In need of some pointers

[Jacob Jesse Hodge]

Hello, my name is Jacob Hodge and I am 19 years old. I started a construction business with my father at 16 (after leaving highschool because it wasn't for me and graduating online). For the first year we renovated houses and such, so not only do I have the experience but so do my employees. I have begun researching real estate investing in earnest these last two months. I figured it was time I stopped wishing for more money and started doing some thing about it. The problem is, no matter how many blog posts or forums I read, or books I have, I still come back to the same basic problem: I have no clue how the documentation side of things works. Talking to people has always been one of my strong suits, my teachers said I was a natural diplomat, however I work with my business during the day and most weekends (my parents made some not so great choices and now I am trying my hardest to pay off our debt and start this venture), so it is difficult for me to go to real estate meet ups, although I am going to be trying to attend them regularly for now on. I need guidance on how to go about getting my first deal from the paperwork side of things. As well as simply meeting other investors. I dont have anyone in my immediate contacts that knows anything about this, in fact my family and some friends are incredibly against this. They believe it is impossibly foolish to invest with OPM. I simply believe they've messed up so many times with loans that they are displacing their fear upon me. I am taking the time to educate myself as thoroughly as possible so that I don't mess up with OPM and repeat their mistakes. I know I am fully capable of doing this myself, but I would rather not stumble around and lose money on the first deal or two before I figure out the processes correctly. I also realise speed is a necessity when using loans, and I am not confident enough in my abilities to accept OPM at the moment because i might lose their money on top of my own. If I could find someone to shadow for three days a week that'd be great, I'd even be willing to work for free and pay back a fifth of the earnings from my first year as an investor. I can have a contract drawn up if someone does decide to take me under their wing. I have many resources to draw upon, but lack initial capital (my family is in debt and this is the way I see of being able to help them) and more importantly lack investor knowledge to draw upon. Reading all of your accumulated knowledge is fantastic, but it truly pales in comparison to hands on experience. I am also willing to travel to shadow someone. Now, I also know that all of this is just a bunch of words and no investor would take someone at face value. So if no one is willing to allow me to shadow them, I simply ask to be pointed in the direction of an educational resource I can use to understand the documentation process. 

Thank you for your time and consideration, 

A hopeful apprentice,

Jacob Hodge