Jay’s Journey

This is just the beginning

Who Am I?

I’m a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in New York with 15+ years of professional experience in Corporate America.

At heart, I am an entrepreneur who has developed a knack of buying small businesses, making them profitable and exiting with profits based on a defined timeline.

How I Serve?

I help tackle issues related to finance & investing, technology, entrepreneurship and business development by sharing best practices learned via 15+ years of doing it myself.

My aim is to make you well informed so you too can achieve your goals and gain financial independence.

This Is How It All Began…

Now, this is a story all about how my life got turned upside down… nope, it’s just my journey.

The beginning

My parents emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-70’s and settled in Brooklyn, NY where I was born in the ’80s. And although my parents highly valued education, I was the 1st to go to college in my family so I naturally had to develop a knack to figure things out on my own.

Ever since I could remember, I was always fascinated with the concept of being a businessman. Now mind you, I do not come from a family with a business background.

My first foray

Fast forward to the mid-2000s, while I was still in college, when I started my first business venture where I found “limited edition” retail items like North Face jackets, Jordans, etc., and sold them to willing buyers who would pay a pretty premium. At the time I had no idea what I was doing, except I was buying low and trying to sell as high as possible.

Little did I know, this was known as “retail arbitrage”. I eventually stopped as the hustle became too congested and not nearly as profitable for the time it took.

However, this was a life-changing experience where I saw the laws of supply and demand in full force.

As the years went on, I completed my bachelor’s. Being that I came from a family of accountants and techies, I studied both accounting and computer and information sciences.

In 2005, I started my professional career in public accounting and after a few years, I became a fully licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in NY. At this time, I became complacent, focused only on my career especially since I was moving up the corporate ladder.

Similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2008 “Great Recession” made one thing very clear that relying on a single source of income was not wise.

I witnessed family, friends, and colleagues lose their jobs despite being with their employers for 15+ years in some cases. Similar stories were being told all over the news. This was a good enough sign for me and I continued on my entrepreneurial journey once again.

Getting back on the Entrepreneurial horse

A few years after obtaining my CPA license, I opened a CPA firm in Brooklyn with a couple of my CPA friends. After a lot of growing pains, we were able to scale the business however none of us had any work-life balance. This was especially important since I had just gotten married as well. So when we were approached by a local accounting firm we all decided to sell.

My next business venture was quite different and in 2014, I partnered with a fitness trainer and a nutritionist and we acquired a struggling local mom & pop gym. Within 12 months, we were able to turn it around and make it profitable. However, after a few years, I decided to sell as there was a disagreement on how to best move the business forward. As the old saying goes, “the only ship that doesn’t sail is a partnership”.

Over the next few years, I acquired a couple of rental properties with the goal of building a passive income portfolio. However, after many years of struggling to find a decent property manager among other issues, I sold the “passive” income-generating properties which really weren’t that passive.

Towards the end of 2016, I joined a group of investors who were building a portfolio of fast food restaurants all over the tri-state area but mainly in New York City and on Long Island. I became a minority partner in 3 fast food restaurants which I am till this day. Since this doesn’t take up any of my time and is truly passive income, I have decided to stick with it.

All the while, I continued to build a career in the Information Technology Risk Management space. Today, I am a cybersecurity professional with 15+ years of progressive experience. Along the way I also picked up the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Security Management (CISM) & Security+ designation as well.

So, why am I starting a blog?

Throughout this journey, I have learned very interesting details about not only the industries but the human psyche as well. I have had some great mentors, built solid relationships and learned methods and techniques which cannot be attained by simply reading books.

In addition, I have been involved in some very tense negotiations, utilized countless software, systems, tools, applications and technologies.

My goal is to take all of my experience – the good, the bad, and the ugly – and provide my audience (you) with content that will empower you to make well-informed decisions to take control of your life and attain financial independence as well.