As you read these books, watch the BiggerPockets podcasts.

When you say you want to prioritize cash flow over equity, you want to watch out for people honing in on that and selling you "good cash flow" deals which will be in D neighborhoods and will come with high capital expenditures and harder tenancies.

I still watch them sometimes since every day, while eating lunch at work, I watch real estate-related videos on YouTube. 

Have you used their services or only watched their videos?

.- >65K in rent collected- having someone to bring in Amazon packages when it is raining outside- generally having someone to watch over the property when out of town oftenI think the headache is worth it.

I also watch occupancy rates and adjust if bookings are low.

From watching YouTube gurus and listening to BiggerPockets podcasts?

Give me that and watch me work.  

Nobody watches your money like you do, you'll learn how to manage, so you can manage a manager later and you'll save precious early-years cash flow, which allows you to scale faster, especially in the first 5 years.

I've watched  it unfold many times over the years.