Brand New Investor trying to find my start!

[Edward Webb]

I'm brand new and I'm still going through the forum and learning and reading.

I've found my interest lies primarily in commercial multi-family. But I've been reading so much I get myself confused. I'm going to continue reading but some answers and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
TL;DR if you had $100k to start your investment career in real estate where would you start?

My dreams: Owning enough rental properties to never miss a moment of my future children growing up. I would like to teach others through an online presence on how to become financially free, and consult the next generation that wouldn't otherwise be able to afford consulting on how to take their lives to the next level.
What I would like to happen: I'm in the DFW area. I'm planning on going back to college at UNT and getting a degree in finance. I'm going to live in a small apartment and use my GI bill to go to school and live off of. I'm considering going into the reserves(currently finishing my active contract) for various reasons. I'd like to purchase a property with an NOI of $30-50k while putting down $80-120k. I'm not even sure that it's possible. But in the short term I can manage and do the handy-man work myself to a certain extent.
The goal: wherever I start, the income from the investment will roll into my next investment, becoming a powerful snowball of income to build my dreams and security off of.

What I'm doing right now: I'm going to begin working on my real estate license soon, I think that would be a great way to network with people. I also have plans to begin some side hustles suggested by a biggerpockets blog post. I am researching and doing a basic analysis of properties every day. Once I get my car on Thursday I will be driving around neighborhoods and looking at any and all nearby properties. I'm also looking for my own small apartment to live in.

If it were possible: the short term goal is to buy a property near enough to my school that I can just live there, I'd even pay rent to myself so the rent sheets wouldn't get messed up. But the properties that I'm seeing are out of my price range. I don't qualify right now for a normal mortgage or a VA loan.

So where do you guys think I should start? I've found some cheap properties that are in Arkansas and far western Texas that could possibly make that money. But I haven't looked at them. And the idea of LoI's are kind of intimidating to me. As I mentioned, I'm new to all of this. I would really love a mentor or a coach, I'm not exactly sure how I'd pay in the long term. But I'd have to figure it out!

If you think I should take a completely different route I'm open to ideas. I've even considered trying to buy a storage facility or a car wash.
What kind of down payment % should I expect on a commercial loan? 30%? I have near perfect credit if that even matters.