Borrowing Cash From Private Money Lenders

[Caleb P.]

I am 23 years old and just graduated college about 8 months ago. I do business with a family member of mine, where we invest in rental properties and do flips on the side. We have 12 properties total of which 1/3 belongs to me. The way our partnership is set up is my Uncle fronts the money for the purchase of the properties and I am the managing member. Our company pays out 8% annual interest on any money  that we personally invest into our company. I manage all the properties and do all the maintenance in order to receive 33% of the profits that comes in. On the flips that we do, I do all the work myself and hire help (which isn't much because my uncle wants to save as much money as possible) for all the big stuff i can't do. He has distanced himself from the day to day management side of things and receives 66% of the profits that come in. I am very greatful for the opportunity my uncle has given me, but i think there is a better and more profitable way for me to do business in real estate, because I am doing all the work and earning such a small portion. I recently attended a seminar and the main topic was finding private money. At the seminar they told us that there are people everywhere out there that want to invest their money in a vehicle besides the bank where they earn basically nothing, or the stock market which can be very volatile. They told us to find private investors and offer them 10% to 12% on money lent out, and tell them that it is secured by the mortgage and insured by hazardous insurance. Private money lenders won't be able to resist because their money is insured and secured, unlike the stock market,  and is earning 10% to 12%. They told us 1) go out and find private investors 2) get their money so that when good deals hit the market you can be ready to invest 3) go out and find the good deals in the market so that you can invest it and make money. They said that paying out 10% to 12% for money lent  to me is no big deal because if you find an actual good deal the profits will be large enough to cover that 10% to 12% that you are paying out to private lenders in interest. So here's my dilemma. I just got my first credit card, so banks probably won't be willing to lend me money because of the very little credit that i have. I want to go out and find private money, but i don't want to pay 10%t to private lenders if i don't have a good deal already lined up, or if it takes 3 months in order to find a really good deal. Then i am just wasting my money away by paying 10% non annual for those three months when i don't have a deal. However, obviously it would be ideal to have the money from private lenders before the deals hit the market because good deals only last a few days, hours, or even minutes. Do you have any suggestions as to how i should go about getting started up, and finding private lenders? Is it irresponsible to borrow private lenders cash whenever I don't even have a deal already lined up yet? Please give any advice.