as a newbie just starting out, i made the mistake of trying to do everything manually so that i can startup my business with zero investment. i don't know where that idea came from, but it's a romantic notion and it really held me back for the longest time.
fact, is, i do quite well in my offline job, and i could've easily gotten started ages ago building sites, buying content, paying for backlinks, etc.
i tried to do it the manual way for almost 2 years. what a waste of time. i had to force myself to do most of the dull, mind-numbing work. forum posting, yahoo answers, blog commenting, etc
i mean, unless you have a service and you get paid to do blog commenting, it's a great way to overspend all your motivation and willpower to a deficit.
as human beings, we need to balance out long term planning and short term results. if all you're doing is busting your tail for some event in the future, you'll burn out really fast.
i suggest you start outsourcing from the beginning. treat IM as a business. eg, this month you save up to get 10 500word articles done, next month you save up to get tier 1 web2.0's the month after you save up to blast those sites. there really is no rush.
i'm speaking for myself here because manual labour really drains the living shit out of me until i cant function. if you can get it done manually then more power to you.
cheers, and all the best!