People who teach me stuff

I cut my teeth as a real estate virtual assistant in the trenches, so to speak. I learned largely on the job in a high-stress environment, which is one of the best ways to learn. You have to do the work – no matter what it is – and you have to do it right away and there is no room (or budget) for error. I guess that’s called trial by fire.

I sat next to a graphic designer for something like two years. I learned a lot from him, including how to take a basic text editor and create a web page from scratch.

I worked with one more graphic designer after the first one left, who also taught me things. And I worked with one of the most awesome administrative people I have ever met.

In the evenings and on weekends I searched the web for any information I could find about real estate marketing. It was like being back in school, except all the homework was way more fun. When I wasn’t learning, I was practicing. Brainstorming. Trying new things.

Now that I’ve branched out on my own, I have a much smaller client base. This gives me the freedom to provide better service and focus more attention on each individual client.

And I’ve also shifted my focus in how I pursue my ongoing education. I realized that much of the real estate marketing advice I was reading was distilled and watered down. I found the un-distilled sources, and haven’t looked back.

I would be remiss if I didn’t say up front: I learn a lot from my clients.

But for the purposes of this post, here is a list of people I keep an eye on. It isn’t a complete list, necessarily, and who I’m learning from fluctuates from time to time. But, in no particular order, here is the list:

• 1000Watt Consulting – For really great real estate marketing insight – somewhat geared towards the broker level. These guys are the “real deal.”
• Michael Martinez – Whatever company he works for is the company I would recommend for SEO, and that company is currently Visible Technologies. He maintains two blogs: SEO Theory and Best SEO Blog.
• Avinash Kaushik – For information relating to web analytics, and for his sense of humor.
• San Antonio’s Matt Stigliano – He came onto my radar roughly a year ago, give or take, primarily because he seems to love the city where I was born and raised. I’ve been watching him grow in his use of “social media,” and in my opinion he’s really doing things right.
• NYC’s Corcoran Group – I am fascinated by this brokerage. Perhaps it’s the eternal draw of the Big City, but it also has a lot to do with their online presence.
• Jason Calacanis – A genius in the tech field who offers some of the most awesome business insights I have ever seen. I subscribe to his email list.
• TechCrunch – Not just for tech news, but to observe the possibilities for a blog format.
• Seth Godin – For his interesting viewpoints on marketing.
• Gapingvoid – For Hugh McLeod’s (even more) interesting viewpoints on marketing. (Potentially NSFW.)
• 1938 Media – Because you need people like Loren Feldman. (Potentially NSFW.)
• Gary Vaynerchuk – Because he keeps saying one thing: Work hard. (Potentially NSFW.)
• Matt Cutts – Because how else would I know that Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking? And other interesting insights.
• 37 Signals – For teaching, among other things, beauty in simplicity.

Those people are the core of my ongoing education, and I seem to keep learning from them as I add and drop others. If you’re teaching people wonderful things and your name isn’t on this list, please forgive me. If you really think I should be learning from you, too, feel free to send me an email. (It’s create [at] yourcreativerefinery [dot] com.)

Photo Credit: Lee Nachtigal