What are the first steps for a newbie to start mining ?
calculate first before you start mining, how much electric cost for mining, how much profit you got, how much bitcoin you got from mining if all give you a profit. you can start mining
My questions for starting off is what is your electricity cost? (make sure to include all fee's/taxes). And do you have a VAT when buying gear? Those are a good indication of if jumping in is going to be worthwhile.
Based on electricity we can recommend certain gear. If you have "free" electricity you are very lucky and can use older gen gear. If you pay depending on cost of electricity you might need the latest and greatest in efficiency (S9) or electricity could be so high nothing makes sense and hosting would be best option. So all depends on anwser.