In-person interactions are great for building trust with potential investors.Real Estate Platforms:BiggerPockets: A robust platform for connecting with private lenders and investors.Fund That Flip, PeerStreet, Groundfloor: Online platforms connecting investors with real estate projects.Social Media Groups: Facebook and LinkedIn groups dedicated to real estate investing often have private investors or lenders looking to connect.Personal Network: Often overlooked, but friends, family, and colleagues may know individuals interested in investing.Private Money Brokers: If you're working on wholesaling deals, you may find brokers who have established relationships with private money lenders.Real Estate Agents: Some agents have connections with private investors, especially those focused on investment properties.For your 50% LTV, it's good to approach investors who may be interested in lower-risk, high-equity deals.

It's not fool proof but I've weeded out a lot of people this way without spending money for marketing. 

Use that sales money to buy more stock. 

Joint ventures entail utilizing your own money to buy properties with others.

Where do you find "local" hard money lenders?

You can probably pay for a course when one of the sucker roadshows comes thru town, but it is a ton of money. 

I have the money to buy now but I would rather do creative financing and use as little money as possible out of my own pocket. looking to start with BRRR method but maybe should start with a wholesale first to fund that?

Once your emergency account has a reasonable amount in it, whatever that means to you, you might want to think about steering that payroll money into the investment savings account from each pay check and leave the emergency account money as is.

Any good resources for learning about hard money loans?

Quote from @Jaikevis Reams: In order to put a property under contract I need to provide proof of funds I know that I can get that from a hard money lender but I don’t meet there criteria for a loan approval what should I do?