Congratulations on joining the beekeepers of the world!
Like the other posts above state, there are lots of different ways to do things but one thing I found out when I first started keeping bees is that it is best to follow the advice of experienced beekeepers in your area. Be conservative at first by sticking with traditional methods used by beeks in your area and as you get more experience and knowledge then you can experiment.
You should also buy a book called, "The Hive and the Honey Bee", and read at least a chapter every three days. The information in the first several chapters is very important so don't skip that area. When you get finished reading the book then read it again. This book has a lot of valuable information and after getting a good understanding of a large part of it you will be able to develop a management strategy for hives that you can adapt as required.
Other good books you should read are by C.C. Miller, Harry Laidlaw, G.M. Doolittle, and Brother Adam.
Make sure to purchase your personal equipment and know how to properly use it. - I like to use a hat/veil/jacket combo for general use and a suit combo for tasks like robbing honey, moving hives, etcetera. You also need a good smoker, hive tool, bee brush, and special bee gloves.
Learn how to light a smoker so that it will stay lit all day long.
Have a plan ready for how to process the honey when you rob the hive. You can use an extractor or use a crush and strain method.
Big Decision! - Decide whether you will treat or not treat your hive.
Learn how to make splits, the different ways of making splits, and when to make splits. Google for YouTube videos of Michael Palmer, listen to what he has to say, read more, and then watch his presentations again. His message is all about being sustainable. Nucleus hives are always useful to have on hand.
Spend time on Beesource. There are individuals that make contributions to the beekeeping industry almost daily by providing comments and advice on here. Micheal Palmer, Jim Lyon, Michael Bush, fat/beeman, and Oldtimer are a few that I can think of that I stop to see what they have to say when reviewing comments on here.
Have a plan on how you are going to overwinter your hives. Because of where you live this is a very big deal!
Other important things I've learned by trial and error are to build quality equipment, maintain it and drawn comb, and give it some thought about where/how you'll set up your hives. A lot of people are in a rush to just get the bees going but after the bees are in the equipment its not so easy to maintian or alter. Properly gluing, wiring, nailing, and painting your equipment before you put it to use is very important. Having an overall strategy with your beekeeping plans is important too since it has a big impact on what type of equipment you will need. For example, I keep multiple small apiaries at various places so I move hives around sometimes. Having migratory style bottom boards and migratory top covers work great for me since they can all be loaded in a very compact manner where they won't shift. But, telescoping covers provide better protection for the hive but are more troublesome if you are moving a lot of hives. You also need to consider what hive body depths best fit your plan. I like to use all deeps since it makes my equipment more interchangeable and I don't mind the heavy lifting yet. But, a deep that is full of honey weighs about 90 lbs which creates a problem for a lot of people. You need to consider what type of foundation you want to use. Plastic foundation coated with wax is very, very durable. The bees really like wired wax foundation and its traditional. Or maybe just using a starter strip and letting the bees supply all of the wax. This decision will go hand in hand with how you plan to extract your honey and how much abuse (traveling, heat, repeated extracting) your frames will take.
But most important, have fun!
