Where did you start?

[Indy]

It seems to be with most online entrepreneurs, most started out as freelance designers/coders...

What did you do to raise capital 'back in the day'? And how long did it take until you had raised enough to outsource all work?

Myself, I'm a designer and front-end coder. But I've recently began to outsource work to more experience/skilled freelancers, and a friend/business partner of mine does the backend coding.

[Michael]

I started learning HTML of course, then I started learning a bit of PHP. At this point my design skills sucked, I bought a copy of photoshop and started playing with that and started to do a little better. I then decided that I couldn't infact design but I was very fond of coding.

I then learnt CSS and how to use if for layouts and since then I have been outsourcing the design work and then coding them up.

[Tyler]

I started as a basic web designer. Eventually I honed my skills and worked hard enough to make my first big site, Movie Vault. I experiemented with putting ads on it, and as traffic grew, income grew with it. Once I got to earning around $150 a month from the site, I really started to see the money-making potential of the web, and it sparked my interest in making money from websites.

As for having enough money to oursource all work, that would have come pretty recently, probably about a year ago.

Going back to something you said, I think it's virtually impossible not to start in this industry without being a web designer first. Some do it, but it's sure a heck of a lot harder. There are just so many things you learn from having the background of a web designer that is priceless..

[jacob]

My background is mostly on the coding/programming/development side of the spectrum although I have some networking and graphic/web design in me as well. I have always been a hobbiest at home working on my own projects.

I'm hoping to earn some more insight on how to monetize my websites I've either been creating or planning over the past several years.

This year has been hot for hockey cards so I've actually paid for scripts and sctuff from sales on ebay for boxes of hockey cards I was picking up ;)

[-Fools-Gold-]

me? i dont even know if i should be posting here but i guess i havnt really started. Ive had many ideas but usually they are close to the line of legality. A couple i have had have been doable however i never seem to complete them due to larger companies finding the gap in the market i have seen and completeing there projects quicker. I have hardly any web design skill other than very basic php and photoshop however i am friends with a very experianced programmer who has made a wide range of websites and applications so when i come up with that one good idea he can help me make it a reality.

-fools

[Thien]

I also started out as a web designer and have since slowly moved over to the dark side :)

[Andreas Bard]

I started a small web hosting service, that brought me some capital to invest in new ventures.

//Andreas

[aloksingh]

I started out as a surfer. Then I acquired knowledge and became a designer. And then finally, I started creating my own sites.

[Submerge]

Went from an average surfer
Learned HTML
Put up crappy HTML sites
Learned gfx
Put up better looking sites
Learned programming
Putting up better sites

How I started