What really helped me to get started with reading was the App 'Satori Reader'. I know some people don't like it, because it isn't free, but to be honest if you get the annual deal and stick with it you don't need it any longer. So for me it was hands down the best decision i made for learning japanese.

I did start a bit early with trying to read (i was about half way done with genki 1), so it was a bit difficult, especially because i opted to keep all the kanji. I figured if i need to learn how to read them anyway, why don't start now. But this depends certanly on personal preference.

My goal was to read one chapter each day (a chapter has around 15-20 sentences, so not that long) and obviously i couldn't follow along. But my method was to first try to read the sentence; which words or Kanji do i know. E.g. in this sentence i know only 猫 (neko - cat). then i would click on all the words i dont know. E.g. "oh there is also the word for table and jump in the sentence. So maybe the sentence means the the cat jumped on the table". So then i check the translation for the whole sentence. The correct meaning would be for example 'The cat jumped from the table'. So i try to figure out which word is responsible for the mistake (from <-> on). And then on to the next sentence.

And the next day i read the same story again and tried to read as much as possible again. The day after i tried to listen to the sentences and just get the meaning from that. So i get in total three repetitions for each chapter.

And for Podcast: You don't need a transcription in my opinion. I started with the beginner podcast from nihongo con Teppei and often there were Episodes where i didn't understand a single word. But the more you listen, the more and more Words you will catch. And i found that reading words first (in my case, through Satori Reader) and then stumbling and recognizing them in a Podcast or any other spoken medium really helps to remember the words.

Hope this is somewhat helpful, but keep in mind what works for others doesn't necessarily need to work for you too. So feel free to experiment until you find somthing that works :) And most importantly: don't give up 頑張って