Can you lead me in the right direction?

I've been studying up for the past few months on internet marketing, black hat SEO, white hat SEO, etc. etc. Reading forums, using programs, etc.

I have also been engaging myself and actually APPLYING (or trying to at least) what I am learning. I have a few sites set up to tinker with rising in Google SERPs, gaining backlinks, experimenting on what works, what doesn't, etc...

Unfortunately, all of this is to no avail. BUT I KNOW I CAN DO THIS.

The sad thing is that I've been around the internet for YEARS, I just never thought of monetizing it aside from a few freelance jobs. I have many years of PHP w/ MySQL experience, along with professional graphic design experience. I am knowledgeable in all things technical that goes along with this aswell.. linux, windows, mac, javascript, html, css, etc, etc, etc.

This shouldn't be hard for me, and I just need a boost in the right direction! Should I start by collaborating with someone that knows their sh*t in SEO/monetizing, create scripts, or just continue to go it alone and figure everything else out from scratch? At this rate I'm going to get burned out, and I don't want that to happen. Your suggestions are GOLD to me, thanks in advance.

You can start by going here and reading

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/f11-making-money/

Alone you can learn all the possibilities for ranking one single website.

Once you get down to your own formula, you can replicate it through automation.

You can always try services in here, and then learn how to perform/use softwares needed in order to perform the task yourself saving you money.