Did you dive into web design WITHOUT actually being a pro?

I totally understand. I think I can actually design very nice websites, but my issue is not having a standard to compare my websites to. My website can look clean, polished, professional, but how do I rate it without bias?

The Warrior forum is where we talk about "making money", you are correct.

JF Straws website looked like CRUD, but it was a big money maker. There are a gazzilion ways to get customers to a website, and if you are telling people that and selling the service of just building the website then you are okay. Getting online is the first step. It would be good to learn some basic optimization skills though, and they can be learned here literally as you build your first clients site.

Getting traffic can be through optimization, referrals, backlinks...offline advertising... Even if a person just has it listed on their biz card it benefits them. If that were the only reason they had it , it would be a good one, because it makes things more convenient for their customers and enables them to still receive business after hours. Even having an "online brochure" to refer to, with no optimization at all adds value to their business.

Its just as easy to outsource though.

Exactly. I think my problem is mental. I keep comparing web design to being a physician. I keep thinking a web designer needs bunch of certifications with lots of education. For example, if somebody cold-called me for web design, I would ask him or her about certifications and education. I know creativity has nothing to do with being certified or educated in a certain topic, but I'm just struggling to feel like an actual web designer. Am I thinking too much into this? Competing against web design start-ups with employees who have the education and certificates certainly doesn't help one's morale.

I joined a networking group and told them I was a web designer. I had never designed a website but I had worked with wordpress for a while running my own blogs.

I have been successful by knowing my limits. I turn people down when the job sounds technical. I stick with small service type business like lawyers, accountants, etc that don't need a technical heavy site.

I find a few nice designs on Themeforest from designers that have good support. I show these select designs to the client and make sure he is good with it because his site is going to look very similar.

Technical questions that do come up can usually be answered by the theme designer (hence finding one with good support) or you can google/youtube the problem and find an answer.

I wanted to cry trying to build the first few client sites because I was so frustrated with my lack of knowledge but it gets easier every time and now it goes pretty smoothly.

This is great to hear Jon. My goal is to do a minimum one website a week between $1000-1250. I personally think I can do around 3 a week, but some peoples' answers on a different post are a little discouraging. From your experience, do you think one a week @ $1250 is doable if I have good background in cold-calling? I get leads for half a week and build websites for half a week. I personally like this strategy. However, it sounds impossible to me and might sound impossible to others that doing 3 websites a week @ $1250 a piece amounts to around couple hundred grand a year. Now, the hard part is actually believing in one's self. Being able to do the things I've mentioned above would change my life in a single year. I would devote my day and night to web design if I knew my math would be practical in real life.