What questions should I be able to answer before starting out?

[David McClain]

As the title asks, what questions should I be able to answer on my own before starting out.

I'm new to the mindset of RE investing (although I've owned my home for about 7 years now) and have been trying to learn as much as I can. 

I get that there might not be any way to really 'know' when I'm ready, but the more I read/listen/learn, there does seem to be a pattern of fairly common problems people run across, or steps that they have to take.

My current goal is to try to buy my first rental property before my next birthday in May. (Whether or not I reach the goal isn't as important as having something to aim towards). 

I understand that sometimes you just have to take the leap, but I don't want to jump in too quickly. I don't want to be in a position where, if I would have asked, people could have said "Yea, you're obviously not quite ready, you should have done A,B,C, or learned X,Y,Z".