Starting out: Flips or Rentals?

[Jon Stephens]

I've started looking at a variety of deals to try and figure out the first step I want to take to get things going.  My ultimate goal is cash flow for financial freedom, so I know my end-game is for sure going to involve rentals, but I've read a lot of advice to start with flips.  

I've got about $175k cash to invest.  I've scoped out a collection of units that will cash flow $2,000/month for about $600k. The BP calculators considered this a pretty strong deal.  My concern is that buying this will leave me too ill-liquid to roll the snowball any further in any reasonable amount of time.  

Would it be better to do flips until I get a bit larger egg?  Would it be better to purchase perhaps lower cash-flowing properties that won't require as much capital in parallel?

For what it's worth, I get that every situation is different and ultimately everybody has to make the decision for themselves... That said, as a newbie looking to surround myself with as much sage advice as I can before I jump!