Most charge some sort of money.

And it's a lot easier to sort floating that monthly interest payment then a near $500k total right. 

I run a wholesaling company that markets in the northeast part of FL and I am looking for a new PPL company to buy "motivated" leads from.

Being someone who is interested and house flipping/ home renovation BUT is not handy at all, what are the best resources to learn and get better at this sort of stuff.

Most brokerages also don't support their agents like a good 'motivated' eXp sponsor with a vested interest in their agent's success. 

We don't want to leverage it for the sake of leveraging it, but we are sort of treading water. 

The truth is about the only credit I can give to any of them is that they got me interested in realestate and got me motivated to get involved in the game, the rest I learned by trial and error, people in the business and the biggerpockets of the 90s; creonline, who had people like you giving good advise to newbies for free.

The process of finding the people and motivating them is harder than you might expect. 

What other work do I have to put in on my end before looking for some sort of mentor to guide me through this while also making a little bit of profit for the both of us?

The loans on a house hack are going to be some of the most favorable ones you can get since it is considered an owner occupied plus you should be able to get a first time buyer bonus of some sort.