than the folks I am thinking of and you might be best off having a financial plan to buy (RE investment) a facility of your choosing and have a biz plan & financial runway to get yourself started... there are a lot of folks who generally are at retirement age and may or may not be passing down the family biz to their kids.Maybe just look to contact an owner of a local carwash or something and see if they're open to chat?We are our own barriers at times, thinking we need to know more than we do - while others with far less ability, skill, and experience just go and do (although something tells me these folks on social media have a cash flow / cash source that is generally within their families / partners or from an exit of another investment).I coach women on personal finance / wealth mindsets related to larger scale, longer term investments. So not like financial coaching of 1 less latte a week or negotiate your car insurance - helpful but a few extra G's a year isn't going to change your life, but more like - how can we get to a savings rate of 50% by increasing your income 1x or 0.5x over the next 2 years to give you some padding to do X.

jessicap·Dec 06, 2022

this woman owns a self storage facility in FL with her husband - she is a Food/Binge Eating wellness advocate; her husband I believe is a software engineer. https://www.instagram.com/jessijeannn/?hl=enshe's really kind and usually responsive.

cathrynwile·Dec 07, 2022

Thank you so much!!

Briana·Dec 14, 2022

Hi Cat, you may want to browse commercial real estate listings at places like Colliers: https://www.colliers.com/en/property-search#f:listingtype=[All%20Listings].