Mining is ok. I found i learnt more about ships just ratting tbh. to fly combat you need to learn resists and get resist skills up. not to mention your specific area of combat youd like to focus on.
Ontop of all of that specializing in one area is the best way to do it. If your all over the place you'll get fucked alot atleast if your setup for one specific task, you might survive a bit longer in pvp.
myself i just cant sit there and lick rocks all day it drives me bonkers, i much rather ratt in 0.0 since its pretty open and the spawns give you some decent isk.
The one thing you need to realise in this game is, SP mean alot but the people who you would consider at the top of the game have the isk to throw around. When you can afford to buy fleets of Battle ships yourself with billions of isk your well off.
Myself i barely have 11mil isk liquid but i have close to 300mil invested in modules and ships spread about the galaxy.
Im currently reading on Manufacturing since i see that as a viable avenue to make alot more isk.
S3