chopping it up with other folks actually definitely helps. as does practice
in my early days i practiced beat matching heaps, and thought i was aiight. then i had one of my homies who dj's come thru and i learnt more in three hours then i had the first two months. so i 100% recommend hooking it up with people.
also chuck your mixes up here for comment. even if its mega critical (lols... i remember how bad my first one was). all of it helped me. i mean i still suck but better