For example, I have a client who lives in Franklin, TN and purchased a second home downtown Nashville, TN with the intention of using it when conducting business downtown, entertaining clients, etc...  

Look for areas with high need for rentals, growing numbers of people, and rising business activity.

Does anyone have profitable ideas for utilizing former car washes as investments? 

Go watch a couple of times to get an idea of where you need to be. 

I value the role of having a solid network, which I've established in the Kansas City architecture realm, and am excited about getting to know you all in the real estate business in the KC Metro area! 

So I met with a gentleman yesterday who is an Executive and Business Coach.

Also, most decent STR property managers will be happy to offer projections for properties, or even realtors who do a lot of STR business as well. 

Even if you create a non-CA LLC, if you are managing the business from California, you will likely be deemed to be "doing business" in California and therefore likely subject to CA taxes.

I definitely don't like the idea of putting $10k up front for a program that is not guaranteed to work.

On its face, bi-weekly sounds like a bad idea.