I posted this in reply to someone struggling to get started and thought I'd share it here for any other people finding it hard to work out how to start out.
Looks like you got suckered into the typical newbie things.
Despite what the sales letters tell you - it's not normal to expect to buy a few ebooks and then be an expert and making a full time income.
You will do better if you forget what you've bought/done and just use your brain and common...