The Ultimate Guide To Network In Real Estate in 2024

[00:00:00] This is Commercial Real Estate Secrets. My name's Aviva. I'm a commercial real estate owner, broker, manager, and internet personality. Commercial real estate has been a gate kept industry. Until now. I believe in opening the gates sharing strategies and techniques necessary for achieving financial freedom through commercial real estate.

This week's listener of the week is Taco Tuesday. Taco Tuesday, thank you for the five star review and DM us your mailing address. For all you listening, if you leave us a five star review below, you might be next week's Listener of the Week. I have a confession to make on this episode today. And that is, is that I have a hard time networking.

I am the most anti social social person. You'll ever meet. And I think in some circles that is referred to as the [00:01:00] introverted extrovert. So I would go to these, we'll say, you know, BC and BCE pre pandemic, post pandemic. Pre pandemic, I would go to these networking events and I just really didn't feel comfortable going up to anybody.

I was looking at all these intimidating men in suits who didn't want to talk to me, and I didn't want to go up to them and talk to them. I was really intimidated, and so I had a hard time networking. And cue 2020, where the phone stopped ringing, because of the pandemic and I suddenly had a lot of time to fill and the way that I filled my time was through posting about commercial real estate online. And what that did was introduce me to a world of people who were like me, [00:02:00] right?

I thought the broker community was this suit and tie community of frat boys, no offense, and when I got online and started talking to other people I realized there were more people like me out there and I want to work with people like that. People who have the same values and wants and needs, right?

These are the people who you want to network with. The people you want to do business with. And something that social media did for me. Was, you know, I started going to networking events nationally or locally where I had friends that I had either met online or posting or local friends. And what I noticed was, now we're post pandemic, people started coming up to me because I had created something on the internet.

That was unique. And instead of having [00:03:00] to approach people, which I didn't want to do, they were approaching me because I put out a new form of information about something we all love, which is commercial real estate. And finally, I had found my best way of networking, which is online. So, I'm going to go out on a whim and say a big, wild thing.

And that is... Your network is more valuable than a college degree. I'm going to say it again. Your network is more valuable than a college degree. And if you want to assume that networking looks like a suit and tie in a corporate space at 8 AM. You can. That's what networking has looked like prior to the pandemic.

Eh, for me. Obviously, people were networking with the internet before the pandemic, but I can only talk from my own [00:04:00] experience. Networking is changing in real time and I am seeing deals being done with people who have never met in person, they met online. You see the gatekeepers, the folks who have been running this business who don't want you to know this information or get ahead, the gatekeepers are not the most creative folks, right?

They're still in their suits and ties. Networking in person, right? And that's fine. That's worked for them. It didn't work for me. And if you're this far into this podcast, it probably hasn't worked for you. And if you don't want to network online, the opportunity that you're missing out on is not anymore within the confines of your state, right?

It's worldwide. There is so much abundance in this world, but this industry, and going online and meeting people and networking [00:05:00] broadens your sphere and your net in ways that nobody could have ever imagined. It's an abundant world. Take advantage of it. You have the world at your fingertips, and if you don't use it, that would be a shame.

Now, there is a place online where it is going down, and it's called X, the artist formerly known as Twitter. The commercial real estate networking community on Twitter is vibrant, to say the least. People are going nuts. Networking on Twitter, finding contacts, and doing deals. Like, deals are being done on Twitter, buyers are being found, sellers are being found, developers are finding sites through the internet.

Tell me that's not networking, right? I have found deals with social media exclusively, right? The point of networking is to find... Deals, leads, [00:06:00] transactions, et cetera. I have found these online because I'm a little too introverted to go up to people. So I had to find a new way to do it. It worked. Another amazing way to network in 2024 is local investor groups.

There are investor groups with people who look and think like you. There are so many different types of real estate investor groups online, in person. Gone are the days of having to have a suit and tie. A college education, anything to network. It's a new world and the requirements and the barrier of entry is so much different.

And if the barrier of entry is being online or engaging, not only is that free, but if you're doing it with people you like, it's actually enjoyable. You can meet people just like you and me, network with them, and do deals. It's actually [00:07:00] really, really cool. You would not believe the transactions I've done from social media alone, and you would not believe what you can do networking worldwide with this information superhighway.

Way, way, way. What questions do you have for me? DM me at @avivarealestate any questions and head down to my show notes for my free guide, how to get started in commercial real estate. Now, next week, I'm very excited for the episode, how to turbo charge your real estate investing strategies in 2024. We'll see you next week. 

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