So I did quite some of the tutorial yesterday, which is starting as crafter. You could build your small hut, hire a hauler and a worker and start almost right away, with only one worker, since the hauler was forwarding needed ressources to you. You could even carry the iron over to your smithy.

Then I started my first real game as a herbalist... Building build, character ignores gathering tasks, three folks hired to gather berrys and herbs and water, THEN you can start to craft. I was unlucky ALL products were in red with selling prices. It seems to take a lot longer to start out at way lower payoff. Actually I could start selling in the second season only Was I missing something?

Then starting off as "rogue" it seemed fairly easy. Start palm reading and acting yourself, hire the first few workers and wait for their palm reading/ acting to pay off, to fill the building with workers, without worrying about rssources. Made money fairly easy and without hassling with ressources. But I understand those things can turn illegal and then you have a bunch of workers that aren't allowed to do anything. Even in the first game pickpocketing was less hassle, but more dangerous.

So from my POV the difficulty at the beginning of the game differs greatly between herbalism, craftsman and rogue. Haven't tested being a farmer yet.

Aunt edit explains: Added experience with the rogue class

Yes, for the beginning (and later) the rogue class is the most easy. Until the actions (never happened to me after 50 years) turns illegal, you can run an empire (200.000+ income from everything) with just 3 clicks.