That's a good way to start! I've not done Phandelver myself, but having a framework is a great way to do it, even if you change a bunch at least you have a general adventure structure to start out with and mod as you see fit.

Also underbalance combat until you feel like you have the hang of your group/how to balance. Otherwise you accidentally kill a player in a random encounter you thought would be cool and not too tough because Redcaps are surprisingly scary.

My tip is prep time, you don't have to be crazy detailed or go all out with an entire world built day one, but having some ideas prepped for the immediate future written down with some story beats is always good to keep the session flowing, even if your players go the opposite direction.

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