COM Missions

Here at IMG i didnt really get into comms missions for a very long time. I was always more of a pacifist miner type. I used to rescue stranded victims a lot and ferry them back to Sol
The trick i learned early on is get the heck out of known space, work on your passive sciences like cargo and personnel, carry non conventional fuel such as radon (it was my savior when i look back at my history) to convert into a ready means of fuel. Its slow, or seems to be slow, relying on mining as a source of income but its free fuel and free money and exploration can be quite interesting. (Will the next system have 21 orbital bodies or just 1? What resources does it hide? )
Once, a very long time back now it seems, i was just about quitting this game but got talked around by some SOL colleagues at the time to have another crack. I think i had 3 maybe 4 ships in total (thinking it was only 3) and i just packed my bags and headed out past where the pirates couldnt find me easily and plonked myself onto a system with an orbital station and worked that location with SOS missions. Trick is to collect them all up and only do a run back when you cant carry anymore in your cargo bay.
Anyway, there are a lot of things to do out there now, a few more than when i was fresh out of SOL academy and hopefully increasing with developments from Sir Emi.
Another way to grow quickly is being part of an active team. When I formed IMG and headed for the stars, my personal growth and knowledge sky rocketed, as did our corp position. We were top 3 in a very short space of time with team work and coordination and cooperation.