If you're like me, you absolutely hate trying to make and keep all these ruddy friends to make it to the top of yuor promotion ladder. Personally I prefer to get into the military career track. It's usually there at the beginning, and it doesn't require you to have that many friends at all, which is a nice thing when it comes to having to juggle a dozen things at once in this game. 8 is the maximum that you will ever need in this track.

For the record, Life of Crime is 12, and Xtreme is 11 -- all others are above this amount.