Well for starters, you need a good web design program. I personally use Adobe Golive, however the current standard seems to be Adobe Dreamweaver. You really should try to get the most recent version (CS4). You also need to learn HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and preferably java. Flash can help, but a good website that doesn't use Flash is more impressive than one that does. Once you've done all this, start with a few small time clients from like Craig's List, and then you'll get your business from your clients telling two friends, who will each tell two friends, etc... The nice thing about web design is you don't need a fancy computer or a lot of hard drive space for it. Make sure you make a web site for yourself first. Also you need to learn about domain names, hosting, and servers. Make a few practice sites before you try to take on a client. The more clients you get, the more your portfolio grows, the more people will be interested. And lastly, the key to a web design business is contracts. You agree for a starting amount (depending on the amount of work involved), and you get half of it right away, and the other half after you finish the website. Part of the agreement is one year of free maintenance (this includes updates). So you also agree on a going rate for updates and other such maintenance on a monthly basis that does not begin till 365 days after the contract is signed. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I was a web designer for a short time myself. Oh and it helps to have a friend who will do some cheap graphic design for you.
