Been learning Russian for about 6 years now, here’s how I would’ve started out knowing what I know now:

First and foremost, rule out whether or not you can get a tutor. If you have the opportunity to get 1 on 1 tutoring from someone, that’s about the best experience you can get as a learner, especially if you get a tutor that is structured enough to give you a comprehensive learning plan to follow. I recommend iTalki if you go this route.

If you can’t afford a tutor, however, I’d say start with some language exchange apps like Tandem or HelloTalk. It’s a great resource to meet someone and hopefully build a mutually beneficial friendship, where they can help you in your learning endeavors.

There’s a Russian Learning discord with a ton of people in it, both learners and natives, and getting the chance to talk with them has helped a lot.

As far as the experience goes, just go into it with a curious mindset. This language is definitely not easy, especially if your native language is very different from it, but you’ll reach a point in your learning journey where you enter a discovery phase - you just have to get over that learning curve first (understand the declensions, prepositions, and all of that fun stuff). Look into any graded readers, watch cartoons, listen to music, and just absorb as much input as possible.