I started as you are with a initial 50$ deposit. My plan was to take it to the cash tables (0.5/0.10), double up a couple times then bobs your uncle ill move up to higher limits and start 'really' playing poker (this ofcourse after id decided i was a god of poker after watching a bit on tv...). Everything started quite well, and i made about a 30% profit before i hit a downswing and hit the bad beat after bad beat. My BR was down to 10$ over two nights.
From there i reevaluated my situation. Realising i was in no state for cash games i took a break, did some research and 'wisened up'. On my return I decided to play only the smallest stake SnG's to build up my BR, which subsequently went back up to 60$. I continued playing SnG's till i had a much healthier BR to enter cash games, and even now i think i preform better in SnG's, and thus rarely play rings unless i hit a big win.
So in my opinion hit the low-stake SnG's until youve got your BR up to 100-150$. If after that you think you can dominate teh cash tables give it a go, at least youll have you SnG game to fall back on.