The next step should be to get a CLASS ONE EASA medical (and a CAA one at the same time)
This is super important because the initial class one is extremely in-depth (read: plenty of opportunity to fail it) No medical = no career. That's not something you want to find out after you've spent a fortune on flight training. Subsequent renewals are relatively straight forward.
Yes there are plenty of 18 year old FOs, and a fair few 21 year old Captains. Thanks to rich parents.
No - you cannot just buy a small plane and fly people around in it for money! That's a commercial operation requiring both a commercial licence AND an Air operators certificate which requires a company management structure and $$$
No one will pay for your flight training but you. *With a very few exceptions!
Here's what I tell anyone who wants to be a pilot:
Most people think the most important thing you need to become a pilot is money. Its not, it's perseverance.
If you have perseverance then money is just time.
First you need to know how much money you need. To do that you need to know how flight training works otherwise you're just listening to numbers. Integrated courses are for the rich and/or the misguided. Modular courses are the cheapest option and a fATPL will cost £40,000. That's it. Anyone quoting £60k or £70k simply hasn't bothered researching things.
Once you've planned your flight training and you have a figure in mind you simply need to do a few things:
1. Get a job, the better paying the better
2. Get a credit card and a small loan
3. Don't drink
4. Don't smoke
5. For God's sake don't have any kids
6. Move in with your parents
7. Get a weekend job
8. Get an evening job, pizza delivery works well.
With no life it should take somewhere between 12-24 months to save half the money. The credit card, loan and income level will allow you to borrow the other half.
Then go a be a pilot. Becoming a pilot is remarkably easy - getting that first job can be very hard as it depends on prevailing economic conditions. The easiest way to get a pilot job (other than direct entry) is to get a non-flying job first then apply from within.
PR teams love those "Forklift driver to Airline Pilot" success stories... All you need is perseverance.