Lowering Expenses or Cash Flow or Both???

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I recently wrote a post about wanting to house hack in Socal to lower my living expenses and I received a lot of great feedback and advice. I am also just as interested in buy and hold investments in the Cleveland market to create some passive income, i.e. cash flow. I've been listening to some podcast and the path that some successful investors have pursued is to first lower their living expenses and save money, then pursue cash flowing strategies.

Here in Cali, I'd be using a FHA loan. Ideally, a 203K for a multifamily, but a SFR could still be a good personal investment.

In Cleveland, I'd apply the BRRRR strategy using a hard money lender for the purchase and a portfolio lender to refinance.

So, it seems I could do both at the same time, but most days my head is spinning just trying to focus on one or the other. In trying to stay focused on "one thing" should I first secure the real estate that allows me to save, then and only then, do I start to pursue obtaining out of state real estate???