Once you know what they needs most, put a ton of effort in to solve that problem for them.

Small loans take just as much time as a larger loan, so they may need to justify the effort. 

Rather than going to meetups only to give my sales pitch and try to find potential deals, I have found that being genuinely curious and a learner about different people's strategies and experiences has led to much better conversations and relationships, and those relationships lead to potential deals and referrals.

The waste found it's way to the outhouse via the efforts of one 12 year old kid.

The basic process is illustrated below.To keep this post in a reasonable length I will focus only on the first 5 steps, which if done well will make the remaining steps minimal effort on you.Define Your Goals and Resources"If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." ...Yogi BerraWithout defining your goals, it will be hard to know where to start the journey and to see whether you can reach your goals.

First, you need to decide where you want to focus your efforts.

Finding a deal right now is tough, but the effort will be worth it!

We give our sellers genuinely our best and highest offer.

Like said, in the last 5 years, had I stuck to doing what you're doing (which I have done a few times as well) I could probably have accumulated the same number of building lots in prime Asheville neighborhoods, with more certainty, less effort, less risk, and with no more capital than we have invested now (about 600k).

I lead a team, and I don't want to be liable for other people's genuine mistakes, that haven't happened yet but will probably happen eventually.