CraftsFollow

One of the cheapest, and easiest crafts to start out on, for people with low cash is Clothcrafting.

Just go to Windurst, and run around Sarutabaruta, or Tahrongi Canyon with a low-level job, about level 10-18 so you can get crystals, and take out lots of Yagudos, Mandragoras, and Bees and Crawlers (make sure you've got your signet on).

{{If you have a job that can take out Elementals, just kill those, for crystals, instead.}}

All the basics needed are Yagudo Necklaces, Wind Crystals, and Earth Crystals. Yagudos are your primary targets, since they drop the Necklaces, which can be turned into Grass Thread with the Wind Crystals, that they also drop.

1 Wind Crystal + 1 Yagudo Necklace = 3 Grass Thread.

Other useful mobs:

BEES: Wind Crystals, Beehive Chips (those also sell well)

MANDRAGORA: Unless you're hunting the ones in Tahrongi Canyon,
These are just for Earth Crystals, but their other
drops (4-leaf Mandragora Bud, Yuhtunga Sulfer,
Cornette) can be traded to Yoran-Oran for gil and
Windurst fame. You can steal Saruta Cotton from
them, which is useful later.

CRAWLER: I don't think I need to tell you that Silk Threads
sell well in the AH. Also drops Earth Crystals, and
Crawler Calculus (another source of fame/gil).


Keep cranking out Grass Threads, and use them to make Cloth.

Earth Crystal + 3 Grass Thread = Grass Cloth.

This will cap your skill at 4, and you can either sell all the raw materials or use them to push your skill up a little higher first. Usually Grass Cloth sells for around 4K on the AH. It's a nice steady source, since these raw materials sell at a regular pace.
You can continue making Grass items up to around 9 or 10 skill, and then move on, to Cotton. Saruta Cotton is not overly difficult to get, with all the mandragoras running around in Tahrongi Canyon. You can Steal cotton too, but you will need to gain a steady source of Lightning Crystals to help you in this phase. It may be a little slow or difficult, at times, but it will pay off in the long run, as Cotton Cloths are a very HOT item in the crafting section, especially since the coming of Noct and Sage gear. You should be able to pull in 10-13K per stack of this stuff.

Lightning Crystal + 2 Saruta Cotton = Cotton Thread
Earth Crystal + 3 Cotton Thread = Cotton Cloth

The only thing, in the Sarutabaruta/Tahrongi Canyon Area that drops Lightning Crystals, that I know of, is the armored Goblins (Fishers, Butchers, Tinkerers). Slight investment may be necessary to gain these, instead.

So, anyway, that's the basics. Very little investment is needed to get this craft moving. It mostly takes time. It starts to pay you off, in small, but steady increments almost immediately. I still use this craft, as my main income source, to propel my other ones.

Good luck.

Definately don't try goldsmithing for quick profit.
Real profit from most crafts doesn't come till way late in the craft, so my advice would be to choose one that A) can benifit you directly (say you're a mage, clothcrafting [for your own gear] and cooking [for your own food] is great) or B) just something you think would be fun (say you like potions and powders, alchemy would be good).
Just don't think that you will make gil right from the getgo on any of them.
And the key to crafts without sinking tons of money into them is to farm your own materials and take your time.

I suppose that it also depends on just what kind of cash you're trying to bring in, with your craft. If you're expecting to bring in the big gilhaul, then yeah, don't expect to see that until you've put in a good chunk of time and/or gil.

If I devote about 2-3 hours to farming/crafting, I can pull in 20-40K a day, depending on what I make, and how much players want what I'm selling.

Variety also plays a big part of it.
Clothcraft: 32
Woodworking: 27
Smithing: 18
Bonecraft: 8
Alchemy: 20

With those numbers, I can make a bunch of different things, and be insured, that at least something I make will sell. I'd also like to point out, that a lot of the really useful things, have crossover crafts needed to make them (the beds, for example).

Food and expendable gear, like Ninja tools, and Arrows will ALWAYS have a demand, but you won't necessarily sell huge amounts of gear, unless its the higher-level stuff. When the Noct, Shade, and Sage gear first came out, I'm sure the people that could make those things, made a small fortune.

Making money in crafts is all about being able to take advantage of a lapse or overabundance of supply. But to do that, you must first have your skills up. So pick a craft you like (the profit all rounds out in the end. You'll either pay an assload to get an assload, or you'll pay chumpchange to get chumpchange) and raise it as high as you feel is good for you. Then watch the AH, watch what people are crafting in the guild, watch what people are /shouting to buy/sell. And jump in when you see an opportunity to make some money. And above all, never NEVER make so much of one item that you drive yourself out of business. Just because you can make 10k per item, doesn't mean you should pop out 200 of em all at once.

And when all else fails, just farm what the crafters need. I kept an LS member in money for awhile just having him farm what I needed. He made money, I made money, we were all happy LOL.