Let’s see we’ve covered starting small, emotion or money, I guess the next dumb thing to cover is getting in a hurry.
Timing is everything. There is a time for everything and it generally is when you are doing something else. It is hard to grow tomatoes in September and hard to plant fruit trees in the summer. I am a teacher so June and July are full of free time, but it is not always the best time to do things. Make a calender, you can do it for free with a Google account and mark when you need to start planting stuff in it. Then don’t forget to look at it. Then do it.
Planning ahead is a must. I bought some goats and had to fence them in with them sitting on my trailer on New Year’s Day while it was sleeting. I still was better than my Father and Uncle -In- Law who reportedly bought 75 piglets and turned them loose and made the fence around them several years ago. However the point remains that you need to plan ahead. If you think you might want chickens start building a tractor or coop. If you want goats start fencing. Keep in mind long term use of the property though. My Father in law would just pick random spots and put up electric fence and then take it all down and move it all the time. Build it so you will just have to do it once.
Some things take years to accomplish like establishing a pasture. If that is what you want to do then you better get on it. I know that sounds like getting in a hurry but if you buy cows and don’t have good or decent pasture it is going to hurt your budget. Prices also fluctuate so it pays to be ready.