dilemma.

i have a dilemma. and maybe it won't even come to fruition... maybe i'm putting too much thought in to all of this, but i'll still blog about it and you guys weigh in please!

i have two potential job opportunities! a week or two ago, an old coworker of mine fb'd me (love fb!) and asked if i was still looking for a new job b/c she knew of something in chicago and she'd be happy to recommend me. turns out she had almost accepted the job, but at the last minute decided to stay in ca and join another company. so she put in a good word for me and gave them my info. after a few rounds of phone tag, we set a time to meet. a few days after i got the fb from laurie (old coworker), my old boss (michael - from 7 years ago) texted me (we kept in touch via calls & texts over the years) and asked me what i was doing. i wasn't quite sure what he meant so i had to ask him 'now? or in general?'. you never know with that guy - for all i knew he was here in chicago and wanted to get a drink. anyways, he meant in general and that he was looking to hire a wholesaler out here and would i be interested? this isn't the first time he's asked me to work for him. pretty much since he left nnn 5 years ago, he's asked me to come work for him. and even sometimes trying to give me a guilt trip 'come on, i gave you your start! etc'. so, now i have two different opportunities that i feel are both pretty realistic options that could actually happen as opposed to an open interview or emailing resumes to the black hole somewhere on the internet. but i have many things to think about and i need to weigh everything...

company a:
it's essentially a start up even though it isn't. let me explain: the company has been in development and real estate for 30 years and has a strong track record and impressive properties under their belt. but they now want to enter the securities market - thus where the new company comes in. the securities side of things is real estate, but it's also a lot more. this company is unknown in the securities world and so a lot of education and getting the word out will be necessary. they say they have a good story - and i think they do - but the problem is they are wanting to raise money by doing a 30mill note program and a reit. there are so many of both of those out there that i'm not sure theirs is that much better or different for a broker dealer to find shelf space for it (they have to sign off on all programs before their reps can sell it). they also seem to have very high hopes for their programs and think that they can raise a lot of money quickly. that may be true, but again there is going to be an education time. and their reit isn't even out yet. for that matter neither is the notes program. the notes is supposed to be out in the next couple of weeks. they think the reit will be out early july. now, i think that's super optimistic as i know how long these things take - i've been thru it. they just filed their s11 (the first step to getting the sec to approve it) and i know the sec will have comments that the company will have to respond to and such. there is no way they won't. everytime you file with the sec, they have 30 days to review and respond. so it can be a lengthy process. and july is not that far off now! right now, the 30 yr group is doing all the support stuff and there is really only one employee running things on the securities side (which is fine - keep the overhead low). so my position would be on the ground floor and i'd be wearing a lot of hats. but there is potential to earn a lot and be in a great position career wise should the company become successful. if they dont... well, i could be out of a job again. they say they are committed to doing this, but if they can't raise the funds.... i don't know. notes programs scare me - there have been a lot that have lost their clients money. they say this is a secured project, but so have all the other ones. i'm not sure i want to sell a note program... they also have a very nice office that i'd get to work out of so i'd have the social interaction on a daily basis and a place to physically go every day which would be nice. and the head guy over there told me that laurie gave me a very good recommendation and thought i'd do a great job.

company b:
my old boss' company. they've been around for a few years and have a reit already on the street. it's a self storage one and while it isn't raising big money, it is raising money and it has a good story. no one else is doing a self storage one and those things are truly cash cows as they require little overhead. i'd be wholesaling for them in a yet to be defined territory - meaning i'd be working out of my house and on the road 3 or 4 nights a week, 3 weeks a month. (poor otis!). i'd be working for my old boss, michael, whom i loved working for. he definitely has his moments when you know to leave him alone, but he is one of the best sales people i have ever met and he has a contagious personality. as in, when he gets excited and is having fun it's great. when a ticket came in for one of our products (not all of them, one that was hard to raise moeny for), he'd ring his cowbell and sometimes jump up on the desk. he'd also take me and brian (remember brian?! he won't let me be his fb friend...whatever) to lunch fairly often, but not the other people at my level. my technical boss would be another guy i used to work with, jim. jim was a wholesaler at nnn and i got to know him there. he is now the national manager. he's always told me that he and michael think the world of me which is super nice. there is also another former nnn employee who works there as an internal wholesaler and i know him as well. i've been able to talk to him and get his opinions so that's cool. though i love michael, i never forget he could sell a pile of shit to anyone for big money. i don't know what my territory would be, though i know they would keep it small which i think is better. and i don't know exactly what i could expect to make here either. but, i wouldn't have an office to go to... i'd be traveling a lot... and i hated wholesaling in ny. but maybe it was ny and i was younger then. and i didn't have many friends so being gone didn't help that at all. now, i have a larger space to work in, enough friends to hang out with when i am home, and access to easy transportation (my car). when i needed to go somewhere in ny - i had to rent a car or take a cab which was such a pain in the ass. and in ny, i had a really shitty partner. i wouldn't have to deal with that now. i don't have any contacts out here so it'd be like starting from the ground up and that will also be a lot of work. apparently this territory has been neglected. but, on the helpful side, my buddy matt is here and we had lunch to discuss my dilemma and he said he would be willing to help me and point out some of the people who do this kind of business. he's willing to do that b/c he's my friend, but also b/c i wouldn't really be competition as he has much larger b/ds on board to sell the product to than i would though he also has the smaller ones that tend to be pissed off at nnn for past deals. so i know i could get a lot of great advice and help from him.

so those are my two options at the moment. i just met with the company a guys on thurs and talked with michael and jim over the past week. i have no idea if i'll be offered the job by either though - but since laurie recommended me so highly, i would suspect that i have a pretty good shot at it. and i know that i could in all likelihood take the job with company b seeing as though 'they think the world' of me and came after me (again). i'm going to be talking to jim again on mon or tues and he's sending me materials so i can look over them and read more about their offering. the next step would be to fly out to ca and meet with everyone and so...since they are based in orange county....maybe i'll be able to extend my trip and see you guys! ok, now i need your thoughts. please!