Coffee

The thing holding you back, outside of learning and practice, is your grinder. It won't work for espresso, as there isn't enough granularity in the settings.

You mentioned pre-ground coffee from a local roaster, but that also won't really work unless you're using pressurised baskets.

I would get a new grinder. If you can't afford something too expensive and want to stick to hand grinding at the moment, have a look at something like the Kingrinder K4 or K6.

Here's a good guide to get you started: https://espressoaf.com/guides/beginner

As others have said, there'll be a learning curve and it may take a while until you're happy with the results. But you've picked a great machine to start. Unfortunately it's only one part of the whole thing haha.