Brand new to Real Estate - Help!

[Christopher Turpaud]

A friend of mine has been investing in Real Estate for 7 years and turned me on to the idea a couple months ago. Long term I would like to focus on flipping homes so as to avoid property management and tenants. But I am open to other suggestions. My friend recommended finding a niche and sticking with that. I am not planning on quitting my day job anytime soon but rather my hope is to gradually grow the amount of income I am able to bring in over the next 5 years to be in a position to make Real Estate my full time gig. 

My goal for now is to become as educated as possible. I literally know almost nothing about Real Estate. What things should I be doing now to get started? What are some potential pit falls to avoid as I begin? I also am not in a position to fund any investment opportunities out of pocket. I have great credit, but what kind of creative investment opportunities exist for someone like me who doesn't have the finances to start out?