What is the best organization to join and network through as a new commercial real estate investor?
I am very very new to the commercial real estate realm. I am at the "just finished 7 pages in the commercial real estate for dummies book" kind of new. I have a business mentor who is pushing me to find organizations to network through and to connect with others. Unfortunately, since the pandemic hit, a lot of this occurs online. I have been looking into organizations but they almost all require me to already be associated with a company or have real estate investments. 

Is there an organization for new - non-associated - real estate investors?
[{"id": "g3qy4s0", "text": "NAIOP, ULI, ICSC, CCIM\n\nLook at those and see if one feels like a good fit with the asset class you are working with.", "replies": [{"id": "g3rebay", "text": "Thank you! I reached out to them all to see if I can have a membership without an affiliation so we will see!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3rcpum", "text": "What is your goal? What type of product are you looking for?  Multifamily, mixed use, retail, office, industrial?", "replies": [{"id": "g3reg79", "text": "Self storage. I have reached out to the Self Storage association to see if I can have a membership with them without affiliation to a self storage organization but they have yet to respond.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "g3u1ypv", "text": "Hi! Thanks for asking - I'm looking to get into self storage - I already have communication out to SSA", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3risa9", "text": "BiggerPockets.com", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3sa06s", "text": "find a local REIA group (Real Estate Investors Assoc) or landlord group or Exchangers meeting. Although many focus on residential, some investors have both commercial and residential.", "replies": [{"id": "g3uegw4", "text": "Thank you!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3sryps", "text": "We got another one", "replies": [{"id": "g3u1zfu", "text": "uh-oh.", "replies": [{"id": "g3umtb4", "text": "\u201cReal Estate Investing\u201d is to an extent a rigged game. It\u2019s difficult to do without any experience and impossible to do without a lot of capital.", "replies": [{"id": "g3up055", "text": "So my intent is to own a self storage facility. I already have experience managing one, now I need experience owning one. My business mentor suggested getting in touch with other commercial real estate investors. But I'm finding a lot of it has to do with retail or multi-family. \nDo you think what I'm looking into when falls into the real estate investing category? Because I feel like it doesn't.", "replies": [{"id": "g3vid2j", "text": "Self Storage is a real estate asset class. Your best bet would be to do a Joint venture with other investors and say \u201cLook You buy it, I\u2019ll manage it for you. You put in 95%, I\u2019ll put in 5%. You let me worry about all the problems and I\u2019ll do a kick ass job making it worth more money, and you give me some of the upside\u201d", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3t3of1", "text": "Are you from texas? Check out REHacking (Real Estate Hacking) does a monthly real estate investor event to meetup, learn, network, and collaborate. But since they can't do an actual meetup for now, they do a free webinar once a month about different topics in real estate investing with specialized speakers. All of their past webinars are all uploaded in their YT channel ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-DDIUFqEbV12Dpw8KH-thA](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-DDIUFqEbV12Dpw8KH-thA))  \n\n\nEven if you're not from texas, they would still be a good resource for real estate investing.", "replies": [{"id": "g3u21op", "text": "I am not from texas but hoping to relocate there soon! I will keep this in mind, thanks a bunch!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3t3r7l", "text": "I think this kinda depends on what city you're in.", "replies": [{"id": "g3u231p", "text": "Syracuse, NY. There's not much out here. lol.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3t55dq", "text": "The Freemasons.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3t6kb8", "text": "Wallstreetoasis\u2019 CRE forum is probably the best resource online", "replies": [{"id": "g3uef5r", "text": "Thank you!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3tcjyg", "text": "Connect with me @dkbythebay on ig I\u2019m a commercial broker", "replies": [{"id": "g3uawi7", "text": "Followed :)", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3ub09e", "text": "Depends on the market.  Where I am NAIOP dominates. ULI, CREW(even if you\u2019re not a woman it\u2019s a great organization)", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g3zpnot", "text": "Look up Brian Briscoe on LinkedIn - he hosts weekly networking events which are awesome for networking and learning about others", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]