Choosing a career that you love and will allow you to flex your skills takes time.
But with so much information out there and people openly sharing their lives online, you can explore a career with the click of a button.
So whether you’re a young adult fresh out of high school or a not-so-young adult trying to figure things out, you're in good hands.
We covered some careers to pursue if you’re the creative type; now, let’s dive into ways to build a career if you have an eye for design and a head for sales.
Remember, these careers are college free but have the potential to be very lucrative with a little education and hard work.
Also, the upstart cost is very minimum.
Become a Realtor
You can become a Realtor in 7 simple steps.
Now keep in mind every state has different requirements, but the cost to become a realtor in most states is less than $1500.
That’s not a bad start-up cost when you can make thousands of dollars with no college degree.
I also like that in this profession, you have the freedom to choose your salary and schedule.
So here’s what you need to do:
Step 1: Learn your state’s requirements
Each state has a different requirement for becoming a Realtor. You find the requirement of each state by visiting the realtor regulation website to find your state’s regulations.
Step 2: Take Prelicensing Courses
You'll have to get educated in this field by taking prelicensing courses. These courses in most states will cost about $350-$600.
You can take these courses online, in person at a real estate school, or at your local community college.
Be sure to do your research to find the type of testing that best fits your learning needs.
Step 3: Take the licensing exam
This exam will cost you about $200-$400, depending on your state, and it consists of two parts:
the national portion about general real estate practices and principles, and
a state-specific portion on the rules of real estate in your state.
The exam is computerized and contains about 60 to 100 questions.
Yes, there’s some math, but only pertaining to real estate, and you can use a calculator.
Step 4: Activate your License
Once you pass the exam, you must register your name with your state's real estate regulatory organization.
Depending on where you live, this will cost about $200 to 400.
Step 5: Join the National Association of Realtors
Once you've completed the steps above, you are considered a real estate agent.
Real estate agents and Realtors are a bit different. One major difference in these professions is your membership with the National Association of Realtors.
This membership allows you access to many resources beneficial to helping you reach your full potential. It's optional but highly recommended.
The cost is $800 a year or about $70 a month. You can definitely work towards purchasing this as you start to sell homes.
Step 6: Join a Real Estate Brokerage
To become a realtor, you'll have to find a real estate broker to oversee all real estate deals. This is a requirement in every state.
There're costs to working with a broker, some are one-time costs, and some are ongoing.
Do your research to find which real estate brokerage works for you because the monthly cost will depend on your agreement.
Step 7: Continue education and Learn the market
Although this career does not require a college degree, you must continue to educate yourself because laws and regulations change.
Hard work is involved as well because you will need to do research to learn your market.
This will enable you to be successful and better serve your clients as you work toward getting them into their dream homes.
Wholesale Property
If this seems a bit too involved, but you love the idea of selling. You can wholesale property.
Now, here are two ways you can do this.
You can buy property from the state or city auction, which you will have to call your state’s property tax office, and they will gladly give you the state’s auction website.
Once you have the information, you can sign up to bid on a property.
Sometimes the property will have a home on it, and sometimes you will have to deal with the land.
You will have to research the area to make a decent profit.
You want to research the area to find what the price for land is selling at and/or homes, and you want to make sure investors are buying in the area.
2. You can find run-down homes in neighborhoods that you think the owner would want to sell.
You'll then have to agree to find an investor to buy the property. Pay the family their portion and take your portion for setting up the deal.
You have to have a legit business to do this, so get an LLC and hit the pavement.
Get to know the people in the area you're looking to do business in and build their trust.
Then find your investors. Once you have these two important components, you’ll begin to make sales.
Two favorite resources of mine are YouTubers
Jerry Norton of Flipping Mastery TV and Max Maxwell these men started from the bottom and shared all the details of how to wholesale properties.
Invest in a Multi-Family Home
If you’re ready to look into purchasing your first home but also want to make some money. You can look into purchasing a multi-family home.
The benefit of having a multi-family home is you have your tenants pay for your mortgage, allowing you the freedom to do other things with your funds.
Like buying more multi-family homes, this is a cut-and-dry, easy business.
Especially if you don’t mind living around your tenants for a minute; by "a minute," I mean at least a year if you decide to use an FHA loan.
You'll be responsible for the upkeep of the home, so don’t go out of control, but if you're pretty responsible with your money, this could turn into a very profitable business.
I would definitely look into this while still working a 9 to 5 and eventually allow it to be a career.
Flipping Furniture
Another great career to get into is flipping furniture. I love this side hustle that can become the main hustle because start-up costs are so low.
You’ll have to do a little math by determining what you’re willing to pay for old furniture and supplies and how much you want to sell your refurbished furniture to turn a profit.
If you have a smidge of skill, you can grow this into something great. If you’re short on money at the beginning of this journey, you can find furniture on the side of the road.
Apply your beautiful design and skills to improve the piece, then place it on your social platform to sell.
This takes time to get noticed on social media, but you can, in the meantime, sell your project at flea markets and neighborhood markets.
This slow-growing business can turn into a lucrative career because people love unique and creative things.
They are willing to pay lots of money to have things they know no one else has.
Flipping Homes
Last but not least is house flipping. This could be a great career if you play your cards right. Knowing how to buy and sell is important.
Taking time to learn the market, even working with a mentor, can help you easily turn this side hustle into the main hustle.
You’ll need to learn the right loans to get in your state that can help you get started; you’ll need good money management skills and a little knowledge of home construction.
Although you don’t need a college degree, you need education, hard work, and networking.
It won’t be as easy as you see on HGTV, but you could have a healthy business flipping houses.
Major Take Away
There are so many careers out there, and it can be overwhelming, but what’s most frustrating and overwhelming is having student loan debt along with a career your not making money in.
So before you allow others to make you think you have to have a college degree to be successful, look into real-life money-making careers that require no college degree.
But……with everything in life, you need to be educated and hustle (a hard-working spirit).
These qualities are some of the true keys to success.