I've tried focusing on something other than combat in the early game but I have never found anything as effective so far at building both influence and money. This is especially true if you can do it with low salaries, at least until you start seeing plasma drops. A tier 6 bounty as an example can drop up to 2 plasma guns plus you can capture an injured hulk which always sells for over $4000. So that ranges from about $6k per bounty if no plasmas ever drop up to about $15k per fight if 2 plasmas drop.
I haven't gotten as far as tier 7 bounties in this game yet. In previous versions I found them less profitable than tier 6 due to the cost of stims, doctor's kits, and armor repairs but you can get hulk parts.
Even just random bandits around town though sell for anywhere from about $500 at a bare minimum up to $2-3k fairly commonly.
The main issue with a combat start is merc salaries if you take the top tiers and the cost of outfitting everyone with armor. I find that once you get to tier 6 bounties nothing less than duraplate will do, so might as well get it early and save on stims later. I tried to cut corners this game and wait til I had both the Walton's investment and Roos before I bought my 2nd suit of duraplate. Didn't quite make it. Got Waltons but not Roos before the tier 6 started showing up and almost lost Cassius as a result.
Workshops are definitely a huge money maker eventually, although if you have bad luck on people with workaholic you might end up with an average discipline of like 40 which lowers production. I found 10 randoms with workaholic very early but most of them are still in the 45-50 discipline range. Mae is my only unique to roll workaholic who wasn't guaranteed to have it. Also got an unusually bad roll on Int with Stormchild as my foreman. She'll have 120 eventually but for now she only has 81.
Early non-violent, Grimdark dying world, start typically looks like this:
First two weeks
Hunting twice per day: ~80 food
Sell the food for $10-20 each =~$1200 per day.
Train stamina every evening
after hunting.
Put Kyle as gardener and build small garden + 3 big gardens for additional 59 food per day and a total investment of ~15k.
You now have a daily income of ~$2k and ~50 stamina.
Next three weeks
Buy May-Lynn if you have access to Crystal Heights.
Keep training stamina.
You now have a daily income of ~$3k and ~90 stamina.
Next few weeks - get rich
Buy a workshop for $35k + 2 x $10k upgrades, for a total of $55k and staff with whatever lazy dimwit numbnuts you can find and put Doyle as foreman, and let them produce rifles to be sold at Hamah bay.
Start training strength or melee.
You now have a passive income of around $5k from gardens and workshop.
Re-invest the income towards further workshop upgrades.
Even with lazy idiot slave labor you will produce a passive income above $10k.
You can optionally improve the workforce to significantly increase that income.
At this point you are strong enough to give Lovisa a fair fight and you can pretty much focus on anything you want, such as for example picking up Ayden, Einar and some other mercenaries to start ruling the outside world.