Looking for advice on leveraging an assistant position

[Whitney Henry]

Hello! This is my first post on Bigger Pockets, so bear with me :) 

I recently 'informally' accepted a gig to assist a local Real Estate Investor in Tampa, FL with marketing. We met and he told me about his business, goals, and what he would need from me. A lot of my role would be social media related as well as managing the website, etc. I expressed to him that I was very interested in learning about real estate and see this role as a way for me to gain experience. He told me that people have asked for him to mentor them, but he has not had the time to do so. He also told me that he's had other assistants but in the past he was being cheap and hiring high school students or family members/friends. He was very open that I would learn a lot about the investment business and that I would probably be able to start investing myself one day. He sent me an e-book to read and encouraged me to learn more on my own while he's out of town. I will start in April. 

My question is, how exactly should I leverage this opportunity? I've worked jobs where managers told me I would 'learn" more but I felt held back as if they didn't want to teach me more for fear I would leave or even know more than them.  I've been lurking the forums and one thing that really stood out to me was forming a partnership. My 6-12 month goal is to be able to house hack. That's where I would like to ideally start my real estate investing career. This would give me the opportunity to have my own place as well as live free or for less. I don't have the funds to do this and have been researching wholesaling. From what I know about his business, he wholesales, buys, flips, etc. I know myself well and hold my work ethic to a high esteem. I can bring his business immediate results through my marketing abilities, but for an hourly wage how can I make sure I'm getting a return? How long should I assist him before I ask about partnering? Should I bring him deals I've found and if so, should I ask or expect a commission if it's something he moves forward with? Having a sales background, one thing that has always frustrated me was putting in so much work to sell a product/service and seeing minimal if any reward for my effort. while seeing the overall business thriving. For example I did an $11K deal for a job one time that is now an annual profit the company will see and saw a $60 commission. I don't want to be in another situation like this, however I want to make sure I don't come off as entitled or that I'm going to learn his business and duplicate it and leave him in the dust. I would love to have him as a mentor and future partner, I just don't want to be taken advantage of. 

Sorry for the length, but I'm hoping someone has advice or experience in this from a newbie or established real estate investor perspective. Thank you in advance!