Next role to add to my Network?

[Chad Ackerman]

I am a newbie to the REI world and I have been trying to "prepare" as much as I can with education and networking before my first purchase. I've been listening to podcasts (Bigger Pockets / Take Action - local to me) and reading a few books (Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Millionaire Real estate Investor, The book on Rental Property Investing...) to learn more about the industry and lately I've been shifting gears towards building my network to help me get more educated on the current state of investing in real estate.

To date I have been able to connect with a private investor to help fund a deal, I have a couple realtors that I have known for 20+ years that can help me find deals, I'm starting to meet with a couple people that I know that have invested in the past or are currently investing, and I have a couple of lenders in mind to reach out to as well to have on hand if need be.

My question for the forum is whom else should I be networking with to be ready for that first jump into an investment?  I'm thinking of starting to look for a lawyer.  I've got a good accountant but I haven't discussed this with him much yet.  No idea on contractors or property managers, but I thought for 1 property I'd probably try to do most of this on my own. 

Thoughts are appreciated.  Looking forward to pulling the trigger on my first deal by the end of the year and I'm just trying to get as many ducks in a row as I can.