The Farmer is just one more voice. I don't have all the answers. I have experience, some bred in, some learned, lots still left to learn.
WHY BECOME SELF-SUFFICIENT?
1) The freedom to produce what I like. The freedom to work for myself, for my family.
2) The security of knowing how to provide for our own needs without relying on others.
3) The satisfaction of producing something, of gaining a skill, of providing.
4) The quality that can be found when the user becomes the producer, simply cannot be beat.
5) The ability to live richly without being rich.
What are your reasons? These are just a few of mine.
WHERE DO YOU START?
I like to look at our needs and see which of these I can provide. Let's list them and try to see which to tackle this first.
FOOD, SHELTER, CLOTHING, TRANSPORTATION, ENTERTAINMENT to name a few.
Start small at first.
FOOD Try making more meals "from scratch", not from a box, not from a can, and certainly not through the car window at McDonalds. At first your kids will think that you are crazy. My 8 year old commented recently that a simple meal of slow cooked kidney beans was "the best meal ever". Do you even know what kidney beans are. You've got to start somewhere.
SHELTER If you already have a home, then try to become more independent in maintining your home. If you are without your own home, try to educate yourself on building your own home. I built my first real "camp" when I was 12 years old.
Dad's sawmill produced the lumber, I provided the labor. 
When I was 20 I bought my first land, 20 acres of raw woodland. At 21 I was clearing the lot, sawing lumber, hauling gravel, pouring cement and building my first home. I'm now 41 and I still feel that building and shelter have been my life's calling.
I'm a Land Surveyor by profession, but a builder at heart. If you think a stud is the muscle bound guy at the gym, you've got to start somewhere.
CLOTHING This is a tough one for the Farmer. I simply don't sew anything but seeds. So on clothing I simply go without. Two new pair of Wrangler jeans and a few pair of socks and I'm happy. Maybe you can delay buying those designer slacks, do they still call them slacks?
TRANSPORTATION Once you stop buying fast food, stop shopping for that new blouse and enjoy your home more, transportation will become less a part of your life, besides driving is dangerous. Stay off the roads. Gas is expensive. SIMPLY STAY HOME! I am angry to see the roads clogged with senior citizens and the unemployed simply running the wheels off their cars. STAY HOME! The $0.49/lb sale on banannas or 5% off on Tuesdays at the G-store is not a good reason to risk being killed or maimed by a driver under the influence of their smart phone. Social Security is meant to provide assistance in your subsistence. Pounding your Subaru 20,000 miles a year to get a damn newspaper is a huge waste of resources. Yes I said resources, your, ours. So to become self-sufficient in the TRANSPORTATION department you can either go by foot or you can reduce your driving time by simply staying put. (Wow this is apparently an issue that I feel strongly about.)
ENTERTAINMENT If you are working on Food, Shelter, Clothing and Transportation, this is your entertainment.
We host a yearly open house at our sugarhouse each year - this is our entertainment. 
We host goat farm tours and have become mentors to countless goat owners - this is our entertainment. We get together as a family to plant the potatoes in the Spring, put up the hay in the Summer and press the cider in the Fall - this is our entertainment. Try it, you just might like it.
