First rental property

[Akono Hite]

I am a first time poster, but have checked out the site literally for years!  I just have a question and figured it would be a good first time question.  
I currently live in a small town in Montana.  I have been here for 12 years.  Two years ago, I purchased a 4b 2 1/2ba town house in my town, which is a college town.  I have never been totally happy here but I am stuck here due to parenting issues so I decided to live to the fullest and try to progress while I am here.

I am now at a crossroad where I am ready to leave here for greener pastures.  I have a dream of being a real estate investor and want to leave here and acquire some properties.  My question is this should I sale my home or turn it into a rental and count it as my first property?  I will have about 15k in an account to service the property if needed and am trying to set up a team as I would like to self manage because my mortgage wouldn't leave much cash flow after rent is paid so I would like to try to keep some money for myself.  I dont have any other experience managing properties other then the few years of research that I have done.  Some advice from experienced investors would be appreciated to get me headed in the right direction.  Thanks!