Everyone comes to me asking how do I manage to play as a Janitor flying around in a cargo ship and not have money or firepower problems.
Well here is one of my tricks.

Playing as a Janitor they start you out in what I call the garbage ship ( its boxy no one wants it but everyone wants it to drive by)
Anyway this will work in any class and in any ship but you will find cargo space = time = money.
To start off you want to buy ALL the passports you can, this will save you time and trouble later.
Then when you have the passports you want to go to one of the far sectors Australias or Meissa.
Search thoose planets for ore or rock deposits, you will be able to spot them on the world globe, target and shoot thoose and you will get exp and a case of ore dependant on the rock/ore you destroyed.
You can use your commodies tracker with some exploration to sell the minerals and make a heafty profit.