Patience, basic Geographical knowledge and making the right choices is usually what does it.
What you should do is start from a more out of the way airport, that way, you can give yourself time to expand in a more calm pace than go crazy when more airlines flock to the larger airports, such as MCO, CDG, LHR, HKG, ect. Another thing is try not to lease unless you're absolutly sure you can pay off those fees with what your plane makes (make sure you can payoff the gates as well.) Knowing some basic stuff about the region you are operating in is also a good thing, that way, you know what gates to look for and what to operate to there.