Every day I mark how many calls to leads I made, how many people I contacted (and was it email, call, text) from my database/past clients....how many social media posts I answered or made, etc.I don't know if that's automating, but every week I can quickly see how much of each money generating thing I did.Do you use Google Calendar? 

Hard Money finance, with about $5k of my own funds going into some over-budget costs.

Quote from @Marc Zak: In the market where I live (San Diego), appreciation has been strong and many predict it will continue to appreciate in the long term.However, with current interest rates (6% at best) and property tax (2%), the annual cost burden is 8%.Am I correct in saying that appreciation has to be above 8% annually (plus whatever my maintenance and vacancy costs are) for me to make any money in this scenario if the property is cash flow neutral?

We're in the business to make money right?

In the latter I would much rather have my money and be in control. 

@Ella Marie the Pro's are you can build long term wealth, the Cons are you can lose money if you cannot properly quantify risk.

I'm having a very hard time with them and on the verge of losing my earnest money on a house purchased to flip.

You are losing money on both properties. 

When you start raising money, the kinds of investors you're going to get are individuals who want to make a better return than the stock market. 

.: Most Hard money likely will not be interested due to owner occupancy (OO).