I am in CA so forming an LLC for checkbook control is not in the cards.

Because so far it's 0 in 60 and I'm starting to get discouraged.All we've done are yellow letters because I'm still trying to find where I can post flyers/signs/hand out business cards legally.

But you should know that if I don't get an immediate response from the initial letter, I move all the lead to a master list and send a post card once a month for three months.In other words, each lead gets one letter and three post cards.

Robert Murphy - I started my real estate investing over thirty years ago with no cash except credit card lines.

Make a nice business card with your contact info and give it to neighbors who seem to be alert and who care about the good of the neighborhood.

If you have none in Self Storage, you can play the "IF I succeeded in apt. rentals" card.....Prove your knowledge of the industry by comparing the income/expense ratios of the two (assuming you've had some success in residential rentals) and tell them that if you can make it work with a 50% income/expense ratio, you are confident in your ability to do so at a 35% ratio in the storage world.

I used one of those credit card convenience checks and the interest rate was only 2%.I ended up using the thermal method to get rid of them.

Yes, we pull credit, do employment verification, call individuals for rental history, check their criminal background, and have them list their debts (credit cards, cars, student loans, etc,)

You could break down your paper like this:1) Background - banking crisis, banks not being as willing to lend, how lending criteria changed2) Overview of creative financing methods with subsequent sections going more into depth on each one3) Hard money - what is it, how did it get started, how people find lenders, what lenders charge, and why people use it4) Private lending - what it is, how people find private lenders, why people would go to friends and family for real estate investing5) Peer-to-peer lending - sites like Lending Club and Prosper6) Credit cards - using cash advances, 0% balance transfer offers7) CrowdfundingYou could more than easily write 100 pages on the above topic. 

However you will need to put a down payment (some credit cards give promotional offers for like a year), and you will pay a very high interest rate, like 12-15% with 3-5 points.