I'm also concerned that switching over to a side deal and cutting out the realtors would leave a bad taste in their mouths.

The idea is to: prehab the home to the point where it's empty shell (dry wall, no carpet, no fixtures) and then have the buyer choose or customize it to their tastes and preferences. 

There are ways around this but they seem too complicated for my taste.

Do you consider that focusing more on being a bird dog and learning more about how to find deals , what investors look for, how to do market analysis and things like that would be more beneficial at this time or should I try to get my feet wet in wholesaling and thus be more profitable and get a taste of everything as a learning experience ?

Depends on your taste for risk/management.

Some day when the market peaks I will be saying the exact opposite (think 20 years down the road when the bad taste of this recession has left everyone's mouth). 

I will get a better taste if its a safe neighborhood tonight.

(I'll admit I have champagne taste on a beer budget)  It is quite affordable and when I look at primary's I get downright depressed.  

You can figure Property Management in your numbers so when you scale you know you're still going to cash flow enough to your tastes. 

Thanksgiving dinner will NOT taste the same if things go south!!