I know you probably think "studying" can take up 40 hours per week, but you're going to quickly find there's diminishing returns on just reading books and sending LinkedIn requests all day.

The cost to bring in a home whether new or used really diminishes the overall deal economics.  

Jonathan Twombly I think that many folks see no immediate returns on their efforts, so the level of effort diminishes over time, and we lose out on the critical mass that is needed to really begin to see the fruits of our labor (and efforts) start to show themselves in marketing and RE investing as a whole...so the point about consistently feeding the machine is a big one.

Which would explain my quickly diminishing influence.

The rate spread over the underlying loan will be diminished to just keep up with properly aligning both loans.  

When we buy a note, we get interest and principal throughout the term so that principal diminishes over time.

It appears that recommendations from both @Richard F. and @Shawn Holsapple have disappeared due to diminishing quality?

Yield diminishes as we approach maturity in some circumstances however "cash flow" on a fixed rate loan actually remains the same.  

When you factor in the interest rate + monthly expenses, the ROI can quickly diminish.

I guess Dan Kennedy's quote lit a fire under my butt when he said, "Hanging around poor people who place very little value on time-theirs, others', or passing time in general - your own productivity will diminish.