Gotta party often, farm inactives. It's really difficult when you start out and incredibly slow. That part is normal. ? relying on volleys isn't a good idea because you get bored of the game faster if you raise your character through the help of other people instead of your own efforts.
You don't have to reset it's not a necessity, in the beginning when I first started after 3 weeks I had to do my dorms completely over because I was hopelessly lost about who to put in them. It's better to make mistakes when you're small then to make them later on. I would just suggest doing your usual ways of getting money or look at jerks farm list. Trust me it's very slow upgrading and you're not going to have massive amounts of money to continue upgrading for a bit just keep going.
Jobs pay well also when you are low stat. I used to just unload if I was busy on them & before bed. I'd hire n help grow but looks like you found that already