I was somewhat in the same position as you, but I have two accounts. All my primary characters are Tauren Hunters. On one account I have my main which is Mining/Skinning and other gatherer alts. The other account has my producer characters; a BlackSmith/Tailor and a LeatherCrafter/Alchemist. Both accounts have other characters I've experimented with and have put on hold, a couple with HerbGathering.
I found out early that I both liked the Tauren Hunter and found that it was much easier to level a character in an area I was familiar with and was comfortable playing in. My main is 35 now and my producer alts are 21-22. I find that playing the producer alts once a week for a couple of hours is about all that is required to move them up toward level 35. I always park them in a major city or an Inn and let them accumulate the "rested bonus" so that when I do play them, I get double exp. If parked there for a week, I can get a level and a half or so. When I break them out Saturday, I pretty much know exactly where they need to go and what mobs to grind on. Its boring, but relatively painless and Very important to get your producers to level 20 and then work toward 35 whenever possible.
Since my main is the gather and the explorer, by the time I need to move my alts to a new place to grind some exp, I'm fully familiar with the area, its mobs and quests. The second and third time grinding exp thru an area isn't as bad as it sounds.
I have now brought another Tauren Hunter thru the mid teens and will assign him two of the remaining skills as soon as I decide which ones are most important to my needs and style of play. While bringing up alts, I usually work with gathering skills then switch to a production skill mid teen level somewhere.
I also found it most important to work tailoring and leathercraft first. Tailoring makes bags for all those alts and leathercraft make armor for the early teenage toons. Learn to use the "postal" system. Most Inns in outposts and such have a mail box. You can send stuff from your gatherer to an alt producer and save the trip and loss of time. 30sp is a pitance past level 10 or so. I also keep an alt in the bank in Orgrimmer. I mail him all my green loots. This alt then posts the equipment items in the AH. Items that dont sell after two attemtpts, go to a vendor. As you level up your producers, you will start to find that money needs increase. Manage it wisely.