New venture builds on skills gained in first career

Each month "Transitions" profiles an individual who has made significant changes in his or her work life and highlights the techniques used to make the changes.

Rick Lavin

Born and raised: Miami
Age: 51
Education: Brandeis University, BA, American Studies, 1977; Boston College Law School, JD, 1980
Was: Corporate counsel, Bank of America Investments Services Inc.
Is: Principal, Goodheart Properties

For many people, reaching the pinnacle of the legal world as partner in a law firm, then working in a senior executive position in the investments industry would be dreams come true.

Rick Lavin lived those dreams. But that's where his story diverges from the norm.

At his professional peak, Lavin "turned in his briefcase" and walked away from the income, security, and prestige of the corporate world to plow his life savings into a risky seaside real estate venture.

"I was about to turn 50," Lavin recalled. "I used to love getting up in the morning and going to work, but I was not feeling that way anymore." While he did not know what was in store for him, he was certain he had to leave. "I knew it was time to reinvent myself."

Lavin's climb up the corporate ladder had been swift and sure. A Miami native, he decided to remain in the Boston area after graduating from Boston College Law School in 1980. He joined a midsized law firm, was named partner within six years, and then became partner at a prestigious older firm, Hutchins Wheeler & Dittmar, when it acquired his practice area.

He began working on mutual fund accounts just as the business went through explosive growth in the early 1990s and was recruited to Fidelity Investments as the investment giant's legal needs grew.

Lavin worked his way up to executive vice president in the brokerage arm, where he picked up significant business responsibilities beyond his legal duties, including managing a staff of 135 people.

But while he has "nothing but good things to say about my time at Fidelity," Lavin eventually found he was "not having fun anymore."

"I was not doing the things I like to do most," he said. "I liked rolling up my sleeves and helping the business people solve a problem, not managing a functional group. I felt it was time for a change."

Lavin took advantage of a perk available to senior executives and met with career management firm Essex Partners to address his next career steps.

After exploring several options, he signed on in 2004 with Banc of America Investment Services in Boston. But contrary to his expectations, the move did not resolve any of his concerns or uneasiness, and Lavin quickly realized he was disenchanted with corporate life altogether.

His new employer also worked with Essex Partners, and Lavin was able to pick up with the same consultant he had worked with previously.

Within a year he was gone from the bank. Deciding he needed to step back from his situation and reflect, he took the summer of 2005 off, spending it with his family at their cottage in Truro, on the outer Cape.

Lavin and his wife-to-be had purchased a former lifeguard station 11 years prior and remodeled it. In the intervening years, they had married and had a daughter.

While on his extended retreat, Lavin began to connect his love of the Cape with a possible new career. He loved the area and, during his working days, had found it highly accessible, flying down from Boston in just 20 minutes. He felt sure others would be attracted to the same lifestyle.

The cottage remodeling had given him some insight into local building projects. A self-described building buff, Lavin and his wife had also renovated their historic 1790 home in Charlestown. He said his wife, a poet, brought the aesthetic sense, complementing his own analytic approach.

One day he accompanied an acquaintance to a building site and came away thinking seriously about building homes in the area.

But the critical final piece was his Essex consultant's help in making Lavin realize that his decades in the legal and corporate world had provided him with a broad skill set.

"These were all skills of mine that were totally transferable," Lavin says he came to realize.

Lavin recited the litany of skills he had acquired: planning projects, assembling financing, putting a team together, being able to present and persuade others of his vision, managing a project, keeping people motivated, absorbing new information from different sources and knowing when and how to act on it, and making good decisions along the way.

Lavin also knew that he had several specific skills that would be applicable in real estate development. "I'm comfortable with financial statements, I can craft a budget, and I have a legal background. My wife and I decided to make a leap," Lavin said. In addition to his wife, the new business includes his brother and a part-time role for his young daughter.

The business, Goodheart Properties, builds homes on the outer Cape -- Truro, Wellfleet, Provincetown, and Eastham -- "works of art, passion properties," Lavin termed them.

He is well aware that their business model is different for the Cape, calling it "risky" as most residences on the Cape are built not on speculation but by owners on land they have purchased.

Financially, Lavin said, his career move has been a trade-off thus far, from the high pay of the corporate world to "living the leveraged life. We are drawing down savings, and I'm still learning how to adapt."

Lavin said his new work life offers great flexibility and far easier decision-making. "There are no layers of management," he said.

Do you have a career transition story you would be willing to share? If so, e-mail transitions@bostonworks.com. Please include your name, phone number, and a brief description of your career change.