Where did you get the money?!?

[Seneca Stephens]

This came to mind from a blog post from Brandon Turner "3 Smart Ways to Make an Extra $1,000 a Month Through Real Estate Investing" as well as seeing quite a few success stories.  Aside from thinking how an extra $1000 a month would help me *coughstudentloanscough*  I've been still browsing, reading, absorbing information from this site but find myself wondering how people starting out funded their first real estate venture.  I've seen quite a few blogs about how to start when I just happen to find a couple of hundred thousand dollars when I washed my jeans (just joking about that) but I also wonder about those who didn't have the money flat out to spend on say a rental or a flip.