There is not shortcut to success here, no single quick fix.
Some relevant references.
Progress is slower than we would all like, but progress is being made. We’re somewhere around step 2 of RFC 136. The store library has been split out. Store-only CLI is possible, and commands have been added refined. Build system is refactored. The best thing at this point is help with the steps as laid out.
Jumping directly to flakes - the exciting stuff - is tempting, but help is needed with the un-exciting stuff as well. The key is incremental progress in small steps.
Edit: Additional item, a small step to fix some of the flake annoyances is a half-step toward lazy trees; lazy paths (Lazy paths by roberth · Pull Request #11367 · NixOS/nix · GitHub). I have wanted to help this get merged, but I apologize, I have not been able to do so in a timely manner.