From a question I got today: "I've got the drive and work ethic, but no cash for a down payment to fund my rental investments. What can I do to get started investing in real estate?"
I find that there are two different schools of thought when an investor is in your position.
1) Go the creative financing route - buy with a lease option or seller financing. I've done this one before, but a down payment is helpful to make these happen. Also, please don't put every dime you have in to your down payment. Keep some in reserves so you can "weather the storm."
2) Find a partner. Find someone that has the cash but no time to find/negotiate deals. I've done this one too, and I think that it's also a great option.
In both of these seenarios you're going to have to find deals. Cash partners are abundant once you've got a deal good enough, and you'll never get a seller financed deal without actually going out and asking sellers. I'd take that drive and start tracking down some deals :)
