Path to success?

[amadman]

No matter what you do it is not going to just work. It will take time to learn how to make things work.
If starting with a paysite then that time will cost you alot of money.

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.

This sounds like a reasonable plan to me. Work this one and see how you do. You can always change
your plan at a later time.