How would you build a meaningful bankroll?

Start with strict bankroll management (e.g., 50–100 buy-ins) to survive variance.
Focus on low-stakes games first, building a consistent edge before moving up.
Track results, study hands, and improve using tools like PokerTracker 4.
Avoid tilt and protect your bankroll—discipline matters more than big wins.

Well... First, we would need to define what a significant bankroll would be, and obviously, this is somewhat individual to each player, regarding the actual amounts.
In addition, time is also a very important variable for adjusting our projections.
1 year? 5? 10 years? A lifetime? lol

I don't think I've done anything significant in terms of bankroll in general yet, but by Brazilian standards, I've managed to accumulate some money (also boosted by the devaluation of the real against the dollar in the last 5 years, which is more or less when I started playing online poker).

After making a deposit of approximately 10 dollars on PokerStars and losing it all a few hours later (as if it were a lot lol) in the 25-cent spin & gold... I decided to try again and put in 20 dollars the second time, but this time starting to look for study material and determined not to lose that balance.

Even though the amounts were so small, losing money in poker wasn't an option for me because I was unemployed, even though I had other sources of income.

After that, I never again injected any personal money into poker rooms that didn't come from poker winnings, and I even managed to make some investments outside of it...

The points that helped me on this journey so far:
(besides some tips)

- Starting from scratch is always harder (much harder) than when you already have some bankroll available to play with!
The larger your bankroll, the greater your winnings...

- Starting with Spin&Go helped me in a way to know where NOT to invest my time and money... Apart from rakeback promotions for very active players, it's unlikely to be profitable. After the second deposit, I focused only on tournaments.

- Play, or at least have accounts, in as many rooms as possible. Some prefer to play in the rooms they like best... However, playing in most of them opens up a wider range of options, meaning more promotions, more freerolls, good overlays, etc...

- Freerolls make a difference, especially for those starting from scratch... Check the schedules and keep an eye out for freerolls that appear in the lobby and try to get access to them.

- Cardschat was a fundamental piece, both for promotions and for the exchange of knowledge.

- Welcome bonuses, deposit bonuses, holiday promotions, and social media promotions.

I haven't been very active on social media lately, and poker rooms are currently offering reduced deals... but I've already managed to get a few thousand in tickets by searching in that area.

- Bankroll management. It's not just about saving some money, but also managing expenses as we progress.

- Some study and dedication... At least let's have a solid pre-flop game... Although poker isn't just about that, at lower levels, mastering the pre-flop gives us a great advantage over the field.
Use of game study tools.
Hand review.
Marking doubtful spots.
Etc...

I'm starting from scratch again, since I recently spent my bankroll, so I hope to repeat the results, or improve them, in the coming years!

I gave up the idea of going from rags to riches online. I don't think it's very doable anymore. All players have gotten very good and it's more difficult to be profitable. I think I have a slight edge in live poker. But I'm not overall a winning player. I just play for fun, I don't have any results to brag about. Anyway, if there's a specific tournament I want to play, live or online, I just work, gather up the money and pay up for it.

with a good volume of games and a profit of around 20%

The best way is to play as many freerolls as you can, then when you win enough money, start playing tournaments with 1% of your bankroll, also study and correct mistakes to improve, and add volume to mtts, in the long term you could win a good sum of money.

it's hard because every level you go up in buy in the game dynamics drastically change

yes, I have built a baby bankroll to where I can play $2 buy ins games, I have 100 buy ins., and I build it from nothing. The only way to move up is simple just win. I play tournaments mainly, so the plan is to keep building on my bankroll so I can play bigger games. playing NL HOLD EM is my game of choice and I only make the money %20 of the time and that's with perfect play so it's very risky. Just for an example, my bankroll was down to about 20 buy ins when I came second in a tournament to bring me back to even. So, it's not an easy road we have chosen. I hope this answers your question.

Most of the mistakes that I did in the past was taking unnecessary risk in the middle of building and growing my bankroll. I would start of great and the following week I will for some reason play huge games which eventually takes me back to the beginning. It's very important to keep it steady and only level up when you've really grown the account

There are many professionals who can help you with that, but first I recommend having income that allows you to increase your capital without affecting your numbers.

Just get a job at Walmart ,LOL