"There are three ways to make a living in this business: Be first, be smarter or cheat"
First: Be first on a new traffic source, first to run a new vertical, first to run a new angle, first to run a new offer, first to bring something to a new GEO.
Smarter: Outsmart and Outwork your competition, develop competitive advantages, have a team, develop proprietary software, run exclusive offers, run high volume for higher payouts, granular campaign management, bidding strategies, develop industry relationships.
Cheat: Cloaking big traffic sources on AV, Nutra, Sweeps, Pins....and all the other suspects
But........“It sure is a hell of a lot easier just being first”
This premise is definitely flawed.
There are plenty of people who are not first, nor geniuses, not are cheaters who make quite a good living.
Most huge companies of today were second, or maybe not even that... Being first is not a great option. What works best is being better. It's very vague what better means, but that's why it's not straight forward to learn everything. It's a very complex process, that one of "getting better".