Right now I'm in film school, but before I ever enrolled I went to Amazon.com and bought as many books as I could about cinematography, screenwriting, directing, editing, producing, etc. Read books on "how to make short films". I've got a ton of different books about film. And that has made me a better filmmaker.
If you own a PC, invest money into buying a video editing software like Sony Vegas or Adobe Premier. Windows MovieMaker is a free editing software that comes with your PC, use that to stat editing. If you own a MAC, buy Final Cut Pro or use IMOVIE.
Start volunteering on other peoples films and videos as a PA. That's how I started and that's how you make contacts. It's a great way to learn. If you don't have a lot of money, buy a miniDV camcorder at Best Buy for around $350. You don't have to own the most expensive equipment, just buy what you can afford and start small. Get some Flood lights from home depot, there cheap.
Go to Mom & Pop businesses and tell them you'll make a promo video for them or a documentary about their business. If they like it! They might recomend you for something else down the line. I'm sure they'd love it.
Find an artist (indie band, singer, rapper etc..) in your town and do a documentary or video about him. It doesn't have to be long make it a 2-3 minute documentary video and upload it to youtube, send it to current tv and go from there.
Make a how To video about something.
Google "how to shoot home videos" in the search box and learn the basics. Obviously you're not going to be shooting home videos, but guess what "the same techniques apply" to weather it's a home video or a movie. You have to know the basics.
Learn as much as you can before you shoot, so you can be prepared. And be happy with what you've shot.
Hope this helps...
Websie:
http://youtube.com/moviescreams
