Started over - making money

I deleted my save and started over after about 20 hours. I was lead to believe courier missions is what to do to start out, but how do I make it to a new ship getting paid 17k per mission? Is there a faster way?

Also, should I use a "home" base? I tried using my starting system but ended up out of range to get back after a few courier missions. Is there a way to find a circular route for the Federation faction, or whatever faction it is for the ships?