Read as much as you can on BP and listen to the REI Podcast.2) Find work in some aspect of RE that you enjoy like property management, REA, etc. 3) Focus right now on increasing your income4) Learn about personal finance by listening to the BP Money Podcast 5) Increase your savings rate over time so you have money to invest6) Read "Set For Life" by Scott Trench if you have not already The path to Financial Independence is not easy or fast.

The political aspect makes it hard for me to commit.

@Muoki Musau I agree I think that is one aspect of abundance.

A Real Estate Developer is a Visionary, a Creative, an Entrepreneur, Leader, Delegator, Motivator, Financier and a Master of all aspects or real estate investing.

You need two things, deal flow and capital. so each week or month, set actions that work towards creating deal flow and capital. focus on that. read books and learn those topics. this is just an example, but this is the thought process i have been employing. its easy to get distracted on other aspects or ventures since there are so many different approaches to real estate. 

May have to actually structure the mingle aspect a little more as you mentioned.  

Do you have certain aspects of investing that you find most interesting?

I find myself wondering why you are pushing for the small business diversification aspect on a real estate forum.  

Let's say you and your JV partner become owners of the property as Tenants-In-Common, then you can enter into a Tenancy-In-Common Agreement that operates similarly to an Operating Agreement for an LLC and it will dictate the agreed upon management, disbursements, capital calls, operation, and financial reporting aspects of your JV investment, and eliminate any confusion between you and your JV partner when it comes to material terms of the arrangement.Good Luck!

from a purely financial aspect, you have to think in terms of interest rates and returns, not "my 300k mortgage will cost me $750k over the life of the loan".