^ That's [s]great[/s] outstanding for a nation of your nation's age. Back-collecting got you there?
Anyway, to the topic.
Growing can't possibly be too hard, tech deals and aid from your alliance should get you enough money to start buying your first few improvements like, Foreign Ministries, harbors, banks and stadiums. After a while with improvements like that you should have some decent trades going on to get you a few bonus resources that you want. Soon you should be up to BC (Back Collecting) standards which will give you a good amount of money and citizens in the end. Another good tip, try to stay away from major wars: getting involved with just one enemy nations can bring on two more to fill up your war slots, take your tech, money and your infrastructure and beat you down into anarchy. Also, lots of alliances have programs that help smaller nations grow quite fast.