Time overcomes low cash flow to some degree... rents go up while your mortgage stays the same and your tenant pays down your mortgage.  

It’s just more than I can afford, and I don’t want to offend you with a low offer.”

Otherwise, if the numbers make sense and your credit is good, it should be easy to find a lender.

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?

There's a few different ways to focus on a lower rate such as with house hacking and making the investment your primary residence, requesting a significant closing credit from the sellers for standard rate buy-downs (which I've had great success with recently), or utilizing lenders who offer short term rate lowering solutions such as 2-1 rate buy downs (again, ideally paid for by the sellers).

I already had my own business, some cash, lines of credit and a solid contractor as a partner which is how I have grown my portfolio so aggressively over the past few years.Unfortunately, $8k is not going to get you very far despite the promises of no money down investing.

You do need to have steady employment, decent credit, and not be drowning in debt.

I'm broke as a joke but I have good credit how do I get started 

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?

High demand and still relatively low entry costs.