? How to query_posts to start on 2nd Post ?

you could use the ‘offset’ parameter – however, that would break any pagination.
better to use the ‘do_not_duplicate’ method described in https://codex.www.ads-software.com/The_Loop#Multiple_Loops_in_Action

or even better to use one of the ‘how to style the latest post different’ methods, using a counter, for instance:
https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/different-styling-for-the-first-post?replies=2
if you change the conditional statement to:
if( $counter == 1 && !is_paged() ) :
you can distinguish between the front page and paginated pages, and don’t get into trouble with posts_per_page numbers.

I must be missing something as I’ve tried all these no with no luck, but it’s clear I’m writing something in my page the wrong way. I wish I had a live example.

Here’s an example of some of my code, very basic I believe. I’m trying to locate where to insert this to start on the 2nd post. I believe seeing this in the code would help me tremendously if possible.

<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div <?php post_class() ?> id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
	<h1><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
	<?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>
	<?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/inc/meta.php' ); ?>
	<div class="entry"><?php the_excerpt(); ?></div>
</div>

what about if you paste the full code of your template file into a https://pastebin.com/ and post the link to it here?

if you want to use your code section, try:

<?php global $query_string; query_posts( $query_string . '&offset=1' );
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div <?php post_class() ?> id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
	<h1><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
	<?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>
	<?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/inc/meta.php' ); ?>
	<div class="entry"><?php the_excerpt(); ?></div>
</div>

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Function_Reference/query_posts
https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Function_Reference/query_posts#Usage_Note

That worked right there actually.

Thanks a bunch on that! Saved me a gigantic amount of time ??

I really do need to just buckle down and learn more too.