Most to all franchises require the broker pay a fee per agent per year. 

Your CPA needs to up on the state reporting requirements for CA as relates to the Franchise Tax Board and the "clawback".

@Antoine Thompson buy a franchise like Property Management INC.

@Kyle Cox  I plan to get up to Nashville soon, while I am interested in the locally market and what opportunities are left, the nature of my visit would be to open up a second Gus's fried Chicken franchise.

Are mentors easier to find in independent small RE businesses or franchise companies?

Lets say you know a small franchise that Covid didn't destroy and they want to expand.  

you can possibly find a car wash franchise too which will give you a proven system.

In Tennessee we don’t pay excess and franchise tax on single family. 

Each LLC (formed in CA or out) will cost you an $800 minimum CA franchise tax fee for each year you file if you are a CA resident.

An example of active investing would be flipping a property or owning a franchise in your IRA.