You can just shout for the first mission, and then static the rest of the way with that group. It's what I did when I made a static for my alt., got her to 5-2 before I just gave up on her and focused on Despain.
Granted, I had about 3 people prior to shouting, but picked up 2 random dudes, and they tagged along. Needless to say, they all have sea now, lol.
Most of ZM can be solo'd up 'til sky. Creating a linkshell for the sole purpose of doing missions is all good and well, but people just tend to not go through with stuff like this after they join.