The landlord group I belong to puts on a dinner a couple times a year for a youth center. 

Then he files them online using TurboTax, all for the cost of making him a homemade dinner.  

i'm telling you all this so that you can see that i am a genuine and relatable person. life's too short to pretend i'm a stuffy business person- i'm not. i also want to show you that i am motivated, smart, and resourceful. i have goals, but i need some help. i don't have time to waste, and i read once that Andrew Carnegie said that making good deals involves being up front and honest about what you want, so this is what i want:i want a mentor to help me to get some real experience in the field, and i want to find a reliable and fair network team. i also want someone to believe in me enough to invest in me so i can get started. what i'm willing to give:i am willing to negotiate a fair return on investments. i will share and support my network team just as much as they support me. and for a mentor, i will negotiate a fair trade(perhaps a percentage of my real estate profit for the first year) for the education. and... i will totally take some people on business dinners(and write them off on my taxes), you know, as a bonus. :)so, are any of you willing to invest in me?

Who in your spear of influence can you go out to dinner with this week that is wealthy, who is in your phone that you feel comfortable to call later than 7 pm that has all the things you aspire to gain. 

Again, consideration, celebrities have been known to accept "dates", for dinner for example, with the highest bidder at a fund raising event for some worthy cause.

Was planning on making it out tonight, although,  I had a birthday dinner with the family tonight.

even asking me out for dinner to build a business relationship for future deals.

Perhaps you could ask an investor friend in your local area who has done this type of work to give you a hand (once the tear out is complete) and to supervise what you're doing in exchange for dinner/drinks/pizza/etc.

That dude owes me a really nice dinner for that info! 

Just good old fashioned dinner, drinks and networking.