I personally would approach this with a self assessment.

like - your own market. or a market a couple hours away that you can spend some time in person in. or where you went to college. or where you like to vacation.

I'm also in the stage of my investing journey where I care less about growth and more about mitigating risk.

Local and state laws are changing on the daily so I think that the right Property Manager really helps with that but hiring a PM or self managing is always a personal call.

For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, 'This person began to build and wasn't able to finish.  

You want to be able to select who rents your house and how do you know the person they sublet to will pay the rent and take care of the place?

well, I guess nobody knows where to find him and the one person who is reselling his materials is terrible at marketing and doesn't respond to email questions.

If you know it is allowed in the area you are looking, but have seen one person have a problem, I wouldn't make a big change to my thinking based on a single incident.I haven't heard of anyone having the same issue.

I netted enough to make a decent profit AND my guests and I got personalized attention that is critical to STR success.

A graph of growth or profitability gives a visual that some people may find easier to understand.