My starting is pretty similar to all this, with a few changes. On high difficulty, make sure you get involved in defending systems, both for rank, loot, and keeping the systems. Higher difficulty it can be hard to get missions, but they'll all be within reach which is good. Don't underrate missiles if you're playing a non-pirate (I say non-pirate because they're good for killing, but can lead to kills after surrenders), especially if you find an enhancer early. Get light gear, and use research centers once you can afford to. Start with lower-cost research enhancement for your gear, but gradually move up to the mid-level and even high-level as either your gear level goes up, or as your capacity to afford it goes up (these can differ depending on luck and other things).
In general, avoid minor upgrades unless you've got money accumulating with nothing to do.
Once the frontier seems to have stabilised, invest in bank deposits, especially if there are two banks in existence.
Couple of other things>Fun thing to do is to hang around by a ship under attack by pirates, then when they jettison stuff grab it before the pirates >:)
Also, scanners can help you predict exactly when a ship is going to explode, so get close to them (no blast damage as far as I can tell) to make sure you get first dibs