I’ve been investing in real estate full-time since I graduated from college five years ago. I guess you could say I did it part-time while I was also juggling college classes, homework, papers, and another student job. Now it only takes me an hour or so per day, so you tell me how to classify it now – full time? Part time? Who cares? I’m doing what I want to do with my life and I encourage everyone to do the same, whatever that may be.

At any rate, I’ve met a lot of investors who are itching to get to the point where they are making enough money in real estate that they can quit their 9 to 5 and invest full-time. This seems like the American Dream, but I will play Devil’s Advocate and be the one guy to point out the less glamorous side of investing full-time:

1) Living off your investments is not the same as retiring early. I’m all for retiring early, but real estate is an active investment. It has been described as a second job. I refer to it as running a business. It can be a very lucrative business, but for the most part it is going to require time and effort to stay on top of things. And in many ways, running a business is more stressful, with more responsibilities, risks, and obligations than having a job.

2) Say goodbye to any and all job benefits. Because I am self-employed, I had to pay cold hard cash each time we had a baby, about $5000 - $6,000 each time, in addition to our regular monthly insurance premiums. What a joke! Our health insurance did not pay for a doggone thing. Meanwhile, my sister and everyone around me paid $25 here, $30 there for doctor’s office co-pays, and nothing more. The echoes of my grinding teeth can still be heard in distant parts of the earth.

Now, of course, if your business is making money hand over fist, you might think $5,000 here and there is no big deal, but I can virtually guarantee that these kinds of bills will come due on a month when you’re running low on funds, waiting an eternity for some buyer to finally get qualified.

3) Are you doing what you love with your time? Are you going to invest full-time because you love investing, or because you want to make more money? If the answer is "more money," I challenge you to be true to yourself, and find a way to make more money in real estate part-time, and do what you love most of the day.

If you work smart, you can make enough money in real estate in a few hours each week to supplement even a low-paying job, like teaching school. Remember, real estate is just a way to have more of what you want in life. So what do you want?

Having an assistant is one of the best investments you’ll make as a real estate entrepreneur. Like all parts of your business (and yes, buying, leasing, and selling houses is a business), they require an investment of your money and also your time. You’ll need to invest a little money in order to hire, train, and compensate them for their services. And, you’ll need to invest some time to help them get the job done right — more in the beginning and much less as time goes on.

In exchange for your investment in them, a good assistant will help you to generate much more money than you are paying (bringing you a rate of return that would make any investor jealous). And, they will save you countless hours for every extra hour you spend developing them.

Although many investors are hell-bent on trying to do it all themselves, or think they can’t afford one, here is a partial list of reasons why you absolutely can’t live without an assistant:

You will do more deals. Marketing is probably the best thing to hire an assistant to do. They will help you to execute advertising campaigns that you just would not have gotten around to doing on your own. They can compile lists, print letters, make calls, stuff envelopes, buy supplies, shop around for pricing, and do plenty of other things that generate leads for you that you would not have had the time or inclination to do otherwise.

You will look more professional. When people receive a call from your assistant, they will know that you are a real player. It makes you look successful, organized, and trustworthy. Your credibility with sellers will increase, which will put them at ease and help you to get more offers accepted. Private lender prospects will acknowledge you as a legitimate business and will feel safer sending money to you knowing that you are not a fly-by-night operation.

You will have less stress in your life. No one likes drowning in work. One of the worst feelings on earth is to have more work due than you can possibly hope to accomplish in the time available. Having an assistant will take a huge burden off of your back, especially when they do tasks that you don’t like doing or are not good at.