With creative pursuits like writing books, music, or making videos, the main investment is time. 

I think your examples in the other replies, lower in this thread, speak to motive/intention....yours is pure and true to the pursuit of knowledge, and the one i'm complaining about is not...and their conduct/style/motive/intention creates a less than optimal environment for me to maximize the value from my time spent on BP....IMHO  

Good luck in your pursuits!

We’re trying to get our investment pursuits off the ground but I’m having a hard time piecing everything together.

If your business model depends on whether or not the enforcing authority has the resources and political resolve to pursue and catch you, there is a chance you should be reconsidering your business model.The fact that you are questioning the moral implications of this pursuit is a good indication of your integrity.

I hope that even if I can't help all my closer friends, I can nudge just one or two towards the same pursuit financial freedom and a better life. 

The only negative could be if you've filed your tax returns with multiple Schedule C's for each of your pursuits, but haven't been consistent with each of them for two years.

The outcome is now we get to live in a really nice house for free and can use the income we generate for our pursuit of financial freedom.Lessons learned?

Were you guys able to transform Zillow/Redfin hits into pursuits on deals, or successful deals?  

And if you have your RE license it will help you not only in your future pursuits for real estate and your financial freedom but it will let you build up a side hustle that can break you free of the 9-5 while still having the security of the W-2 until you have a client base built up.