First purchase towards a career in flipping/rentals.

[Daniel Hansen]

My question takes a little prefacing here so bear with me. I am a 25 year old South Denver native and have worked as a carpenter for my fathers residential remodeling company on and off for the last 10 years (throughout High School and College), since graduating college I have become increasingly interested in the business side of residential homes and have therefore been a licensed Realtor for 18 months now. I have my father's 30 year old contracting company at my disposal, I work directly with an in house mortgage lender at my office as well as a property management company (which I would primarily use on a consulting only basis to begin with) and I have 2-3 options for creatively financing my first few deals. I have been listening to the Bigger Pockets podcasts ad nauseum for several months now while I work for my father (when I'm not working with clients I keep the money flowing by doing so) and one of the main things that I have taken away from all of the guests is the majorities' response to the question of "what do you think separates successful investors from those who give up, fail, or never get started with investing?" which I have noticed primarily involves something along the lines of "fear of the unknowns" or basically just to "jump in with both feet and quit making excuses". This is something that I have grown increasingly aware of and believe in; that there will always be unknowns for your first deal, there will always be reasons why you "shouldn't yet", and I just feel as though I've almost gotten myself to a tipping point of just pulling the trigger (obviously once I've run the numbers and believe I've found a good deal).

So my question is should I try and link up with and shadow/work on a sweat equity basis/offer to help out in any capacity with other investors in my area before I purchase my first deal on my own, or is that route more advised for people with little to no construction and or Real Estate background? I certainly don't want to be the kind of person that waits and waits and therefore increasingly grows hesitant to ever get started. I am absolutely 100% committed to pursuing Real Estate in some capacity or another for a very long time, I am incredibly intrigued by the "no ceiling" aspect of how far you can take this business and I thoroughly enjoy every facet of residential homes from construction to sales to ownership. So based on my brief description of my background, would you all say I'm ready to take the risk on my own, or would it still be highly advised to work directly with someone who is currently successful at doing so? Any insight, advice, or ideas would be greatly appreciated, I love Bigger Pockets and am excited to have joined this community of incredibly resourceful and creative people!!