That being said, NEVER carry a gun if you are not 100% capable physically and emotionally to deploy it if needed.I just feel that open carry brings poor connotations along with it (even from me an avid shooter and gun lover).

Most of real estate comes down to finding places that people with options want to live and deploying a well thought out strategy. 

This is what Wall Street does to deploy tens of millions into a marketplace quickly. 

I want to have the funds available to deploy when I find a deal.  

You can control a lot of aspects of the loan including LTV, length, type, and where to deploy the funds (BRRRR, flip, new construction).

Education is important, but I think the decision of how to invest money needs to hinge on how much capital you're likely to have to deploy to various activities and how much time you intend to invest actively managing deals versus selling your time into other productive endeavors. 

So, average cash flow is a product of the choices you make and the capital you have to deploy, as well as your lendability.I think what @Alecia Loveless wrote should be very helpful to you in terms of judging the money coming in, but it all depends on your location and investments.

Over the past decade of deploying a very successful BRRR model across the Pacific Northwest, I've been able to perfect my "cash for keys" process. 

That way you could unlock the equity quickly and deploy it on your next project.

And I was able to scale up and get 12 houses basically for free by deploying equity from my rentals to buy more.