On the dot. I understand the need to be cautious and use your judgement (as in anything in life, duh!), but being a coward is far worse than getting fooled. When you take action, you WILL make mistakes... but then you'll get up, dust yourself off, and learn not to make that mistake again. Someone hiding in his closet and shivering from fear - because, heavens, someone might take advantage of them! - will never learn or accomplish anything.
I've been a professional educator - which, to me, has always meant avid learner - for a long time. My approach to learning just about anything today consists of 1) reading general discussions about the field, preferably by people who are actually practicing in it (e.g., forums like this one) until I absorb the main pros and cons, 2) absorbing a wide variety of free material (thank you, Internet!), which I should now have at least some ability to discriminate from step #1, 3) get my hands dirty - i.e., make a bunch of mistakes, hopefully in some reasonably safe/cheap/low-risk environment in which I can learn by doing, and 4) practice it in reality, which gets me serious traction. Depending on the field and my perception, I may also pay a professional mentor - whose qualifications I will now be able to judge on my own - to give my skills some polish.
Don't let anyone talk you out of learning.
