I'm not sure of your education background/skill set, but property managers are involved with the day-to-day operations of the property that can be valuable. 

I am currently volunteering with my church's repair and maintenance ministry and learning more skills.  

I would take the first qualified tenant who has seen the place,placed a deposit and qualified.

That is cool you own a cross fit gym...you will see the flip and buy hold info here, and one or the other (or both) may fit your lifestyle and skills.

Issue is that I needed to find qualified buyers.

In my experience, I've come to the realization that I need to get pre-approved, rather than pre-qualified, in order to get someone (real estate agent) to show me around an area and start helping me find a property I'd like to invest in. 

You can build a great buyers list, and actually custom tailor the houses you go after based on the pre-qualified tenant buyers you have.

I have had my tenants in past make small fixes to the property(depending on their skill level).

Another obstacle is the fact that the banks won't use the income from the property to qualify.

@Cameron PriceI agree with comments above that if you qualify for the Solo 401k plan I don't see any reason why SD IRA would be more beneficial (unless you have funds in a Roth IRA like Chris).