Finding the right career.  Well, this hasn’t always been my strong suit in the sense that I’m not that person who knew exactly what I wanted to do and stayed on the straight and narrow career path through and through.  But I will say, I always follow my intuition.  Has this led me to a long tenure in any which industry?  Certainly not.  However, it has given me experience in a lot of different areas, which I find to be incredibly valuable.

The evolution of the driver behind each career decision I made began with pure passion and excitement, when I graduated college and moved to NYC to pursue a career in acting (not my major).  NYC has always been like a second home to me.  After college, it was all consuming, I just HAD to live there!  I don’t regret it for a second.  I had experiences most people only dream of.  However, actually “making it” as an actor takes a lot of money (and talent, sometimes).  I definitely didn’t have the money, I worked constantly in restaurants and bars just to get by and enjoy the city.  Whether I had the talent is ever to be determined, as I only ever got as far as mostly being a “featured extra”  in popular tv shows and films.  To get an audition, you needed an agent or manager.  To get an agent or manager, you needed a reel.  How do you create a reel without having an agent or manager to get you actual roles to put on said reel?  At the very least, you’ll need headshots.  Take classes.  Come to find out, ALL of these things are quite expensive.  Long story short, it became more of a rat race than I was willing to continue after 5 years.

My driver went from passion and excitement to stability and money, and I wound up working in a Hedge Fund (also, not my major).

Hedge Fund + Money + Corporate life = Work hard, play hard, security and stability.  I could get used to this!  And I did.  From NYC Hedge Fund to Boston Liquid Alts Firm, I was motivated and made my way to Director of Marketing in an industry I originally knew nothing about (still questionable).  After almost 5 years, I realized this was all well and good, I’m making good money, learning a ton, but mentally and emotionally I was not happy or fulfilled.  It was time for another change.

This time, I needed to make sure it was something that I could see myself doing for the long haul, that I would not tire of easily, or get beaten down by.  I realized my happiness was more important than a pay check.  Of course, a paycheck is still quite important.  But, not at the actual expense of happiness.

Current driver = Happiness. What are my current passions?  What do I find interesting?  I love furniture, interior design and decor, thrifting, all home related things, I could spend an entire day searching apartments and houses online…

Real Estate.

My mother is a broker, my father is an architect, my uncles and cousins are mostly real estate attorneys and developers.  It felt so natural, and how did it take me THIS long to realize it?!  Not important… I realized it.  I believe timing is everything, and it all happened exactly when it was supposed to.

Now, I am happily part of a great team at Compass, The Caulfield Properties Team, as a Real Estate Agent, working with buyers and sellers, including developers.  I also handle marketing initiatives for the team (my actual major in college).  My role is dynamic, creative, I meet countless new people every day, I am learning an entirely new industry at an incredibly fast rate, and I am interested in the things I am learning!  I get to have a hand in things like staging multi-million dollar units and posting on our team social pages.  I get to help people find their dream home.  Fun!  Now I am on the right track, and it feels so good.

Why am I writing about this?  I know I am not the only one with this struggle in life.  Sometimes hearing someone else’s story can be an inspiration.  I know I have been inspired by plenty of bloggers, even if it’s just in a short instagram post, to either change my career, perspective on life, or make time for side passions.  Entering the real estate industry earlier this year has been all consuming, but in that time I did start a vintage furniture business with my Mom, which we plan to grow.  I missed blogging, so here I am, picking that back up.

If sharing my journey up to this point is motivating for even one person, then I’ll be happy.  I hope the take away is that things will work out as long as you keep moving forward, stay motivated, and don’t lose sight of what makes you happy and feel alive.  If you want something, make it happen for yourself.  It’s not easy, I’ve been stuck in more than one rut, I’m still a work in progress and know I always will be.  But knowing that, enjoying the journey, and learning along the way while making the right changes is key.

If you made it all the way to the end of this, thank you for reading 🙂  Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message with feedback!