It sounds like you're looking to balance immediate cash flow with long-term equity growth, which is a solid strategy.A few ideas to consider:Local Networking: Connect with other investors in your area or in Milwaukee who might have deals they can't take on themselves.

1. coaching- all of the "coaches" were newbies themselves with about 1 year of experience and about 1 deal under their belts and they always disappear after 2-3 months and get replaced with new "coaches".2. networking- they have a FB group, populated primarily by other newbies. go there to answer questions, and it's likely you'll get other newbies saying "good question". there are lots of newbies hoping to get into a deal, but who wants to put together a team where every single person is brand new with no experience?

Sounds like a long time but it really isn't.

In truth, my goal has always been to replace my W2 income, so the focus was on the $ coming in every month, and not so much the number of properties.  

Sounds like you might have been a little uninformed.

@Anthony Bertolino Sounds like you own some bitcoin?

I want to replace it with a small 2 bedroom 800 sq ft house.

Yeah, this one just got the gears turning on a tangent because it almost makes it sound like if you buy one subsurface right, you get them all.

It sounds cheesy, but the best way to prepare is to work with a friend or two and role-play.

If you are doing direct replacement, like replacing a sink, shower, and the stacks and pipes are staying, you probably do not.