100th Newsletter: A Moment to Reflect

release edition [024]

read time [4 minutes]

Welcome to The Multifamily Download, a weekly newsletter where I provide institutional insights to help you build an exceptional Multifamily career.

Today at a Glance:

100 Newsletters: Reflection

100 Newsletters

This is my 100th consecutively published weekly newsletter since I began writing nearly two years ago.

To be honest, I didn't set out to write 100 consecutive newsletters, but I simply focused on writing the next one each week.

It's been fun to lean into the self-imposed urgency and commitment that it takes to write this newsletter on a consistent basis.

I'm not paid by sponsors to write this newsletter (though I am grateful for those of you that elected to purchase The CRE Research Vault and/or The Career Compass), so I don't "have" to publish The Multifamily Download each week.

I realize you may be asking yourself, "But wait, this is only newsletter number 24?"

Well, towards the end of 2024 and after publishing 76 editions, I decided to pivot from my original newsletter, The Builder's Blueprint (which focused on principled living and career advice) to The Multifamily Download, as I realized that writing about Multifamily in my newsletter would be more congruent long-term with both my career path and the content that I share publicly on LinkedIn.

So why do I continue to publish this newsletter?

1. To give back to the world

My now 10-year career has been defined by continuous learning, observing the world around me, filtering that information, and focusing on taking the best next action that I could at each step along the way.

I'm a firm believer that we all get what we're seeking, eventually, and my hope is that the first 100 editions of my weekly newsletter have enabled you to set out on a career path that you truly desire for yourself.

I feel very fortunate that I get to combine my unique passions, skills, and earning potential in my current career path, but it wasn't always this way.

For the entirety of my twenties, I was either learning or earning, but never both.

Either I was underpaid (relative to my skill or contribution) but learning a tremendous amount, or, I was earning decent money but lacked a clear path to fulfillment or continued growth. (I call the 'earning but not learning' path the 'Golden Handcuffs'. I advise everyone to avoid them at all costs).

Point being: My path has been unique, and my desire with this newsletter has been to share my unique path in an effort to provide inspiration and confidence that you can find your ideal career if you resolve to never stop pursuing it.

2. To keep me sharp

If you don't share information on the internet, I would encourage you to try.

The moment between completing the content and pressing publish is the ultimate gut check.

"Do I really believe what I'm about to publish?"

"Can I defend what I'm writing if someone calls me out?"

"Will I look back and regret having shared this?"

Questions like these fire across my brain as I'm about to publish online, and in this moment, I gain a deeper sense of conviction about what I believe to be true.

The upstream effect of these reflective questions is that I spend time diligently researching, gathering data, and forming my own thoughts before I publish.

This process inherently keeps me sharp because it requires me to focus on the objective nature of the content that I'm preparing to publish.

In life, and Real Estate, clarity of thought and objective observation are both critically important, in my opinion.

Writing this newsletter has required that I do the work necessary to formulate a firm opinion on the topics I publish.

If you're looking for ways to stay sharp then consider publishing online. It's the ultimate razor for developing conviction.

3. To build trust

Think about the people that you know, like, or trust today.

Aside from your long-term friends and family, who else would make the list?

If you're like me, anyone else on your list would probably be people that you've followed online for quite some time that have given you value (either information or entertainment) for a longer period of time.

While I'm not oblivious to the facts that (1) the internet is vast, and (2) trust is difficult to earn and maintain, I have also realized that, in the age of Social Media and direct-to-consumer distribution, it's better to attempt to build trust than not.

The age of AI is rapidly approaching, and while technological advancement should be net-positive for humans, I believe that direct connection and building bridges of trust with individuals and audiences will continue to grow in value because future demand for in-person connection will also continue to increase.

Said differently, as technology causes people to isolate, I see a future in which humans strongly desire the opposite.

My hope is to play a part in unifying a small corner of the internet in our common interests of Multifamily Real Estate and/or career advancement.

Aside from the three key reasons above, I've come to realize that life is meant to be lived in a permissionless manner.

Pursue things that fulfill you. Go after your audacious dreams and goals. Build what you want to build.

Life is both long and short; it's short enough that we don't have enough time to do everything we want, but it's long enough that we can do anything we want.

Find your thing, and then make the decision to go after it with all you've got.