Good luck trying to find consensus in a public forum. Try to network with local investors first. The advice you are getting here might not apply to your local market at all. Try to find a mentor that has been in the situation you are in and learn what they did and how they started and scaled their business.
The RE license is absolutely worth it. Anyone that says otherwise is just plain ignorant. Start building relationships with local wholesalers and get on their mailing list. Just analyze the deals they start sending you for the first couple of months. Once you receive a deal, analyze the numbers, research the neighborhood, drive the property and do everything you would do if you were to proceed with it. This will get you acclimated to analyzing deals fast and also grow your knowledge about each neighborhood. Now, you can also get on the MLS and search for deals in those neighborhoods once you have analyzed a couple of deals in those neighborhoods. Also figure out which price point you want to flip. In my experience, doing fewer projects at the higher price point made a lot of sense. However that doesn't mean that is the best option for you. Network, educate yourself and good luck with whatever you proceed to do.