I had this discussion before and I feel these old posts are still very good advice:

https://desuarchive.org/vr/thread/11558653/#11561903
https://desuarchive.org/vr/thread/11558653/#11561919
https://desuarchive.org/vr/thread/11780875/#11785020

In short:
Do not cheap out on the iron and solder. You don't need to get some several-hundred dollar special but that $5 one from Walmart that is just a stick you plug into AC with no controls isn't going to cut it. Your equipment actually does make a big difference.

Pace's old soldering videos are still king for teaching basics

Have a ventilated area

Use flux

Practice first on either old electronics you don't care about or buy some of those cheap DIY soldering kits from Aliexpress (Many are in the $1-4 range, some under a dollar) to practice on since if it works as it should you know you were successful

There are different techniques depending on if you are doing through-hole or surface mount so pay attention to the differences in both when watching example videos

You generally heat the component and pad you are soldering and apply solder to said heated components, NOT directly to the iron unless you are drag-soldering the pins on SMD chips.