And the business (acutally 2) is two different entities as well.

I think the Perdiem is more like 59 a day but the establishment has a food and supply thing they do and offer to fill your cabinets for the 59 of course they take a cut also.

You can always pay more towards the principal when times are good and you can afford it (obviously taking a cut from your cash flow).

Is there a way that I could get a cut of the deal by connecting them? 

@Lumi Ispas  my thought for Cody was instead of blowing 2 to 5k on direct mail in an area he has no clue about.. he can spend 1 to 2k and acutally buy something.. as we know direct mail is costly and you need to commit to a full year or two.. 

The inverter is designed to dump everything it can back into the grid.In order to go off-grid, I’d have to have a cut-over switch that would take the from the existing inverter and on to an off-grid style inverter that’s designed to work with batteries, etc.  

I told him about the REI meetings they have in our area where local RE investors support each other, give advice, network, etc. to basically say "tons of people are doing this," and his first conclusion was that it must be some "investing club" that's trying to steal my money and convince me to buy real estate from them so I take on the risk and they try to get in on the management side to take a cut.

A partner might want a cut of the deal or they might be ok with you paying them a % of interest on the loan they give you. 

Are they going to mentor you for free or do they plan on taking a cut of every closing you do?

One thing I was told was a cutting board would be nice.