If you remember your early history of gold rush you may recall that those who made most money were ones selling "shovels to miners." That is exactly what gurus and most real estate clubs are doing... selling education to wanta-be investors.

Most clubs are profit making ventures and each month they bring in a guru to give a mini-seminar designed to motivate attendees into buying their learning material... "Available today only at a deep discount!"

The best thing about clubs is that you can meet other investors. Exchange phone numbers and build your own support group. With three or four people you can invest in learning material as a group and share your learning experience at reduced cost.

I don't suggest that you become a real estate agent, but learning material available for passing your state's licensing test can be helpful. Check with your state's real estate board or commission to see if they publish on book on real estate law and regulation.

Trade schools that teach people to pass agents license test have good course material. You may find some in used books stores or you can run an little ad in "Wanted" section of a "Penny Saver" type of publication.

Finally, is all real estate education offered for sale a rip-off. Of course not. You can speed your way to success once you know what is worth buying and what is not. Do a Google search for "real estate investing" and you will find displayed a wide variety of offers. Do your own investing research first... then you will recognize good value when you see it.

You'll will find a list of top quality material at reasonable prices listed on my own Web site http://CashFlowInstitute.com

Mark Walters is a third generation real estate investor and author. He publishes an online newsletter for real estate investors that can be found here.. http://ThePowerLetter.com

c)Team structures. The group structure affects individual productivity. Individuals working alone, when motivated, have high output levels, but suffer from path dependency, parochialism and a lack of intellectual cross-pollination. Pairs reduce some of these tendencies and as groups get larger, negatives begin to outweigh positives – group think, status differentials and deference, politicking and restriction of information are just some examples.

d)Competency and tacit knowledge mix. Without a varied tacit knowledge and competency mix and a collaborative approach, a number of things happen: i) groups significantly under-perform and ii) gap between individuals increases. Competitive advantage is lost in group, team, department and eventually organisational level.

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These and other topics are covered in depth in MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased at http://www.managing-creativity.com

Kal Bishop, MBA, http://www.managing-creativity.com

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as author's name, web address and link to MBA dissertation is retained.