This was a great learning curve and will humbly do it all over again.

Please understand this is my humble opinion only! 

Quite humbling.

While i was humbled it was not something I was personally interested in.

You CAN NOT target motivated sellers.The only way to get in touch with motivated sellers is for you to make it extremely easy for them to find you.Going after lists will be your doom.If you have $30K to spend on lists, sure, due to sheer volume you are bound to get a deal with some luck, sure.But if you come along with a humble budget, forget it.The reason larger budgets work better is because you can send a huge volumes.

Being humble, having a positive attitude, meeting people, and constantly learning new things will make the process even faster.

My humble opinion.  

You would be pleasantly surprised what you find and that people are willing to teach and help for little to nothing if you're willing to be humble and offer some value for their time.

Also look for someone humble.

Sure, but it's called creative financing which of course we teach, and in my humble opinion requires someone who knows what they are doing to properly put it together.