I was asked recently to talk a bit about how I fell into giving seminars... and like most good things, it is a story of waiting for the starts to align.
As anyone whose heard me speak before knows, I came into real estate in the most roundabout way... I started Rain City Guide about three years ago as a way to market my wife's (brand new) real estate business.
The site got so popular, so fast, that I started giving seminars (or as we called them, Bloginars) with one of the contributors named Russ Cofano. I had a blast giving the talks, but when we started two years ago, I could tell the timing was just not right. Internet marketing using social networking tools was still in its infancy in the world of real estate and blogging was still an unknown entity. In other words, we enjoyed giving the presentations (and even gathered a crowed of 350 agents at one event!), but the timing was not right for me to turn to education as a full-time gig.
Fast forward another year and I'm working at Move. Because I loved giving my earlier seminars, I teamed up with the Top Producer team to put together a course on internet marketing I called "Finding Relevance on the Internet". The feedback I got from these courses was downright phenomenal, with names that will sound downright familiar to anyone active on ActiveRain giving my course high marks including Roberta Murphy, Laurie Manny, Brian Brady, and Jeff Dowler.
Interesting, I only gave a few seminars (3 in LA, 1 in Oakland, and 1 in Seattle) before my "real" job at Move got in the way of me being able to travel around giving seminars for the Top Producer team. This time, it was obvious to me that the timing for internet marketing information was ripe, but it just didn't make sense for me while at my position at Move...
Fast forward one more year and I just couldn't let the timing pass me by. In December 2007, I quit my job at Move so that I could start a company with the sole purpose of providing quality education to real estate professionals on internet marketing. I call the company 4Realz Education and I couldn't be happy to watch everything come together. Interestingly, very quickly I teamed up with Jim Marks because he provide an incredible level of expertise on elements of internet marketing that compliment mine. If you don't know who Jim Marks is yet, then it is only a matter of time. He's simply too dynamic, knowledgeable and energetic to keep bottled up!
I've got all kinds of ideas about how I think quality educational seminars should work and what I think will make the 4realz Internet Marketing Education different... but the bottom line is that I want to draw a clear and consistent line between my education and any products that are being sold. That's why you won't find me, or any of my fellow spearks, selling anything at the 4Realz Events.
Our goal is to educate.
Call it dumb faith if you want, but I've built my entire business plan around the hope that if we educate well then the online real estate community will rally behind us to spread the word about the tremendous value that our education provides!
If you want to learn more about what Jim and I are up to and learn about the value that we can add to your business, please don't hesitate to head over to our website where we've announced our first three events in Southern California!
Dustin Luther
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Hi Dustin... what about those of us far away? I looked the other day to see if there were other options, and will check again today. Just wondering! I am a big fan, and have enjoyed seeing you in person at a couple of the big RE 'events.'