I’ve heard numerous times to seek a mentor and just overall someone to look up to and learn from.

I live quite modestly relative to my income and I'm young enough that I'm fine jumping into a job again if I need to, so I've got a pretty high risk tolerance (so long as it has comparable reward potential, of course).I've been planning on just making money off the investment income, but I've always been rather interested in real estate investing and it occurred to me recently that I will probably have an easier time getting a mortgage now with my income than I will in a couple months when I don't have an active income.

I’m trying to balance the risk and the reward but it seems like everyone has a different scale.

There are numerous options available.  

@Jeremy England, thankfully it only takes 1-2 a year to be rewarded for the chasing effort....of course, we're all hoping for 100X's that (ah, the good old days).

(Disclaimer:  I do not sell, install or get any reward from any vinyl flooring manufacturer. 

Sometimes it's ambiguous, but even then, why should I bother with the company that has numerous unresolved lawsuits, versus another company that is virtually the same but has none.

You all can share the risks and rewards.

I have had numerous issues with the PM not fixing things at all or in a timely fashion.

Since then I've read, and continue to read, numerous real estate and self-development books.