Besides doing the other achievements for Online mode, once I reached level 22 I was able to afford to buy into a role. Roles guarantee consistent jobs/work for rewards and as many recommended, I chose collector. It took me around 30 hours to get to rank 50 from there and netted me over 5000 dollars without any bonus active. With double XP and money you could do it even faster and these bonuses rotate regularly so keep a look out for when it happens.
Tips:
Do the two-step authentication for your Social Club account to get 10 gold bars (can take several days but I got mine within the day).
Use your phone as a map. Google Red Dead Redemption Online Collectables and open the interactive map (
https://jeanropke.github.io/ ) and cross off those you have done. Another method is to open the map on a second screen but I do not recommend alt+tabbing it as it takes several seconds longer and it all adds up.
You will unlock mounds (shovel can be immediately bought but cannot be used) at rank 7, and metal detector at rank 10 for the role. There are 20 ranks total but mostly cosmetics. Select tools as none from the beginning using the map until you reach rank 10. This will limit what you can find like arrowheads and fossils are mostly unobtainable at the beginning. At rank 10 get the shovel and the metal detector.
Only sell complete sets once you have them. You can send em via any post office so no need to visit Madam except to buy the role and to buy you equipment at level 10. There may be some weekly missions for her but I would not bother with those.
What to collect? I basically went and did everything I could but you can prioritise complete sets of cards (4), eggs (sometimes one of them is glitched), flowers, and anything else with a guaranteed spawn (heirlooms are sometimes underground and need to be dug out). I don’t recommend going after the fossils in the snowy mountains as it is slow to traverse and they are completely random so it can take multiple days to get one set by the time you are done. Of course, when you make yourself a route to follow, pick everything you can on the path because it’s all XP out there whether you need it or not.
Once you unlock the ability to pick flowers with your horse, do that instead. You can also run across alligator waters with your horse seeing as they won’t kill your horse so easily. Pack some dynamite if you need to cross a river with lots of alligators though. This is mostly for those certain flowers which spawn at night and aren’t within reach from the land.
That is pretty much it. Last thing I recommend once you can afford it is to get a fast horse either Turkoman or Missouri Fox Trotter when one of them is on sale. Arabian unlocks later and won’t make a huge difference in comparison. You should also save up for a Nacogdoches saddle and the best stirrups you can get to basically have infinite stamina. Consider doing this either at rank 35 or 40 through 54 (hooded stirrups unlocked).
Good luck on the hunt cowboys and cowgirls!