I usually only do single leg options....meaning I either sell a call or a put, but not both. Let's use NOK for an example. After the reddit freaks ran it to $9 a few months back, the option premiums were pretty salty. When I decided to establish a position, rather than buying shares, I simply sold a put. Technically, it wasn't an actual position as I only had my cash tied up in my brokerage account (in the event of execution) along with the premium I collected. If the option expired worthless, I just sold another one and collected some more premium. I typically thread the needle by picking strikes that have a significant chance of exercise because the premiums are the highest.
At some point in a month or three, they do get exercised. Then I own the stock....at which point I turn around and sell a call. The strike depends on how I feel about the stock in the time period of the expiration. The more I like it, the higher the strike. If it's just a company that's range bound and I'm not in love with it, the strike will be lower. If it gets exercised, then I simply restart the process by selling another put.
Now, if it's a company you want to own over the longer term and don't want your stock called away after a spike, you can pick a higher strike and accept the lower premium, or you can add another leg by purchasing a longer term call option. I've done this with NOK by buying Jan 2023s with $3 and $4 strike prices. That way if things get away from me by making a really fast run over the course of a week or two, (as happened a couple of weeks ago) I still have a longterm position to catch some of that upside beyond the strike.