As the relationship progressed so did my responsibilities, I was knocking on doors on houses that were in preforeclosure, going to auctions at the county courthouse, and I was putting in offers by my lonesome all while playing division one football and getting my degree.  

Interacting face to face will help tremendously with forming those critical relationships to aid your progress.

If I could go back and find a highly competent, well-informed mentor for that amount of money, I'd jump on the opportunity in a heartbeat.The most I paid for real estate coaching was $150 and while I haven't totally stepped on my crank yet in the five years since I bought my first investment property, the speed at which I've progressed has not impressed me greatly.

I have many a family as proof to that and I personally refuse to be that victim. having a paid off primary residence weather single family or multi only insulates me from most of the worst of society and allows me to be very stress free and happy and conserve my momentum towards my goals with less obsticals. by having a paid off residence that's is a multi family I could still make progress even if I was only getting paid disability from the government. and make massive progress if I indeed to find a entry level job into my carrer field as a engineer.

PS I plan on using this post to document my progress.

They feel safe working for an employer who will provide them with benefits and the "security" of a steady paycheck.

@Matthew Amabile  Here are some progress photos of the 4 unit im rehabbing.

Your life insurance is meant to be a steady force.

I am going through a similar situation at the moment - I decided to stick with a deal in progress even though it meant taking a slight cut in my asking price, just to keep moving toward my goals. 

But as we've progressed down our REI path, we've become more knowledgeable about, and thus comfortable with, managing risk.