You'll have between 30 and 40 levels before being a horrible player will stop you from getting parties. Noobs have a free ride till this point. Untill around level 30 or so, the only reason to have great gear is so that the people you party with remember you and say "If you see Remnant seeking a pt, grab him fast! His gear is the best and..." you get the idea. Reputation is the only way to really level at a reasonable rate later on. There are only about 2500 players on a server, and about 2,000 of them are newbies. If you do break into the high levels, your name and reputation will preceed you.

As far as making gil is concerned, it's not hard; it's just slow. Fishing for moat carp is a common way many people make money, since a dozen of these fish sell for 4,000 gil. I make my money by farming gardening, and making Insect Paste Balls - the fishing bait of choice for players going after these fish. Each dozen paste balls sell for 400 gil, and they sell almost immediately. I rely on a lot of fast but small sales to get gil coming in. As a result, I'm not as susceptable to huge market crashes like I discovered when I tried to sell my Dark Ore. If you have a varied approach to making gil, you won't be affected by crazy market fluctuations. For example, many people put all their eggs in the Ore basket, once more accessable means of acquisition were discovered. I too, tried to find and sell one of these. A good rule of thumb though, is if anyone can do it, everyone will. The Dark Ore market became incredibly flooded, and prices dropped 50-60%. I was lucky to profit 50%. If I did the same venture now, I wouldn't have broken even. Making gil in FFXI is all about having multiple gil making processes going on at once. You don't want your one trick pony to die on you and leave you penniless.