[tjw00]

Hi,
I'm 14 years old and planning on starting up a freelance web design business. I'm fairly new to this, and i need any advice, help or links to similar startup stories. My main questions are:
>Where do i get started?
>Will i need to purchase a domain or can i use a free service?
>Is it going to cost alot to startup?
>Should i offer free service untill i have enough experience to charge?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[flnazrael]

how to start a web design business

[ducriscorp]

Id recommend learning one more more coding languages fluently(and i mean fluently) befor considering it, unless you plan on hiring or sub contracting in which case you still need a good understanding of the process'. I own one ive been through it.

[flnazrael]

You also need to learn about how the Internet works - basic server administration, DNS, domain names, FTP, SSH, etc. Learn the difference between HTML, XHTML, XML, etc. Learn about different development platforms - PHP, ASP, Ruby on Rails, etc. - and databases, mySQL, MS SQL, MS Access, etc. Learn about basic search engine optimization, because that is a huge part of a good sales pitch. Learn about content management systems like Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, CMS Made Simple and Magento Commerce. You don't have to be an expert in any of these fields - just know enough that someone can ask you basic questions and you can confidently answer them.

You need to have a good general knowledge of how the Internet works so you can actually sell services. The only difference between a company that gets $1000 for a job and one that gets $3000 can often times just be pure salesmanship.

On the design end, learn Photoshop. If you can create a nice web design in Photoshop - which is how most of the pros I know do it - you can have it spliced (graphics separated and turned into HTML) for next to nothing.

I am all for young entrepreneurs - I'm only 25 myself - but at 14 no one - especially a company - is going to take you very seriously. Not trying to be mean, that's just the truth. So your first work will need to be done through freelance sites, where you probably won't ever meet or even speak to clients on the phone.

There is actually a lot of business you can get that you will never have to interact f2f with, which is good in your situation. I have a client who we've done both a standard website and a large development project for, and I've literally never even spoken to him on the phone. All email. He's not the only one. So that is one way you can overcome the age factor.

[chrispalko]

Considering your age, I would start offering your services to your school first. Yes, I know your school district has a very large site, but every school should have it's own individual site that they are responsible for maintaining (I was one of the webmasters at my high school). This would give you experience and credentials. I do agree that it would be hard for your to be taken seriously, but that's why you need a good portfolio under your belt and customer testimonials. Expect to do some free work to get your portfolio developed and offering a "pay after completion" type of plan to your clients.

And not to be mean, but you asked about a domain name, you would think to successfully run a web design business, you would need your own site first. Take some time to consider your plan and learn designing (photoshop) and coding (could be notepad++ or Dreamweaver, but please don't turn into one of those "I have dreamweaver, I'm a web designer, types").

Then read about how to start a business. Good luck.

[tjw00]

Thanks for all the help. I now have an idea of where to go with this, and where to start.