Spend your time around people with the same clients, same complaints and same definition of success, and eventually their ceiling becomes your ceiling.
So if I were building a professional comp set, I’d want five people.
The Veteran. Someone ahead of you. Your professional sensei. Not necessarily older. Just further down a road you want to travel. They’ve already made mistakes you’re about to make. That’s basically free time travel.
The Contrarian. Someone willing to call out your nonsense. Tell you your brilliant idea isn’t brilliant. Experience is valuable, but it has a bug: eventually lessons become rules. You need someone close enough to question yours.
The Outsider. Someone who doesn’t work in valuation. A banker. Entrepreneur. Investor. Technologist. Outsiders ask wonderfully naive questions like, “Why do you still do it that way?” Every once in a while, the answer is uncomfortable: “I don’t know.”
The Rookie. Someone coming up behind you. They don’t know all the reasons something can’t be done yet. That’s their superpower. You bring pattern recognition. They bring fewer sacred cows.
The Builder. Someone actually making something. A company. A new appraisal practice. Technology. A different business model. Builders have a contagious intolerance for excuses.
I’ve seen this building Realwired. Staying close to appraisers, Chief Appraisers, lenders, credit people, entrepreneurs and technologists has changed how I see our industry. My favorite are the Contrarians and the Builders.
Different people reveal different problems and different possibilities.
That’s proximity.
Your network isn’t just a collection of relationships. It’s a collection of influences.
So here’s an interesting exercise. Write down the five professionals who influence your thinking most. Then ask the question.
Would I actually use these comps?