The FF rates in my zipcode are higher than I expected and their quality is less than what I'm bringing online! 

I've used an online designer before, you send her photos, measurements of the room and existing furniture, and your budget and she presents you with design options and the links to buy!

An instructor can make it better, but most are online now anyway.

Most are folks that have the emotional control of a 5 year old, controlling attitude, an omniscient narrative in every thread & topic, act like an online hall monitor, and constant attention seeking. 

Here is my system that I have shared on the forums previously:It all starts with online ads, within which are several pre-screening questions I request be answered in their response to my ad.

The real work is locating these properties and I've learned the best way to do this is to work in towns/areas that have online GIS systems that map; topography, wetlands, soils, etc. and assessors data available for download either from local sources or listsource.com.  

For contact management like that its awesome to search for specific types of people and locations or just data like "how long does it take to foreclose in texas".We have some other use cases as well that we use to track not only ours but competitors results online and learning what does and does not work for different aspects of the business.

If you want to understand 5-year outlook, I'd look for multifamily construction data in your area to understand what level of new units is and will be coming online in the near future. 

But this was late 90s so way before on line stuff had taken off.

unfortunately this marketing specialist was NOT a specialist in marketing for real estate businesses, did not understand the unique requirements and characteristics of real estate, and hence implemented their “generic” on line marketing program.