Try to only bring your miners up when needed and get into coins at launch. This way you can accumulate a lot of coins really quickly. This is totally a gamble but if even one of the coins you pick gets pumped you could be in for a windfall. Pick wisely, though. I have had a few I got in on early, got a bunch of coins, and they were quickly proven to be scams. Wasted electricity.

I took the advice of others and started small (2x R9 270s.) Got the rig about 2 months ago. Considering selling it now. HOWEVER, I got into CannabisCoin a day or two after it launched and mined a bunch of it. Now that it has pumped I have easily paid for my rig, electricity spent, and pocketed some cash. Off of one coin! I wish I would've used this strategy early on, before wasting my first few weeks mining scrypt and other high difficulty coins. My electricity is NOT cheap