I am constantly learning through podcasts, books, and networking, and I feel this inner pressure to just jump in and get that first deal, but am also cautious because of the market.

I now use a real estate CPA from cpa-moms.

You could also look into wholesaling, but that's a lot more hands on in the sense you have to really put a lot of time into searching for deals, and networking with people.

I recommend you going onto meetup.com and start looking for local real estate around you and network! 

Looking for a referral for a CPA in the Chicago area to help out with taxes.

I have been soaking up as much info as I can these past few weeks and would like to start networking with anyone in the Chicagoland area.

You could also ask the bookkeeper which CPA does he/she collaborate with and then verify the competence level with with the CPA.If you are concerned about the safety of your financial documents, most cloud based accountants use software (Quickbooks, file sharing services, etc) with bank-level encryption. 

Developing a relationship with the students is key (mostly this just means leave them alone and let them do their own thing) because they will then suggest the place to their friend network when they move out/graduate.

The only way to get it done these days is to sign up for all the REO sites (Xome, Equator, HomePath, Res.net) and wait unless you know someone who can get you into some of the larger scale REO events to network with the asset managers.

Once you get your network built, it might actually get easy because you won't have to do marketing... your network will send you leads.Is that helpful?