Making friends is one of the best side benefits of getting into snakes, Sam!

Well if you don't mind the cost and so forth then I'd say set yourself a firm date so you have that goal and then start picking people's brains either by phone or here. Something will just "click" at some point but if you have a reasonable date as a goal it helps make you stay focused.

So...your name is Sam....you may breed more than just ball pythons....you live in South Dakota.....tell me something about where you live....what's it look like there....that's a start though not always a good one if you plan to leave that area anytime soon (making the name rather odd if it's strongly geographical).