Tip for meeting new people:

A lot of players gather in Ul'dah. Shouts are still pretty common, I can't guarantee it's the same on your sever but in general people still tend to shout in Ul'dah.

With the recent inclusion of a competent party search feature you can also use that to attempt to group up with individuals. You can set your own parameters such as location, class, level, etc.

This can be a fun way to meet new people as well.

Tips for leveling:

As a Gladiator I'd recommend leveling Pugilist and/or Conjurer to gain access to abilities that will help you heal yourself. This will greatly reduce downtime between fights actually being able to utilize your current TP to maintain a safe amount of HP and by having a use for some of Gladiator's native MP in a pinch or in between fights. While you are soloing you may also want to "flag" yourself as available for an experience points party as there may be someone in your similar situation half a world away.

Tips for making money:

To start out, I'd suggest doing leves to get some gil under your belt. I'm not sure how many a new player has access too but 99 leves is the maximum amount. You can use these to not only get money, but sometimes armor and items will drop as a reward. It's up to you what you want to do with such rewards. If you're at all interested I'd also suggest doing local leves for leveling up your crafting classes. Not only does crafting help you in the long run by being able to repair your own gear and make new gear but most crafting leves actually require you to go to Aetheryte camps in far off areas. This will help you get the lay of the land. While you're exploring, take note of monster levels in the area as you may want to come back sometime later to use them as experience fodder.