Some of the most important (and overlooked) skills in SEO have nothing to do with SEO. They have to do with communication. You'll find that you'll pick up the fundamentals of SEO rather quickly once you dive down the career path. The hard stuff just takes time as you start working with different clients and encountering new issues with different websites. But you'll naturally get really good at diagnosing problems and researching solutions. Communication, though, is something you can start working on right away that will quickly set you apart from SEOs with years of experience in the industry.
First, get really good at being responsive and overcommunicating with your client or stakeholder. More clients leave agencies because of communication problems than competence. Be responsive, set up regular meetings, and always prepare. Just being prompt and thorough with your emails will cause you to immediately jump ahead of half of the SEOs out there. The most important SEO tool you have is the "Reply" button on your email. The second most important SEO tool is your phone.
Secondly, practice explaining SEO really well. Understand the concepts inside and out and pick a few favorite analogies to have on deck, if needed. Be able to summarize SEO strategies or concepts in a few sentences and without using industry terms like "link juice" or "pagerank" or even "domain authority." But, at the same time, be able to dive down into the specifics of a strategy, even if it's something as simple as a title tag.
**tl;dr: Answer your emails. Be ready to explain your SEO to any audience. Even your mom. **