When Nick Paulson was 8 years old, he decided he wanted to buy his first house and learn to play Chopin’s “Etude Op. 25 No. 12” on the piano by age 21.
A passion for real estate and entrepreneurship has always been embedded into Paulson. He grew up around real estate and fell in love with it at an early age. Paulson said he saved money from every birthday and Christmas to buy his first house.
By the time Paulson was 18 years old, he could play Chopin’s “Etude Op. 25 No. 12” on the piano perfectly, and by the time he was 19 years old, he bought his first house.
Paulson has taught real estate at Citrus for the past four years. He teaches both Real Estate Principles and Real Estate Practice, which are both hybrid courses. Paulson also teaches online as part of a 4×4 class plan, where students can take four classes that are four weeks each in one semester, which allows students to get their real estate certificate in as little as one semester.
Paulson owns 11 pieces of property that the vice president for a property management company in Texas is interested in investing.
“Unfortunately, most of education, when it comes to success, talks about your job,” Paulson said. “That’s good because you need to have a job, without a doubt, but most wealth creation comes from investing.”
Paulson said he always wanted to teach but never actually wanted to go to college. Paulson said he always felt dissatisfied with teachers when he attended community college. He said he felt like teachers were not giving him the information he felt he needed.
“I wanted to leave school and be ready to go make money and they were teaching me theory, but I didn’t know how to apply it,” Paulson said. “I didn’t know how to actually go out and be successful…By the time you go through our whole (real estate) program here, you know more than the vast majority of working agents. You’re ready to go out and be a success. That’s our goal for our program.”
Paulson said that the way that the real estate program is set up at the college is truly innovative.
“We’re trying to make a program here that is student focused, designed for their success,” Paulson said. “It’s easy in academia to get complacent and people make jokes about how teachers get tenure, and then they stop working, and then the quality goes down, and that is not what is going on in our department.”
Paulson has his own teaching style that he brings into the classroom. He believes in having an interactive and engaging classroom experience for his students.
“I bring real world experience to my subject is pretty significant,” Paulson said. “I know when we’re covering material, what stuff they need to know to go out and be successful out of the classroom, so I think that’s really significant. I would say my perspective on teaching. This is academic, right, so this is an academic exploration of a subject. So I cover than academic side and put interest into bringing the real world into it.”
On any given day, Paulson can be heard enthusiastically yelling from the classroom by passersby outside.
“I talk loud. I stand. I move a lot. I’m moving my hands. I’m active. It’s impossible to fall asleep in my class. You can’t do it. I’m too engaging,” Paulson said. “I don’t lecture off of powerpoints very much. I don’t lecture off of notes. When I’m lecturing, and I do a lot of preparation for my lectures. So when I lecture, I’m looking in students eyes, so I can see where they’re at.”
Students are complimentary of Paulson. Business major Richard Betancoert, 19, said he thinks Paulson changes everyone who enters the class.
“No other class have you ever really thought about anything, like it’s usually like you have to remember this, you have to remember that, so with him it’s like he actually made you like think about what you want out of life,” Betancoert said.
Another student, Jose Martinez, 26, business major, said,“He’s honestly phenomenal in everything he does. He inspired me so much to actually go beyond what the norm is expected.”
Paulson also serves as the adviser of the real estate club on campus. Over the past few years, there has been a huge growth in the real estate club. The real estate club has gone from having only a couple members, to having over 30.
The real estate club is not just open to real estate students. The real estate club is not limited to real estate majors, any student on campus can join with a valid reason.
Every year the real estate club goes to the Union Rescue Mission to prepare food for those less fortunate.
In Paulson’s real estate classes, he pushes good communication and connection skills in class. Paulson said there are many amazing opportunities that come from simply talking the people that are around.
Paulson’s interests don’t end with real estate, he has a talent you wouldn’t expect. Paulson plays classical piano.
When Paulson was a young boy, he took piano lessons from a strict Russian teacher. For 10 years, Paulson took lessons twice a week. He learned to play Chopin, Mozart and Marcoschy. Afterward, the piano became a form of relaxation and a creative outlet for Paulson. Some nights, when he can’t sleep, Paulson will just sit at the piano and play for hours in the dark.
Paulson said he lives a hectic life but cares for his students deeply.
“I’m not a fan of mediocrity and I think we have a society that in a lot of ways, glorifies mediocrity,” Paulson said. “Someone calls themselves ‘basic’ like it’s a good thing. When I look around the world, most people’s lives, I wouldn’t want to have their lives. So being like everyone else and being mediocre doesn’t seem to be a very good path to me. So I want people to pursue excellence in every aspect of their life and I think Citrus is a good place to start those habits. So my recommendation for students here is don’t wait to try to be excellent, start doing it right now.”
To contact or join the real estate club, they are most accessible on instagram @citruscollegerealestate or email Paulson at npaulson@citruscollege.edu .
