My experience of nul-sec is a little limited, but here it is.
Always, and I really do mean always, have the relevant intel channel open in a separate tab that is permanently visible, do the same with local as you NEED to know when anything that is even vaguely unfriendly is around.
If you are mining or ratting and you’re not paying attention, a small roam is going to end your business opportunities quickly.
If you join a corp that is a full member of an alliance
They will have a ship doctrine that they will expect you to skill into on a sooner rather than later basis
Fleet pvp is very different … and can sometimes take a while to get organised
Ratting (belts or anomalies) is good income
PI can produce helpful stuff too … like paste
Salvage options will be fairly good too with the high end spawns you get
tl/dr
Do it
fun can be had
profits can be made
explosions aren’t always a bad thing, even you’re own