This year marks my 7th year out of pharmacy school. I’ve worked in a couple different health care systems and for a major retail chain pharmacy.
I don’t think there’s (luckily) been a period of unemployment since I’ve graduated pharmacy school.
I like to think that I make smart financial decision but I’m starting to wonder if there’s not more that I could be doing to move myself towards financial freedom.
The last 7 years haven’t been totally useless or uneventful, in fact they’ve seemed to fly past.
I feel like I’ve been pretty intentional about how I spend my time and making sure that I’m trying to move the financial ball forward.
Even so, I wonder if I’m accomplishing everything that I could.
I’ve decided to pivot Escapingretail.com to document my path towards financial freedom.
Just to give myself a reminder of what the last couple of years looked like from a financial/career perspective:
- 2011 – Graduated Pharmacy School – Went to work at Major Retailer, was promoted to pharmacy manager in December 2011
- 2012 – Applied to Pharmacy Residency and was accepted at a Level I trauma Hospital
- 2013 – Graduated Pharmacy Residency, Filed for Paternity for my Daughter, Started New Job as Clinical Pharmacist
- Worked 2 jobs (@ Hospital and Retail chain PRN)
- 2014 – Renegotiated Salary at Hospital d/t HR mishap
- Attended Financial Freedom Seminar by Gary Johnson that sparked idea for financial freedom and the idea to search for a Duplex
- Met Juan – Good friend who was also interested in Real Estate
- Learned a lot about student loans and applied for PSLF program
- Tried to get Pharmacy consulting business off the ground – FAILED but met pharmacy owners who even today ask me to cover shifts
- 2015 – Closed on Duplex (January 2015)
- Renovated Duplex
- Tried to Get Blackpharmacistsrock.com off the ground – FAILED but got some cool T-shirt designs and sparked ideas for online e-book
- Looked into starting ALF with co-workers – FAILED
- 2016 – Got serious about writing my ebook – Escaping Retail – Completed 1st drafts in January 2016 (Website went live April 15th)
- Left Retail Chain and started PRN at another Hospital
- Paid entirely too much to start Airbnb apartment investment with partner (Lost money)
- 2017 – Bought out partner from Airbnb (5k loss)
- 2018 – Got BCPS Certification & got on track to max out 401k contribution in 2019
I’m convinced that although I’m working hard, perhaps I’m not working smart enough.
I’m also encouraged by the massive amount of failure that I see on this list. It makes me happy that at least I’m moving and trying things. The economic boom that we’ve had over the last 9+ years has made it harder and harder to find opportunities, I think because there are so many investors chasing so little good deals.
I’ve tried yearly goal setting, and looking at the last couple of years – I can definitely see a tapering in my entrepreneurial efforts. I’d like to think that the older I get the more wise I get about what opportunities I choose to pursue, and/or that opportunities are just less available than they used to be.
So, I think I’ll use this platform as a mile marker and to keep myself accountable.
I’ll be trying to use this blog post as a way to keep myself honest and document my wins and losses, as I struggle to move towards financial freedom!
Here’s to greater progress in 2019!
ER
