J D Web Designs

I started designing websites "by accident." About 12 years ago, I was involved with a non-profit organization that needed a website. I was known for my creativity in many things and someone had the bright idea to ask if I would be willing to take on the responsibility to design their site. I thought, "How hard could it be?" I soon found out (because I was a total noob to that type of thing) that it would be. But I trudged on and after some time I was done and launched the site for them. Every time I looked at it, I wanted to improve it. So, I did extensive research online to find better ways to implement things that just didn't feel right to me. Before long, the site had become something I could be sort of proud of. But I kept learning and applying my new found knowledge over the course of a year. Because I did such a good job with it, some of the other members of the organization started asking if I would be willing to design sites for them. When I was done with my first one, I was asked how much I charge. I honestly didn't know what to say so I did some research and found out that there was some decent money in it, but I also didn't want to charge top-dollar because I didn't consider myself a true professional website designer (yet). Since then, I have been making this a steady source of additional income. Looking back, I wish I had kept a copy of the files from my first attempt at designing a website, so that I could see just how far I have come since those days of amateur ignorance. I keep learning new “tricks of the trade” and now I want to share those with others so that they can learn and become better designers themselves.