I am tried of working for everyone else and not seeing as much fruit of my labor as I should have. 

WiFi radios use about 100mw of juice.

If the property is owned outright by the owner ie no mortgage then there is a 99.9% chance they will pay up or sell as they arent going to lose 300-400k.If the property is mortgaged the bank will cure the note as they aren't going to lose say 200k over 10k.In many states large institutions will buy up/bid tax deeds for what seems like small profits as even 3% return in 3-6 month will juice up thier numbers.

When I first started, I was also in your shoes of not knowing where to start and feeling really overwhelmed.I just bought a 1,000 unit apartment complex and what has guided me over the years is to get really clear on my "WHY" or my purpose.Here is a link that you might find helpful, where I quit my job to pursue real estate 100%.I quit my CPA Job to buy Large Apartment BuildingsIn my opinion, get really clear on your WHY as it will give you the "juice" to keep you moving forward.Good luck!!

Too often people get locked into one contractor and they feel rushed by the loan officer, so they just go with the lowest hanging fruit contractor and end up getting beat down the road for not have any comparisons to other better contractors they could have used.

But unless you see some value add items you can do to increase your cash flow, seems not enough juice for the squeeze to me. 

Go after the low hanging fruit and the investments that produce outsized returns (i.e. will a $400 used washer/dryer lead people to pay $25 more per unit per month in a 3 family property - because that is 225% per annum). 

Thanks @Braden Smith...ahhh, yes, but after first wearing myself out doing exactly that for about 5 years, I've now burned through multiple assistants doing things like going to the courthouse for probate, squeezing all the juice out of the mls and public records, etc. 

@David Hedges if you are trying to juice your returns then you must learn to self manage remotely imo like most of the STR owner’s do on this site, myself included.

Either way, it all begins with education and relationships. hiring a mentor before you have a basic understanding of business and a vision of what you want to accomplish is seldom fruitful.