What can I say, welcome to flying helicopters. It's a lot of work and you will constantly make micro adjustments with your cyclic unless in full autopilot in cruise speed. A common mistake is to make big adjustment and then over-correct. I find that a lot, especially in people used to fix-wing. Just give a small nudge on the cyclic in the direction you want to go and wait for half a sec to let it stabilize, then nudge it again.
It also sounds like you may be too rough on the collective during take-off. Ease the collective up slowly and see where she want to go. You MUST be in perfect balance before the wheels lift off the ground, but unless the trim is way out you should not need to trim for this. You'll just be too busy trimming instead of controlling your helicopter. Correct for attitude and drift and try to hold a stable hover @ just 3m.
Make the habit of looking at the horizon during manoeuvring, hover in particular, do not let your eyes fixate on the pad or other ground objects during landing, take-off and other precision manoeuvring.
Hope that helps (someone) ;)