You need to have crew in order to make a house. The command for making a protected house is: /house define [name of your house]. You will have to mark the top left and bottom right corners of your house by hitting them with a pickaxe in order.
Tip: Make a box made out of dirt or any block you have in your inventory, make the house protected and then start decorating and building it.
Also, you’ll have to contribute to the bossfights (hit them) to get boss treasure bags and explore the world to get loot. Use warps to your advantage (you can see all the warps via /warp list) to grab loot or ore that people have not yet explored.
Be nice to others and help others out whenever you can. That way you can also gain the help and trust of others.
Also, fishing is an option. It’s kinda boring though, and if you don’t wanna grind or fish just go Yo-Yo class. It’s fun and has a bunch of non-grindy equipment while still being relatively powerful.