Thanks for sharing your goals and positive energy.
If I had to pinpoint one quick thing (rather than making a laundry list for you), I would probably advise a new buy and hold rental investor that......
1) If you self manage, you will find some tenants have personal management issues; your goal will be to get them paying rent on time and following the rules (that is it).
One thing I have seen in 13 years as a landlord working with tenants and few fun years on BP interacting with investors/landlords on BP is that we have a divergence and even a potential conflict brewing that a newbie can fall prey to.
That is, the folks on BP are some of the most self motivated, financial savvy, and smart folks in the country but their tenants not so much, especially in working class or lower income strata (think mid level, "C" or below).
The tenants are often great people but they often live paycheck to paycheck (like about half the country) and they may lack other skills that can manifest themselves in all sorts of ways (be it communication, ability to handle the clutter on the porch, or afford to fix the car leaking some oil on your driveway).
In fact, I see about 3/4 of the conflicts for landlords on BP relate to items like late payments, tidiness, a broke this or that, pets (or family members) run amok, getting along with other tenants/neighbors, not following rules, noise, smells, problems with move outs, or even issues with applicant pool (like credit or job history).
When you step back, you have to realize if they (all your tenants) had excellent financial, interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills--they may not be renting from you (but own their own place or even their own rentals!!). They may be on BP!
So, to sum it up, you often have the folks with the best management skills housing those with suspect personal management skills or at least with areas that could use in improvement. Realize that fact you are half way home. It is what it is... Then you can put any negative emotions aside and develop systems, strategies, and skills to manage your property and people (screening, handy skills, good scripts for common issues etc)...
Of course, some great tenants are just in an area a short time, choose to rent for other reasons, etc. But for many it is the only option. In fact, the former (in my case) often move on to buy while the latter often lack the credit or ability to save a down payment (and can be very long term tenants).
At the end of the day, these folks (the renters) can either make you rich or crazy in my view, depending on your approach.
Some landlords go nuts and their blood pressure spikes when they get a call about something broken, see a messy unit or a tenant is a day late on rent. I don't think these folks will last for the long haul. Heart attack candidates actually...
Others hold off on the screaming, hit the pause button and take a deep breath. They find out more about the situation and try to respond in a way that keeps the tenancy (and their sanity) intact.
They know they screened as well as they could for their market, and issues happen from time to time, so they get to work doing a minor repair, using a calm script as a reminder, and effective communication to get the tenancy on track.
They do that year after year (decade after decade even) and meanwhile all the rents collected (which have gone up nicely btw) have paid down their mortgage; then they even notice a similar multiplex down the street sold for an eye popping price... Appreciation.....
All your great person management skills paid off (and you avoided any stress related illness!) all the while housing folks who needed a place to live.. Sounds like a unsung super hero story to me!
Best of luck!