Path to success?

[iMan]

Hey,

I'm still working on my templates and a first site to submit here, but I've been thinking on some sort of long time strategy.

After reading posts with people coming out with pay sites and affiliate programs without having even tried a free site first, I'm wondering if that is a good way to go about it..?

What would really be the best/safest strategy?

I'm not sure that I would dare to attempt a paysite at this point, so I've been thinking of starting by creating a significant load of free sites etc. and use them to build on my own link site.
Then, when I've got a decent sized empire of porn to stand on, I can venture into the land of paysites with some traffic ready to channel to them... and after that, maybe even an affiliate program to go with it.

Or, is the faster way to wealth to just jump into the big stuff and just start creating a, or a few good pay sites and then build free sites, tgp's etc. to promote my own stuff right from the start?

Or, is having paysites/affiliate programs not even the best thing to aim for?

I understand that there are probably many, many more ways to go about it, and I'd appreciate yer view... without revealing any trade secrets of course

Thanks.