There are many ways to earn credits through trading. Remote trading is the next step. I supposed you could say the next advanced trading step over and above doing all the freight haulage yourself.
It also requires that you have already bought the best buys / sell additions, trading system extension for your own ship, and as soon as you have a second freighter the main piece of equipment is to have on that is perhaps a duplex / triplex scanner (but only so you can check if it's in potential danger)
As you save the 0.5M credits for a Mk3 trading extension you'll have to manage your freighters manually. So whilst you have the auto pilot guiding your ship to the next destination you can be ordering you second / third / fourth freighter to buy and sell goods in other sectors of the universe.
This is trading on a grand scale and without having to build a single station. Silicon is a great starting point but when running multiple trading ships numerous short runs will outstrip the profits of single long runs.
Once you reach the point of self managing nine to ten remote traders, jumpgates and docking will suddenly become inconveniences and you won't even touch the SETA button to get anywhere, you'll be too busy. Until you buy them all a mk3 trading extension each.
As a side note: Also remember that Silicon Mines need energy cells. When you strip a mine of all it's Silicon remember to haul in some EC's to help with the production of the next major profit bonus for yourself.
)
