Explain snowballing to a newbie

[Jennifer Bowen]

Hi all,

I'm interested in buying vacation rentals for cashflow. But I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how to snowball this into something sustainable. 

I make very little money. No problem. I live frugally and have a decent down payment saved up. But, for instance, using the $4,200 a year earned on the Bigger Pockets "Real Math" example (https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/1...), how do you turn $4,200 a year into something you can live off of? 

Cashflow is a wonderful thing. I have realized the wisdom of acquiring assets that put money in your pocket instead of simply saving. But it also took me years to save my down payment. It seems like it would take me quite a long time to save up for a second property and snowball this thing.

If I'm getting $4,200 off a $100,000 investment, how is that different from getting a 4% dividend stock? 

Can someone help me put the pieces together? 

Glad to be here. Hope to learn a lot from you - and eventually give back. :)