I am in the process of saving money for real estate school and living expenses for the first 3 months of work as an agent. I was wondering if I can do anything right now to be proactive with my career? Would it be a good idea to start talking to brokers, just to get to know them and get a feel for the market in my area? I’ve tried reading all the books I can get my hands on for agents, mortgages, construction, and anything I could think of that would help me know my product or sell better. I want to make shore I am doing enough to prepare the right way. I will probably start school in the beginning of May. Thanks again for all your help.

Start learning how to blog. Learn SEO.

Sign up on ActiveRain for a free blog and read all the members only posts about effectively blogging. Look critically at local agent websites and figure out how to make yours bigger. Buy a good domain name.

Learn how to take good pictures. Read Sell With Soul. And yes, start interviewing brokers and visit offices and see where you might be comfortable.

Just be careful that if you do blog, don't overstep and give anyone the impression that you are currently licensed. You can still pass on real estate related data, just don't forget to credit someone else for it.

Read everything, go to open houses, begin networking through groups/organizations. Blogging rules above apply here too...

I need to clarify - I meant learn how to blog. Learn the mechanics, the ins and outs of seo, etc. I read up on blogging for months before I was ready to launch my blog professionally. I didn't want to put it in print that I was brand new and now I'm licensed - so I waited until I was an actual agent to blog like an agent. I would not start the actual blogging until you get licensed...unless it's just to post about local community information to get started on longtail keyword ranking.

Great recommendation punch list there.

There is a difference between "blogging", and "effective blogging". [Most people never figure that out. :)] Try to discern the difference as quickly as you are able.

And: be at least mildly aware of how much content you are creating on OTHER SITES that you don't own. If you put your "best work" out there - on someone else's site that they own, you are establishing THAT site as the resource for consumers to go to when they need an answer.

IMO, its much better to establish YOUR site as the resource for your market for consumers to go to when they need an answer. [Most people never figure that out either. :)]

Many agents have no clue how to blog effectively.

Well, i will be on my way to the library this week to check out some books on blogging. I will make sure to pay close attention to the difference of effective blogging and just blogging. I will also be looking at some ideas for my website. Thanks for all the advise, it is extremely helpful to have an good idea of i should be doing at this stage.

Read blogs online - a lot of books on blogging are probably outdated a week after they hit the shelves. lol.

Like I said - check out online resources for learning blogging.
ActiveRain is one of the best places for learning real estate blogging. The Real Estate Tomato is another one.