Talk to the life coach in the mall ASAP and trim down your available goals in each category to 2-3 easily completed options. That'll get you your stats and skills up fast. The first time you talk to her, it's free, so take advantage of it.
Once you get to T1 research, you'll get a side mission about Essential Oils. The reward is 1.0 research completed in Essential Oils. It's a few stages, takes a few days and costs $500, but a serum based on Essential Oils becomes your next major money maker. Add in T1's double slot serum, and the testing module, and it's a really quick cash cow.