A Year in Review 2024
Failed but learned
Failing sucks. There's no doubt about it. However, when we fail, we learn the most. In 2024, I failed. A lot. It felt like a year-long batting slump.
I went into 2024 with two main goals:
Grow my real estate portfolio
Grow my real estate SaaS app
In reality:
I added a dozen units to my real estate portfolio but did not earn any more cash flow than before due to vacancies.
I failed to break 100 users with the SaaS.
I got punched in the mouth. But it wasn't all bad news. I was able to enroll in law school at the University of Miami and have enjoyed it thus far. Along with that comes a lot of new knowledge and connections that I'll be able to use moving forward.
Also, I went on a summer vacation to Lake Como, where my fiancee and I were engaged. It was one of the best moments of my life.
Like I said earlier, when we fail, we learn, and learn I did. As a collective, our construction company built over 100 homes in one year again, and we began to offer new services such as roofing, land clearing, and tree removal. It was what kept us alive during this down year. We also continued to optimize our systems, building fully custom internal software where we can manage our whole company and take on projects more efficiently than before. Also, on the tech side, the team created a nifty tool that gathers an insane amount of property data in thirty seconds. A few of the skills and knowledge I picked up along the way were:
Managing >50 people at once in various departments
Creating and implementing project management software
Creating Proptech software
Implementing artificial intelligence into software projects
SEO Implementation
How to sell better
I even picked up some dog-training skills from this guy (seriously, he's the best.)
This year, I am pivoting to focus on school and software development. To do this, I am taking on clients in the real estate and construction industry and helping them build solutions to improve their internal processes. Among these are:
Project Management systems
Accounting Systems
Sales/Marketing Systems
I want to get my hands dirty with more problems before jumping back into SaaS. Building our software was fun, but we couldn't find product market fit. With this approach, the issues come to us; all we have to do is solve them.
As for real estate development, I will continue to help out my family's company as we build more homes, a process that is systematized. However, this year's primary focus will be to scale our services, which I mentioned earlier.
So, while this year was tough, there is a lot to look forward to.
The End.