Welcome to EU!
We have all been where you are right now. EU has a steep learning curve, but also has a community that is generally interested in sharing knowledge and helping new players.
It basically boils down to "what do you want to do?"
Personally, I started out hunting, then switched to mining/crafting, then back to hunting, and presently I am doing all 3 professions.
How quickly you will progress in skills and equipment is -generally- influenced mainly by how much you deposit. This is not always true, of course (just ask the newbie who hit a tower at Swamp Camp).
When I started playing, 50 PED could last me forever. True, I'm more of a talker and would rather have a nice society chat than go hunting Atrox, but I still think it's possible to go very far with minimal money.
The problem I ran into was when I -really- wanted that Marber Bravo...
I find it helps to branch out your professions a bit. Don't put all your eggs in one basket (some baskets are pretty safe, though). If you're so inclined, buy TT ore and enmat finders, TT ore and enmat excavators, 15 bombs and probes, an Opalo (or CB5, depending on laser/BLP preference), a Vivo T1, a knife (perhaps) and you will be all set.
Sweat some mobs, kill em when dry or aggro'd. Do some small scale mining.
Make sure to slow down and walk around. There are fruits, dung, and stones to be found on the ground. I'm sure they could provide some extra change (I used to live off of them entirely).
Sorry if this post was reminiscent of "when I was your age, I walked uphill 3 miles to AND from school" grandparent stories. We just want to make sure you have the knowledge so that if you -do- lose some PED, you aren't crushed.
It's a fun game, it's a tough game to start in, but the community is absolutely wonderful. There's a lot to see on Calypso, lots of people to meet, lots of FUN TO BE HAD.
Grab Calypso by the conkers and have fun with it.
And once again, welcome to EU.