Also one thing that I find most folks struggle with in this business is their own capital  doing HML takes capital especially if your trying to scale U need down payments you need reserves for tax's insurance  most of the time you have to pay your people in advance and wait for the draws etc etc.. flipping with volume you need a lot of your own personal cash..Or you need a capital partner  one or the other. 

The service data sheet that came with the 10-year-old Hotpoint (GE) 18-cubic-foot top-mount no-frost in my house says that with the freezer knob at 5 (on a scale of 1 to 9) and the fresh-food knob (if equipped) at C, which is also the middle, you should have:70 F ambient: Fresh food 33-39 F, freezer -4 to +2 F, percent run time 26 to 36%90 F ambient: Fresh food 33-41 F, freezer -4 to +4 F, percent run time 40 to 56%The service data sheet that came with my 3-year-old Frigidaire (Electrolux) 18-cubic-foot top-mount no-frost at my rental says that with no load, the doors closed, and the controls set in the middle, you should have:65 F ambient: Fresh food 35-40 F, freezer +2 to +8 F, percent run time 25% to 35%90 F ambient: Fresh food 35-40 F, freezer 0 to +5 F, percent run time 45 to 55%Another rule of thumb I have heard is that if you have a box/tub of ice cream in the freezer, it should be soft enough that you can scoop it - not a solid block but not runny either.Like @Jennifer Rysdam and @Joe Splitrock said, cleaning the coils can help. 

People use this as a strategy to scale and build their net worth.

If you want to be an active investor, there's no reason to invest in syndications unless you are looking for some diversification into a different product type (or geography) or would like economies of scale beyond what you are capitalized for. 

I am currently a project intern for a larger contractor in Southern California whole I finish my degree and have been reading up on some small scale development projects to hopefully jump into post graduation.Experienced developers, what guidance could you offer to those interested in starting at the ground level?

This only works with a decent amount of scale. if you can pick up entire blocks you may be onto something but one random new build here or there in the hood is not a good use of your time and money.

So I can, in theory, scale infinitely providing I keep pace with my equity.

I’ll spare you the story of my best love so let’s celebrate my second best by talking real estate...I have no regrets so far with my first rental property in Kansas, but I do work overseas and I would like to be able to scale my U.S. portfolio to 10+ units in less than 10 years.

Figured that would be enough second, you have cash flow, ~250 bucks a month if you buy rightyou get the tax benefits of mortgage interest deduction and depreciationand you have 100% of your funds back in your pocket. this process doesn't scale well, but it's incredible lucrative and efficient. also, the details matter here so those numbers are subject to vary, this example is pretty much exactly what I do though. 

I'm looking to start scaling up and acquiring faster (better!)