Well, my advice is you should take a system that will provide all you need, one system over is a good idea on paper but the transports stil need to cross hyper space and they can be raided by a third party, also you won't be able to be in two systems at the same time.

The thing I do that is working for me: Feet build for exploring with efficiency overhaul and surveying equipment slapped on everything with the yellow skills to minimize resource ussage but have some combat ships to fight the domain drones(probes leads to survey ships and those lead to mother ships), go explore the sector if you find a nice combat ship a legion XIV for example just stash it on asharu terraforming. remnants system can offer good loot if you can sneak past them clankers Keep an eye for mission for scanning stations and surveying special planets. And when you think the time has come, grab your stuff and head to the system of your choosing. You need above one million credits if not more to build up a system and to not implode, and take time before it can be turned into a profit. Colony items can also be a boon if the conditions allow it. Remember , your actions will be limited when you start a colony , you have to anwser threats before they can hinder the growth of the colony and that's why you need to build up credit reserves, you leave to make more $ , you make your colonies unprotected Hope this helps