My advice would be to start small with your first deals to gain experience before scaling up.

Quote from @Jay Fayz: Hello everyone,I've recently been exploring real estate as a potential career path and I'm looking for advice on the best entry-level job to gain experience and knowledge.

I don't have that experience or too much knowledge outside of my own research.

Sounds Like you have the operational experience to turn the place around and make it a winner. 

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

Not having experience qualifying prospects I would think that the leads you would get from here, if any, would be..... challenging. 

Being young will present challenges in a field where experience is highly valued not just with lenders.

If that's my experience in a small town, I suspect it's probably everywhere.

My experience with friends/some clients is get their numbers via whatever method you can and reach out via the phone.

It will probably depend on your experience and connections with lenders.