Before explaining the best way to profit, I want to mention some basics that could be useful for general knowledge.

• Crafting and exploring are two main things that you need to do
  
• Use your bags as containers to store loot (f.e. 1 bag to store food, 1 bag for crafting materials etc). UPD(28th of July): because of such "storage" bags the load time to the cities would be much longer. Even with SSD several minutes requires to load back into your deposit area. In order to shorten the timer I recommend you to create a character (name him KFC or smt) and let him carry your dish.
  
• Always buy bread (it's cheap and could be used to profit)
  
• Boil salt water (beginning location is a gold mine for salt. Use water pouch to boil salt water on the cooking pot to get x5 salt. Then empty out and repeat the process)
  
• Collect 2h iron weapons (you need it for a fang crafting)
  
• All enemies and loot containers respawn in 7 days. In order to despawn everything you need to sleep in cities. Preferably ether in the inn or in plant tents (to save on water and food needs)
  
• Coop (online or local) could help you with farming specific materials. One player could stay in Berg, another player could stay in Levant. This way you could get and sell materials quicker.
  
• Outward Wiki is the best source for additional information about the game
  
• Consider split-screen feature as a weapon to fight weight issues. Carrying items is a big problem in this game. So, you have 2 options: use your gamepad or (assuming you don't have one) use your smartphone/PC to emulate virtual gamepad. The plan is simple. When you are overweight, start split screen. Toss your things into your mule character and get rid of him by pressing "stop splitscreen". An example of this trick
  
• Movement speed allows you (to some extent) safely bypass backpack limit. The most optimal strategy, is to have your "split carrier" save, wearing Barrier boots and armor (change to Master Trader Set if you don't own Three Brothers DLC) with Pearlbird Mask in legacy variant (for maximum %MS bonus). Marathon Potion for some extra movement spiciness.

We could profit from food and materials. Food only decays while you are actively carrying it. Dropping it on the ground, leaving it in a bag that you aren't wearing, or putting it in your stash keeps it from rotting. Food rots only when you are accessing the bag. That's why I use Alchemist Backpack to store food.

When you are planning to sleep, drop your bag on the ground. You don't want your food to rot! Also do not sell cloth that costs 1-2 silver. Recycle it into Linen Cloth. Same thing for heavy/useless weapons.

Levant and Berg are 2 main cities that you would use constantly. I highly recommend you to finish enrollment in a faction of your choice. Heroic one will give you more profit from selling anything in Levant by additional % (besides 20% from finishing any faction quests). Otherwise sell things in whatever city you want. But that's less profit which is not ideal.

• Vendavel Fortress is a literal goldmine in terms of what NPC could give you. The right answer is SILVER! You've got 2 options: either go there with finished quest line to give your (already) useless stacks of iron scraps (5s per 1), bandages and health potions to a very rich nurse and prisoner. Another alternative is for early game suggested by user (made it shorter for better readability)

  Originally posted by Supple and Moist:

  You purposely got yourself capture in Vendavel Fortress with bandages, health potions and iron scraps. Then you can sell iron to one of the prisoners for 5 silver each and after asking the guard, he'll open the door and you can sell 5 silver per bandage and 15 silver per health pot to nurse ... Also scrap the 10 pickaxes that spawn for 20 iron scrap (100 silver) which refreshes every 7 days with an area reload... Give a prisoner a shiv dagger (1 iron scrap + 1 linnen cloth) for 30 silver, give a prisoner a miners omelet for ~16 silver. The Soroborean Caravanner often spawns on a cliff side close to the fortress where you can convert the silver into gold bars for less weight.

• Ghost Pass and the region beyond it have around 3 Ornate Chests, not counting additional normal chests. There's another Ornate Chest at the top of the scaffold around the vigil pylon, and another in the bandit camp in the same building as the Wendigo.
  
• Blue sand from the beach and cave just south of Cerizo. Sell it to the Watchers of the Ley Line. You can get more blue sand from the beach just outside of Vendavel Fortress and the interior of Conflux Mountain.
  
• Completing Repeatable Quests in Cities:
  Basically what you need to do, is to create 4 bags and store quest items in them. With the help of my guide you would exactly know what to store in it and during your travels you can easily complete them “on the run”. REMINDER: quest update happens every 3 days. In addition, you can buy a plant tent from the Soroborean DLC merchant for 8 silver to save on thirst and hunger (if you planned to cycle through quests).

For the details go to this page or watch a video. In short: reach the top of the next locations (in correct order):

1. Cierzo - Conflux Mountain
   
2. Either Enmerkar Forest - Cabal of Wind Temple OR Hallowed Marsh - Reptilian Lair
   
3. Abrassar - near Stone Titan Caves
   
4. Go to Levant into Heroes Palace location and get your 100 golden ingots;

https://www.steamoss.com/steamstore/app/1194010/Outward__The_Soroboreans/ The Soroboreans DLC required

TLDR: If you combine 2h Fang weapon + Palladium scrap + Horror Chitin + Occult Remains you'll get Horror Weapon. You can easily make 4-5 of them in a single Cabal of Wind Temple run in Enmerkar Forest for 900 a piece. You don't have to fight the horrors to kill them (use one-shot switch) there, so you can do it at a pretty early stage. Occult remains you can get from hive in the desert.

Detailed "HOW-TO":
1. Make sure you have enough Palladium Scraps (easy to get from mining spots or random loot sources; worth to buy it if you can't have enough),
   
2. Do a Cabal of Wind run to get 5 horror chitin and 10 predator bones,
   
3. : Loot the western Hive to get at least 5 occult remains,
   
4. : Buy all 2h iron weapons from the Berg Smith/Get some from bandits. Not possible to buy those from the smith without Sorrobean, do not do it with the war bow as it is not worth it at all.
   
5. Upgrade those iron weapons with 2x predator bones + 1 linen cloth to turn them into fang weapons.
   
6. Upgrade the fang weapon to horror with 1x occult remain + 1x palladium scrap + 1x Horror Chittin.
   
7. Sell in Levant for 20% better price (or 1.2x selling modifier), so 900 silver per weapon, 5 weapons per run for 45 gold bars (4500 silver).

Also if you're out of palladium, drop your goodies from the wind cabal temple in Levant (ideally inside a bag), and go south east to that walled structure with the tree. There are some golems hanging about, and beast golem scraps can be decrafted into palladium or if you combine 4 in your inventory, you'll get 5 palladium scrap as the result.

https://www.steamoss.com/steamstore/app/1437000/Outward_The_Three_Brothers/
The Three Brothers DLC required

I've come to conclusion, that this is so far, the best way to gain silver. Why it's hard you asking? Well, first of all, you have to pay for the dlc; and second of all - enemies are tough.

The thing with the quests there, is that you are forced to look for Unidentified Samples. They could be everywhere and in 2 days their spawn location resets. If you want to gain more materials for your city, you would have to run around from one location to another looking for samples. And here comes the money strategy. Some of the samples are inside locations. It means more loot for us. Some weapons (like glass type) are pretty lucrative. And with the basic knowledge of the game (that I've provided), you would get tons of silver from selling them.

In short:

• make your own convenient route
  
• search for samples and for loot
  
• sleep for 2 days
  
• check new/old locations
  
• when you feel like you've exhausted samples spawn, "help with the work" (skip 7 days for samples to despawn)
  
• repeat

Even if the main existence of this puzzle is questionable and the requirements for its completion are too soon on the quest progression but.. 5000 funds is still 5000 funds.

I will try to keep this guide as updated as possible. If something would appear on the horizon, I'll test it and if things checks out, add this information to the guide.