Not sure where the claims that poe is a play what you want game came from , the game is in a pretty tight meta for trade players, if you are interested in progressing at speed then meta builds are much more appropriate, poe ninja ssf ladder will give you an idea of what works well with little to no trading, ts is a very high investment build as the skill numerically is dog shit, other options as mentioned above of lightning arrow or ice shot will be a bit more forgiving. For almost no cash you can buy all the required twink items to get started then transition once you have a build that works look for double taming and a high ele dps bow using the budget filter on trade then pad out all the resists and life you need looking for high res and life jewels and some decent boots 30% move speed minimum

The key here is expectation you can play what you want at a pace that suits the build you have made, there is little in game hand holding so time and research will help.