theres no try to follow" there is only Should and Will do EXACTLY, its made teh way it is for a reason to keep impatient people from bricking. skipping steps from teh start till you restore your backup is a No no. teh only one you can afford to skip tbh is copying the luma payload to ctrnand as it only lets ya use teh 3DS should teh SD Reader die on you or SD/microSD give up teh ghost and you has no spare.
edit: and
@Zee_ unless for whatever Reason your using a 2GB SD, a 4GB w/ your Nintendo 3DS folder backed up (this folder holds your games and saves) is more than enough to hold a pre-A9LH backup and the 2.1 ctrnand transfer image + the essentials, and dont say " No its not." i've done that w/ a crap 4GB SD that came w/ my used N3DS