Its been a month since I passed my IL brokers test. Prior to that, I was shopping for other agencies and brokers to work under. But I ended up striking out on my own, or self-sponsored as they call it in Illinois.

I figured if I knew I was going to be traveling out of the country so much and be a referral kind of guy, I cannot afford to split yet again with the owner of a real estate office.

I spent the first month,

1)keying in my farm area data into a MS Excel
spread sheet that I could pull up names and data on demand.

2) putting a website up, still pretty rough go take visit www.kevingoleary.com

3) Have three listings, but very diverse. A special lease on a retreat property, a residential building lot in a subdivision, and a home for rent nearby.

4) Good old Dad is shopping for some good deals on small strip malls, so I might actually find something.

I dont know whether I have the likelyhood of anything going to settlement, but I think come a year from now, my name will be "out there" and when I truely go full time, I wont be going in cold. I dont regret the $$ I spent to do the broker course online or the money invested so far in association dues, my website and other fees. You have to keep building the solid foundation I think.

Is your picture supposed to look "vintage"?
If not, I'd suggest getting a new one taken, you don't look very approachable.

thanks. Im waiting for my more recent ones taken by a pro. They are on a hard drive 8000 miles away in Japan. That is 10 years old from my teaching days. But Im still not a smiler much.