Time to jump off the cliff, but how?

[Dan Knight]

Hi all,

My name is Dan and I am currently 25 years old based in Austin, TX.  I've been listening to BiggerPockets for a while now, but am just now posting for the first time.

Back in October of 2017, under the burden of a significant amount of student loans and the realization that corporate life isn't for me, I decided to make financial freedom my number one goal.  I realized the power of real estate after reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad and from there started listening to every BP episode I could get my hands on (as well as reading any book that looked helpful).  

After deciding that real estate (specifically residential multi-family rentals for cash flow purposes) was the niche I wanted to focus on, I started volunteering after my day job at a real estate private equity start up here in Austin.  I have been working there every day after work (5pm-8pm) for about 5 months now to learn first hand how to properly acquire, rent out, and exit multi-family properties.  I feel like I am learning a lot and have been able to slowly build a team (so far a construction crew, property management company, and advisers) that are willing to work with me, but I feel as though I am starting to go into analysis paralysis.  The two main pieces I am missing are the most crucial (deals and financing).

I currently can comp/pro forma out deals I find on Zillow, and sometimes the MLS when I have access, but my main worry is financing. I currently have no real savings outside of my company's 401(K) and only a small amount of liquid stocks and cryptocurrency that I could sell.

One of the private equity firms founders suggested flipping a couple multi-family or single-family homes in order to pay off my debts and build a war chest to be used as a down payment on a rental property (I thought this sounds like a good idea).  However, I am worried that the only way I can secure financing for any type of flip would be dependent upon the salary that my corporate job (which I am desperately trying to leave) provides me.  I feel that without a salary, no bank would give me a good loan with the amount of outstanding student loans I have.  

Another idea was that if I found a good enough deal, I could find partners to go in on the deal with me (I provide the hustle, they provide the money kind of thing).  However, with this option, my worry is that too many partners in a deal will dilute my profits that I would then put into another deal.

I have also considered house hacking as I have not used my FHA loan yet, but am not out of my current lease until April of 2019.

Apologies for the long post, but I am feeling a bit stuck in terms of finding, as well as financing, my first deal.  Maybe this just spawns from my desperation to be free from the 8-5 cubicle life, but thought I'd reach out to the BiggerPockets community for a fresh perspective.

Anyone ever been here?  Any advice to break through and get the ball rolling?

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Dan