Short-term goals might include acquiring your first property, learning the basics of property management, or networking with other investors.

It's time, though, for me to expand into new opportunities and learn more tricks of the trade to grow a robust portfolio.

I'm curious to hear from other landlords and property managers what their experience has been using any of those.

As you're managing longer leases and not worrying about toilets and trash. 

Let the conversations you have build your confidence and when you are ready, begin building your portfolio.  

and from what i understand, you can self manage these days

Who's going to manage them for you? 

Having worked in and around real estate including loan side for both residential and smaller specialized commercial (medical), renovation and new construction/new build with a broker & brokerage founder (who has since retired) I know from him that in addition to reputable property managers, contractors and architects we had accountants including a forensic accountant on the loan side and a handful of real estate attorneys with one on retainer.

I used to use spreadsheets, then moved to when QB as my portfolio grew, now on Digb because I have multiple LLC and I don't want to have to buy QB subscription for each.

I have recently come across a portfolio with 8 homes.