Then I found a specific niche / role / talent that I liked and felt I could get excellent at that would contribute to my partners success, ultimately helping my success.  

Unlike John, I'll contribute some advice that might actually help you since after all, that's what this site is supposed to be for. 

@Eugene MasonMake sure you listen to all the podcasts, read the blogs and contribute to the forums!

Also, you are not required to make annual contributions. 

hello. i am in north atlanta. i dont have any experience to contribute, but i am glad to meet like minded local investors that we might work together in the future. ive listened to the BP podcast for some time now, can learn a lot of tips and advice from them, highly recomended

However, at the beginning I didn't really have much to contribute. 

have laundry room on each floor and eating area and set of rules in kitchen area. met a lot of travelers who stay at hostels and they have setup like that. there was one where they had a weekly dinner and had to contribute towards food prep and cooking to keep cost down and for laundry they had washer/dryers. 

An additional benefit seems to be the ability to pay my kids out of the LLC so that they'd also have some earned income in order to start contributing to their own retirement accounts. 

I am excited to contribute to this forum and to continue to learn.  

Here you can turn one year's tax return (or one year's contribution to a self-directed IRA) into a down payment on a new rental property.