I like step 3 the best.

EDIT: Ok. I just opened up PT and did some rough calculations. According to my notes, I've only half-stacked around 34% of my NLHE sessions, not 50%. However, I'm over 8ptbb/100 starting with a half-stack and 5ptbb/100 starting out full-stacked. This is over 19,328 hands at NLHE. It's not a giant sample size, but the proof is in the pudding.

So I don't do it as often as I thought, however, the retort above proves the following statement: no matter how good you are, you get no respect when buying in for less than the max.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'll gladly take the fish label. And all I had to do was buy in for 50BB. Contrary to popular belief, there's no right or wrong way to making a profit.