Well to make money you have to do a few very important things very quickly. First, if you have any ships, you must disband them. Their upkeep extremely high. Second, you must deicde whether to take a couple settlements quickly with your starting troops, then disband the excess. Or, disband almost of of your troops right away and build up your starting city/cities. If you are Casse, it is probably best to stay at peace with the rebels around you so you can trade with them. Whatever the case, you have to either use troops or disband them, and you also have to foucs on economic buildings in your settlements. Hope this helps, good luck!