i'm really bad at giving solid advice, as i basically just do everything intuitively and hope it works, BUT i'll try my best
1. DON'T skip out on the fundamentals and don't be lazy (like me)... learn hiragana first, then katakana, then move on to learning sentence structure and begin your kanji learning journey
2. i've found that once you've learned the fundamentals and the way sentences are structured, it gets intuitive to figure out a sentences meaning, japanese has a pretty rigid language structure and once you learn it it becomes second nature
3. use every resource available, whether it be textbooks, apps, or just looking at sites online that explain things about the language... the more resources you have the easier it'll get
4. duolingo is a good place to start for learning hiragana/katakana and the very basics, like n5 kanji, from then you can move on to genki textbooks or other online courses, personally i began using anki to learn with a kanji deck, then i moved on to a paid app in ios called Learn Japanese! - Kanji and that's what's been working well for me, there are also other sites like wanikani and jisho that can help you with kanji learning
- once you've gotten a hang of the language, i recommend immersing yourself in it with little to no outside help, like reading things in japanese or watching anime without subtitles, it'll take a while and a lot of looking stuff up to comprehend things, but personally i've found that it makes associating words to their meanings much easier. if you feel up for it, you can also translate things from japanese to your own language, that's what's been helping me progress a lot faster recently
those are the tips i have currently! but like i said, i'm bad at giving solid advice, i just fuck around and hope everything works out most of the time. for more help, you can check out the reddit sub r/LearnJapanese, it's helped me a lot with getting started!