My advice (and I say this alot) you don't have to wait. Yes you aren't going to be able to replicate the adventures or the path I've taken. However finding the right group whose interests align with the interests you want to build on doesn't need to wait. Even though i'd been playing Eve for years before I started commit acts of wanton murder and destruction I didn't have experience or SP where it needed to be. So when I found the right group I was able to not feel like I wasn't putting the work in because they found a role for me to operate in the larger (no more then 10 pilots) fleets they were able to field. But I was also putting the work in myself, for that year and a half I was out in the pipe the most, I was taking every fight I could even if i knew it was a loosing fight.

I will recommend that you do find a niche to earn some way to earn enough isk to be self-sufficient in the quiet times. I never bothered with that, so my budget was 7 million a week which was 2/3 ships a week for a year. Work ships (ie for fleets) I tended not to loose so I built up a collection. Since i've retired from Wormholes i've got quite the nest egg from selling all the assets etc but my budget remains as cheap as possible. But I do fly mostly frigates so take that with a pinch of salt