I’m Out Of The Career Closet!
As we are rounding out February 2024, March brings me a very special anniversary. March 3rd, 2021 is the day I dipped my toes into a possible new career choice. This decision has lead to so many exciting changing in my life. Lots of ups and downs. Looking back, it all happened so fast and that it made my head spin. I tried to make a calculated decision, of course to the best of my ability. Consensus after three years…. I made the right choice.
Up until that day, three years ago, I truly believed that I was lifelong career bartender. I was a union mixologist at one of the top luxury hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. I loved my job as a bartender, having had worked at several other properties and local bars. I loved it so much, I almost always had two bartending jobs at a time. It was physically demanding but tons of fun. I have been in the food service industry my whole life, so bartending was second nature to me. Don’t get me wrong. Every job has it challenges and bartending in a high demand, fast pace environment was no different. Work was easy and I had fun doing it. I was with my company long enough to have my seniority. Income fluctuated, because it was mostly tip based. But I’m very good at saving for the months where work slowed down. Even in Las Vegas, there are peak and slow seasons.
So what changed? For those who truly know me, this probably looked like a mid-life crisis in reverse. Why make such a drastic a career change? Well, simply put. The pandemic. This wasn’t with just me. The whole world shifted. Most people perspectives of life changed. We all came out of lockdown and isolation….different. At the time, I didn’t know it impacted me in this way. I volunteered to be one of the first ones to come back to work after everything re-opened. I honestly never was the kind of person that felt like I needed to be challenged. I like easy, like most people do. I don’t mind being uncomfortable and working hard towards a goal. I just never felt like in my line of work, I needed to. BUT YOU DON’T KNOW, WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW.
Why, after three years, am I just now making the big announcement that I made the career switch? The honest truth is that I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it as a loan officer. There is a high fail rate for loan officers in the first two years. I gave myself two years to decide if I was going to stick with it. No other jobs. 110% full commitment. I made it through my first two years. And that was so incredibly difficult. Both in the how the housing market is was going and also in learning how to do my job. Last year, 2023, was when I really started to hit my stride. Again, the housing market was and is tougher than the years prior.
My journey to getting here is important to who I am now and why I am driven to do this job. My past experiences on a personal and professional level, makes me the perfect loan officer. By tell my story, I want to inspire others to take the chance, in whatever you’ve been afraid of. Buy that home, take that job, date that person, make that change, go back to school to learn a new skill. I want to help people realize their dreams of owning a home. To build that wealth. To take that calculated risk to better your life. But not in the short term. We’ve have to look at the choice we make today and how it impacts our lives 2, 3, 5 or 10 years from now.
