Quick poll: beginner mistakes vs the alternatives [v5]

Maybe an unpopular opinion but here we go. Been thinking about this for a while and curious what the community thinks. Mostly thinking out loud — feel free to push back hard.

For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land.

Maybe an unpopular opinion but here we go. Spent the last few weekends digging into this and the deeper I go the more questions I have.