I am interested in getting involved in real estate , however I lack the capital to do actual investing. I thought I could try selling referrals/leads to investors, sales agents or brokers as a start to getting involved and give me a flavor of what investing is about. If anyone can offer any advice, regarding how selling referrals generally works, how I could network with potential investors, if this would be profitable, and what kind of licenses i would need, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for all your help!

Most of what you have described would be illegal unless you held an active real estate license, or were an employee of a brokerage that did that type work.

Real estate agents can not legally pay an individual for real estate related leads unless that person is a licensed agent or as indicated above was employed by and acting for a brokerage the was providing that service.

What makes you think that you could provide leads that an active real estate investor/ agent could not better accumulate themselves? How would you do it?

Have you reviewed your state laws on the restrictions on real estate activities if unlicensed people? Are you aware of the penalties and how easy it would be for anyone to flag your activities to the authorities?

If your actually interested in real estate investment... get your license... work traditional real estate until you know what your doing and have working capital then become involved in the process legally.

Do not expect real estate investment to be a get rich quick trick... between 95 to 97% of new real estate agent fail and are out of the business within 2 years. Real estate investment is normally far more complex than traditional real estate.