So I've sold real estate for over 20 years.  Never a major player, but it brought in a nice supplemental income.  The goal was to pay the kids college out of my commissions. This worked perfectly for the first and second kid.  As my third son was at the midway mark thru and loans started piling up, the dreaded real estate crash of 2008 dashed those plans. To add injury to this I got divorced and my ex refuses to help pay off the debts.  Since technically these debts are my sons, the judge refused to order him to pay.  I'm trying to pay it off, but it's a huge burden (tho a labor of love).

Fast forward to now. I spent almost $3,000 taking classes, paying for licensing and membership dues to transfer my license back to Ill.  I started back full of hope only to find that technology has passed me by.  My Wisc. was more traditional.  In Chicago it's light years ahead in technology.  The programs are amazing, but for the past 2 months I've spent time trying to catch up. There's not a shred of paper in the office, every document and transaction is on line. There are ways to get info on a seller to anticipate their next real estate move.  Even simple listing appointments that once were presented at the client's kitchen table are now major PowerPoint presentations.  I feel like a dinosaur. I've been embarrassed in front of other agents more than a few times with my old school ways.  I'm thinking I need to find something new.  Bad news if you are over 60 looking for employment, Ageism is alive and well.  You're the age of the HR person's grandmother!!  Also they look at your Facebook/Instagram, etc. sites to see how many people are in your SOI(sphere of influence). Most of my young friends have hundreds.
I have barely 50.