Allen,

There are differences in the people that roam SOT.  Some are people who just want to know about the industry, some are mortgage lenders, some are vendor managers, some are title companies, some are right-of-way agents and some are landman trying to figure out what to do with the industry down.  We all run title in some way or another but unless you have actually owned an abstracting company wherein you are working for multiple companies in a day, you do not have the same concerns and pressures as they do.  It takes a long time to build a business, a lot of time marketing a business, and different issues about how the work is trickling down to them, etc.  It's a different boat than being with one broker for a long time and getting paid 2x a month such as a landman receives.  Some abstractors have done commercial cell towers because again that is a one by one order...some have done some right-of-way work, such as me, but if you never work as a right-of-way agent you don't purchase the easements.  Title examiners examine title that has already been researched and again don't have the same concerns and issues as those who own a courthouse abstracting business.  If you don't break it down into different groups then you will be unlikely to get to the issues that just affect your niche in the market.  You can change what you are pursuing in your career from time to time but it is important to find one or multiple groups to be in that is exactly what you are doing at that time.