I like my career but don't want to rely on it as my sole source of income.

For you that is likely whatever job you work at that gave you this additional capital to invest.If you are someone who is looking to create a primary or even secondary source of income or wealth through active real estate investing then yes you should absolutely get your real estate license.

The more sources you contact, the more likely you will be to find the right partner.

In the past I have done my own taxes, but in 2016 I sold my deceased mother's home and purchased a rental property at the end of the year (no income source for 2016, just expenditures).  

A good online source for the above is rentfaxpro. 

In my opinion, it's the best source of money when starting out.  

@Aaron Bruenger is a great source and someone you should reach out to.

If you are counting on using the funds to complete a project it may be prudent to draw them out well before you will actually need them if you have no other source of funds.

As such, I believe my first priority is to research and understand what sort of low-money-down financing I can source for this first investment (FHA 203K has come up).

Build a portfolio of buy and hold properties to provide me with a source of passive income.