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Tori Nook

Linda Day Harrison: The Fax Machine, the Rolodex, and CRE's Digital Revolution

Welcome to this episode of The Tori Nook Talk Show! In this episode, Tori sits down with Linda Day Harrison, a 35-plus year force in commercial real estate and founder of The Broker List, one of the largest online communities exclusively for CRE professionals. Linda is also co-founder of the annual DNA of CRE Survey with Buildout, a leader behind the CREI Summit, and co-host of the annual Let's Get Social networking event at ICSC Las Vegas.

Linda started in real estate as a receptionist in Chicago, memorizing every tenant, phone number, and voice in her buildings because there was no computer, just her memory and a desk full of Rolodexes. She worked the landlord side for most of her career, keeping buildings full by staying in front of every broker in the city. She lived through the entire evolution of office technology: typewriters without correction ribbon, DOS terminals in the mid-80s with no Windows or Microsoft, broadcast fax machines, and finally email and LinkedIn, which she joined in 2004 when it barely had a million users.

They discuss the old broadcast fax system that listed available space every Monday morning, shared email addresses brokerages used before individual accounts existed, meeting tech developers who called her in as a subject matter expert, launching The Broker List as a beta in 2010, finding her first developer through a LinkedIn group post, growing from 500 early signups to nearly 11,000 today, why top brokers grab their digital footprint early, and her advice that learning to speak well is the most overlooked career skill.

🎯 Topics covered:

  • Starting as a receptionist in Chicago commercial real estate
  • Memorizing tenants, phone numbers, and voices before computers
  • Living through typewriters, DOS terminals, and broadcast fax
  • Keeping buildings full by networking with every broker in the market
  • Joining LinkedIn in 2004 before it had a million users
  • Meeting tech developers who tapped her as a subject matter expert
  • Launching The Broker List as a beta in 2010
  • Finding her first developer through a LinkedIn group post
  • Growing from 500 early signups to nearly 11,000 members
  • Why top brokers grab their digital footprint early
  • The CREI Summit and Let's Get Social at ICSC Vegas
  • Final advice: learn to speak and present yourself well