I would prove it with numbers, a long term plan, and then hammer the private financing angle. 

All these stories about bad wholesalers and wholesale deals have the haters constantly ham,mer this forum that wholesaling is bad, don't you do it.Well, all I have to do to prove wholesaleing is not bad is show one case that a wholesale deal helped someone where an agent couldn't and I win.Now let's take your case.You do the exact oppositeWhat you did was prove that you, and specifically you, can do anything a wholesaler does, doesn't at all prove that all agents or all people can do what a wholesaler can offer.In other words,  All dogs are animals, sure, but that doesn't imply all animals are dogs.So I give you this, very nice try, but nope, you are factually and scientifically wrong here my friend!

@Michael Plante -  In market, I'd do the followingI'd source the deals through DM, 1099's driving for dollars and AI scripted text bots that hammer specific lists with scripts focused on solving the problem faced by that list.

Keep the rental you currently have, don’t get hammered by taxes, but also have cash to invest into another property. 

I had an X partner try that  and he got hammered.. :)   

You guys clearly aren’t ready for that convo.simply not true  these guys break through the LLC all the time I have more than 10 of them  ( LLC's) and get hammered daily.. 

Maybe he knows something about lifesaver hammers or tool bags that he can build a prototype? 

I am guessing we would need a lawyer involved to hammer out the details to become the lender.

Quote from @Shronda Sledge: You don't need to have a LLC in the beginning but I would strongly recommend getting one after a few deals.

Find a good attorney in the area and both of you should sit down with them and you can get it hammered out.