I subbed through a deal and also paid the monthly sub for the first month after that. I got my first alt about a month in with another deal. Never paid for Eve with cash after that, never bought plex to sell.

I ran missions in high sec w/ a couple corp mates + belt ratted in Provi with my main for a couple months + salvaged and collected the mission loot with the alt to sell at Jita. Doing that got me my first half bil or so and then one day my hauler got ganked - but some dude in Jita local who saw it sent me 1bil. I took some of that isk and played an isk doubler in Jita local who was legit (he was an investment scammer but the doubles were legit and used as bait) and made another bil or so plus got maybe an additional bil from friendly people in Jita local by kindly asking. So by this point I had around 3.5bil and started trading + buying up cheap deals in null-sec to haul or relist for a profit. Did this until I had around 10b and then started trading more expensive stuff like factions modules and ratting ships. That 10b quickly turned into 100b and just grew from there. I was able to buy multiple alts from the character bazaar and plex all the accounts.

In short, I got rich extremely fast by getting hooked up through friends and allies + investing the isk I made into making more.

My wealth definitely has given me influence and power within my alliance - because I contribute by extensive trading I more or less can do whatever I want and nobody ever hassles me about joining fleets to mash F1. Additionally, people trust me not to steal because it wouldn't benefit me, so I get isk tossed at me to invest in return for a cut of the profit.