First, know you will never "get rich" using household/hobby mining hardware.
What you will do is acquire a hobby that has the potential to motivate you to learn a *LOT* of mathematics, much about the how the internet works, software development, and most of all patience (possibly the most important skill for any investor). At some point you'll even learn a bit of electronics, at the very least the relationship between volts, amps, and watts (and what the latter cost).
Meanwhile, think of investing as developing strength (or losing weight). You don't test everyday; you develop a plan and stick to it. Then at intervals you test (your plan) and make any changes you need.
Good luck!
Correct. Mining is a chicken-and-egg problem. You need money to make money.
If you want to become rich off of nothing, I suggest becoming a software developer and helping mining farms optimize their operations. You could profit off the 'suckers' entering the market. Of course, the failure rate is 80-90% for software companies, so be prepared to spend up to 10 years throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. When one does succeed, the payoff will more than compensate for the 10 or so failures.