Learning a new language (Mandarin)

As far as learning an Asian language as an English speaker goes Mandarin by far is the hardest to even just get started. There a lot more English speakers wanting to learn Japanese for example than Mandarin which makes it much easier to find resources/tools online and great recommendations/pathways to take to get started.

So my question is is there anyone else here that has learnt Mandarin and where did they start?