The problem with pots has been finding them so far. My first goal for the world was a house and a hellevator, in that order, so exploration has been minimal. Also responsible for the ore shortage.
But hey, I can drop straight down and be horrifically mauled by hellbats whenever I want. And I also learned valuable lessons about making plans based on tips in the wiki. So there's that.
Managed to pick up a Mirror early for the chest trick, but Finklebottom's made of tissue paper; overall I've lost more money trying for the hotkey than I've been able to stash. Crossing fingers I can get a half-decent setup for my first blood moon, maybe score a trough.
I'd probably be finding even less ore if I started with a Hellevator too, LOL. That's definitely an excellent idea, but it's work too.
My strategy has been to wander around doing whatever strikes my fancy at any given moment. It doesn't make for much progress OR Hardmode insurance, but I've got a house shaped if insecure starting house, the start of a castle with a couple of floors of space between the intended entryway and the NPC quarters (although since it's a work in progress there's still vulnerable spots), and loot from all over the place.
My strategy in Terraria's past has been to wait until I've got enough Heart Crystals to trigger full health all at once and some good armor before boosting myself and thus avoid the hypothetical wrath of hypothetical eyeballs until it's more manageable, and that seems more important than ever in Expert. Probably need a couple extra Heart Crystals on top of that so I can make lanterns and have halfway decent regen for fights. I put my castle in a Snow biome for a specific reason, so if I keep my marshmallows stocked and some campfires to sit out I should have some regen buffs to stack if I remember.