Path to success?

[iMan]

Hey virgohippy, thanks for your reply!

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for a safe guidance to the fortunes!

I guess my question/observation is a bit vague, and I appreciate your advice.
But I thought that this newbie forum was here for questions from the inexperienced

Anyway, I also see that your points are right in line with what I first had in mind... but as I said, I've seen posts from people who's obviously haven't done anything free of any kind, yet they're launching affiliate programs!

I'm just trying to figure out what the best approach is before putting hours of work into something that might be all wrong.
And yes, I do understand that it takes work... anything else would be foolish. The question is simply where to best put that work.