Spawn in the nearest western locale.

Step 1. Get Established

Find a charity store and “try on” a set of clothing and a backpack. Be careful, or you will be arrested for indecent exposure. Once clothing has been acquired, search a trash bin for a cardboard box, borrow a sharpie from a nearby store, then create a panhandling sign. Relocate to the nearest intersection (with lots of traffic) and beg from wagies for one to four hours.

If you are lucky, you should have a few dollars to refuel for the next step. Buy grains (cereal) and vitamins (if the budget allows). Then, relocate to the nearest 24-hour gym to set your respawn point and maintain access to a water fountain. Speak to the gym owner about securing a monthly membership and ask how long you can stay inside within a given timeframe.

If you are unlucky at any point during that entire strategy, find the nearest welfare system. Options include but are not limited to social service, homeless shelter, church, or police station (worst case). This system will provide you with a place to set your respawn point temporarily. In any case, you need to have a place to recharge and a form of storage.

Caution: Homeless Shelters are often classified as PvP areas.

Once shelter and storage have been secured, establish an address at the post office and locate the nearest food bank to save money on food. Resell foods that require cooking when possible. Otherwise, find a job (i.e McDonald’s) for a minimum wage and panhandle in your free time when your usable food count gets low.

Step 2. Upgrade Technology

Certain guides recommend finding housing before you start trading time for potential earnings. However, at this point, the only viable option available to you will be negotiated monthly pricing for hotels. Thus, you will spend close to 100% of your earnings which is NOT WORTH IT unless your shelter is in a PvP area.

In contrast, the benefits of having a quiet space to fall back on — when your respawn point is unavailable — may be vital to your growth. You must determine whether you can acquire leverage (i.e credit card) or spend more time (in a second part-time job) to justify upgrading your Player Owned House. Upgrading your POH may result in additional unforeseen costs, so proceed with caution.

The developers ban people who perform the storage unit shelter bug. Don’t do it.

This guide recommends that you spend your first paycheck on access to technology. This purchase will allow you to earn money using electric and internet utilities provided by local shops (such as Starbucks) in your free time. A phone is easy to transport and maintains additional features (such as notes and digital storage). In addition, a phone is usually necessary to securely sign up for web application accounts on the internet.

Continue participating in as many giveaways as possible to reduce the need to buy food, water, and clothing.

Step 3. Skilling

Determine a method of skilling to earn additional cash in your free time. Purchase your tools from the Internet Exchange. It’s key to note that your rewards will likely scale with your current skill level and the amount of risk the skill requires. For example, the driving skill requires the vehicle tool and can be used to perform the Delivery Service Minigame. However, remember that road crashes are the leading cause of death in the U.S. for people aged 1–54 (asirt). Items are lost on death.

Other skilling options include but are not limited to content creation, social networking, and freelance minigames. The end result is that you will be able to securely maintain a phone and laptop for an efficiency boost to your workflow. At that point, consider a quest to get a higher level in a skill. Google provides official courses that are not only free but also recognized by most employers. Otherwise, YouTube contains a plethora of learning materials for any given task.

Step 4. Job

Certain players may be able to skip this task in lieu of a business that is established during step 3. Otherwise, the best way to earn more capital in a western system that rewards those with capital is to… have capital. Grind paychecks at the job until you can establish yourself with up to 8 hours of extra free time per day. Players often upgrade their tools, gear, and Player Owned House at this stage.

Keep in mind that middle class wagies are extremely unsupportive of from-scratchers. This step will be harder for you than expected compared to regular players.

Step 5. Risk

You can secure yourself with a job, but becoming a billionaire involves risk. Many forms of risk are available to the public, including gambling, investing, and company creation. If you can identify a significant problem that went unaddressed in step 4, consider starting a company that solves that problem, and aim for a high valuation. Then, use leverage to accelerate the rate you earn usable cash.

Tip: Use cash to create rules that make the game easier for yourself.