@Camille JohnsonHi Camille,Not everyone is suited to be successful at every type of job.Personality type, lifestyle choices, daily habit choices, personal goals, likes and dislikes all come into play.Not to say he can't or won't be able to do it, but a good first step might be to explain the whole thing to him.Explain all of the good and the bad points of it, and what type of effort it involves and see if he is interested.If he's not, then ask him what he wants to do, and if it's different, be supportive of that goal.Good Luck! 

I find that folks almost always underestimate the amount of effort it's going to take. 

Tough does not mean it's impossible, but it will take a lot of effort to find/acquire.Good luck.

TIME VALUE of your effort to collect rent. 

So, I believe the time, money, and effort used for the MBA classes could be better used elsewhere to focus on becoming a successful investor. any advice?

I'd say do whatever makes you the most money, with the least headache/effort possible. 

That's the difference in your example, you'd be the one offering consideration and your landlord receiving it.As it's a business lease, most likely the consideration you offered to change the lease would be a deduction for you.The landlord would report your consideration offered as taxable income and relet the floor space given up to make himself whole (or better than whole for his time and effort).

You may spend a little more money on advertising and staging but if it rents a few weeks or a month early, then your effort will more than pay for itself.

In my effort to find more deal opportunities, as soon as I got the most recent one under contract, I have had a few more promising deal opportunities pop up.

Personally I am of the opinion that you either need to have capital, which right now you really don't have much of, or knowledge, which you can get with significant effort over a fair amount of time, or you can be one of the shining stars who can use your elbow grease and your hustle to pull down some kind of deal like a "wholesale" property.