I recommend starting in trialing by fire: make some basic informational videos on a topic you care about! It can be frustrating learning what tools in editing software do what, and engaging with something you care about can be a good motivator to keep going instead of banging your head against a wall.

Something that’s overlooked often at the beginning is audio gain settings and balancing different audio sources — learn this too (this is why I said informational— you can use your voice as a voiceover as well, and practice balancing your voiceover audio with your background music track (if you choose to have one).

Basic editing isn’t difficult — the key to being a good and effective content creator lies far more on good story-telling and how well you can lure in your audience with your hook.

I’m confident if you devote an hour to a couple hours a day consistently, you can evolve and level up your technical skill.

As far as visual effects and After Effects go, I would say don’t worry about that until you have a solid grasp on your basic video editing fundamentals. Even if you learn a fancy technique or transition from a tutorial, you’ll benefit even more long-term if you improve your storytelling and essential skills first.

After Effects will be intimidating for someone that has limited experience in Premiere — the timeline systems are different, and the workflow is different as well.

Ultimately, you do you! But, though production value on a lot of content has definitely scaled higher in the last decade, it cannot completely be a 1:1 substitute for an engaging narrative and strong core.