You have to essentially invest as much time doing those things into making money and preparing yourself to be able to play the game. In fact I’d wager at a point that ultimately many players spend more time farming and making money then they do actually fighting monsters and missions. This is probably the most serious and aggrevious flaw of this game.

Never before have I seen a game with such a horribly planned out economy. Progressing your characters equipment is completely dependent on what the other players decide is a fair price, not based off how much money an average player can conceivably make, but instead of personal greed and the set prices at the AH.
This game wasn’t designed to let you make money while fighting monsters, selling loot is an absolutely non plausible The best way for Ffxi to make Ffxi gil since the loot does not sell for hardly anything. Ultimately, no matter how efficient you are at making money in FF11, in order to PLAY this game, dynamis, leveling up, doing missions etc.