which means "Work makes life sweet".
As soon as I was old enough, I began delivering newspapers before dawn from my bicycle and babysitting on weekends after dusk.
In my first full-time summer job the 'Dutch Pantry Family Restaurant' in Bowie, Maryland had me
fill tray with dirty dishes
feed through the dishwasher
empty tray
return to first step
The algorithm never stops and nor did I.
My paycheck from the Dutch Pantry for the week ending July 23, 1967. I worked 46 hours and took home $44.26. Click on the image to open new page with fully readable version.
The next summer I worked full-time as a ditch digger on a road gang.
As my inability to compete in research with my younger academic colleagues became apparent, I wondered how to put my substantial savings to work when I retired. When my neighbor died and his estate auctioned his home, I bought it because I loved the eight, hilltop acres on which his mansion sat. When a few years later another neighbor begged me to sell him the propety, I acquiesced and at the closing table, the real estate lawyer invited me to work with him to invest my profit from that sale into 'hard money loans'. Thus, my introduction to a new line of work which might be glorified with the label 'private money banker'.
The work was interesting in many ways but followed a general pattern:
People learned of me by word-of-mouth and would approach me to borrow money.
We'd meet to discuss terms and visit the property.
I'd write the Deed of Trust, Promissory Note, and Construction Loan Agreement.
At closing a title company would notarize the signing of the documents, and my money for the purchase would go to the seller.
As renovations proceeded, the borrower would ask me to inspect progress and give the pre-agreed construction loan payments.
When finished, the borrower sold the property, and after I was paid the principal plus interest for my loan, I would sign a Certificate of Satisfaction.
Photos before and after renovation of a tiny, 2-bedroom home in the country in 2013.
The above photos are for a tiny, 2-bedroom home in the country whose purchase and renovation I financed for $50,000 in 2013 before I learned to move into the DC market and do a home loan only when the loan amount exceeded $500,000.
While the business could have been handled in a cold, hands-off way, my experience involved frequent ups and downs emotionally, financially, and physically. I had to foreclose on some borrowers and sometimes the borrowers were scoundrels who would force my hand into court battles where I represented myself in yet another lesson in life -- the court system lesson. Overall though, I enjoyed the work, made 20% per year in interest on my lent money, and endorsed the two, very different mottos:
Making the world better, one house at a time
and
The Rich get Richer; the Poor, Poorer.
I lent money to people throughout the United States who bought real estate, renovated it, and sold it. My primary stomping grounds where Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Once when attending a 'real estate investors meeting', I complained to the man sitting next to me that I missed the reward of publishing papers that would be archived and potentially leave a mark for the long-term. He said his archive was the land records of any country where he did a deal. You can track my lending business through the land records. Attached is the first page of a download from the Baltimore City Land Records public website. Other counties have records of other deals. Some of my records are under my name but some are under LLCs that I created, my IRA, or other entities whose money was mine.
One page of Land Records from Baltimore City. Click on the image to open new page with fully readable version.
In reverse chronological order, my jobs outside univerity:
2018-now: Estate Planner.
I formalized and funded multiple trusts and now manage them.
2010-2022: Private Money Banker.
I used my own assets to support private money lending on speculative real estate deals. I toured prospective properties, learned what the borrowers intended to do with the property, negotiated the terms of the deal, prepared and filed my own legal documents, tracked the use of the lent money, and ensured that money flowed in both directions as required.
2000-2004: HIPAA Consultant.
The passage of HIPAA in 1996 had enormous impacts on information systems for health care. I was a leading national speaker and adviser on the HIPAA compliance and worked with hospital networks, insurance companies, and government agencies on how to implement the privacy, security, and electronic transactions requirements of HIPAA. I was also the Chief Executive Officer of HIPAA-IT LLC which did electronic publishing of HIPAA educational and training material and provided consulting services to healthcare entities. We had a web site from which we marketed, sold, and delivered electronic content.
1993-2003: Founder and CEO of Hypermedia Solutions Limited.
In 1993 I registered Hypermedia Solutions Limited in Liverpool, England as a formal “Private Company Limited by Sharesâ€. We did electronic publishing. We built a web site that advertised books for sale in electronic format. Buyers could use their credit card to pay for a book and download it. We also had contracts with the European Union and private businesses to convert documents and multi-media into CD-ROM format for sale as CD-ROMs.
1996-1998: Chairman of the Board of the Globewide Network Academy.
The Globewide Network Academy was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in the state of Texas in 1993 and was the world's first virtual organization. It was affiliated with the Usenet University project and its goal was to create a fully accredited online university.
1983-1987:
Editor Index Medicus and Chief MeSH Section at
National Library of Medicine.
1971-1973: laboratory assistant.
1963-1971: dish washer, ditch digger, and delivery boy.
