It was the winter of 2001-2002. I was living right here in Happy Camp - a tiny town of about 1200 souls in the middle of the Klamath National Forest, about 70 miles from the rest of civilization. I desperately wanted to work from my home so I could be there with my two youngest children who were 11 and 12 at the time. I didn’t have a clue as to how I should earn money as a stay-at-home mom, but felt I had to do something to supplement our income.

A friend nearby, Judy, called one day and told me a workshop on starting a small business was about to be offered in our town. She worried that the event would be canceled if enough people didn’t show up.

Wanting to be a good friend, and slightly intrigued by the topic, I volunteered. “I’ll do it, Judy; I’ll go with you.” I thought it was a one or two day workshop.

The following evening at 6 pm I sat in the classroom - a small portable room behind the local elementary school. It was there I discovered I’d just volunteered for a nine-week video-conferenced class offered by College of the Siskiyous in Weed California - a college about 100 miles away. The instructor, Chris, was an employee of JEDI - the Jefferson Economic Development Institute.

Nine weeks! That was a lot more than I’d bargained for. And the class met twice weekly!

I weighed my options. Should I spend so many hours away from home, commit myself to the effort needed for success in a college class, and totally dedicate myself to it? Or should I flake out and go back to my quiet uninvolved life?

Besides Judy and I, there was one other student - a newcomer to town who wanted to open a clothing distribution website. Judy’s business was writing - she already had a part time job writing columns for a county-wide newspaper. And as for me - I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew I needed to do something. Silently I decided to take the class along with Judy and our new acquaintance, Erik.

The class involved learning all the steps for writing a business plan including cash flow projections and other simple accounting procedures. But I didn’t know that then. We started at the beginning - with simple goal setting.

We were joined via video-conferencing to students in three other Siskiyou County locations. There were about six students in Yreka (population about 7000) and maybe twenty at the main campus in Weed (a much smaller town near Mt. Shasta). And in a tiny town in the north-west corner of our county, Tulelake, there were three other students. Many of the students had businesses already. Others had definite plans about what they wanted to do. And a few were like me: clueless, but willing.

I survived the nine weeks! I got through the class and at the end we were given certificates with our business names on them. I still was unsure what business idea to pursue but the instructor was so enthusiastic with my idea of a web design business, she put “KlamathDesign.Com” on the certificate. And that did it for me. Since she thought I could create a successful web design business, I decided to do it.

I purchased this domain name, and struggled to come up with a site design. I redesigned it three times before I was satisfied. And before I could officially open the business, I got a call from a local business owner who wanted to hire me for her site maintenance projects!

I’m convinced that almost anyone with web design skills can learn to offer their talents to the public. This blog will reveal all the lessons I learned in my journey to becoming a well-paid web designer. I will not only tell you what worked well for me, I’ll reveal my most painful and frustrating mistakes.

If you’re considering a career in web design, this will be a journey worth taking. And if you want to read this blog to glean the web design business tips I have to share, you’re welcome here as well. And as for you who just want to laugh at all my mistakes, go ahead. I’m writing this blog for entertainment as well as for sharing what I’ve learned.

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I’m also setting up an emailed newsletter - the link is at the top of the right-side column. The newsletter, Web Design Business Help From Klamath Design, will contain articles and information not included in the blog. I probably won’t send out newsletters very often - about once a month would be enough for me - but it will remind you of this blog and encourage you to check back in once in a while.

More stories of my start-up web design business efforts will appear here in days to come.

I read an article recently that helped me decide to do something I knew needed to be done. I’ve decided to change the focus of this blog. The former focus was “Free Web Design, Hosting, Browsing, Blogging, SEO, and Business Tips”. Now I’ve changed it to “Tips For Starting A Web Design Business”. I’m going to draw on my experience as a professional web designer to share information to help people wanting to set up a web design business for themselves. I want to show people who are getting started as web designers how they can organize their time and develop their talents to create a profitable business.

When I started my business a few years back, there wasn’t much information on the web focused on helping me get started. Though I knew enough about web design, I didn’t know much about starting a business, making contracts, copyright considerations, and lots of other things. I self-educated with time and experience, and got through it. Now I’ve closed the doors of that business and for the first time in eighteen years, am working outside my home for someone else. This site was converted from a web design business - to this blog.

Actually, I started blogging here in 2002, but have dropped most of the old content of that blog. It was originally started to keep track of my business development and when I moved the blog to the front page of the site, I decided the old content must go. I’m starting something new here now. I’ll be showing potential and beginning web design business owners how to get into business, find and enjoy working with clients, and prosper.

So that is my new focus, which will draw not only on my experience as a former web design business owner, but also on my skills as a paralegal and marketing analyst.

And by the way, that article that explained why I should narrow my focus is found here: Blogging in an Oversaturated Market is Usually a Poor Decision. Though there are scads of people sharing SEO and web marketing information on the web, there aren’t many web design business owners using their blogs to divulge the secrets of the trade to newcomers.

I just redesigned and re-launched a blog. The site has a long history. A few years ago I signed up to be a Watkins Products distributor. For that business, I started the original site, Country Kitchen Pantry. But last year I decided not to renew my membership with Watkins, so I abandoned the site. Now an online friend is giving lessons on setting up a commercial blog and I decided to follow along with her lessons just for fun, thinking I might learn something new. Since I had the Country Kitchen Pantry domain name sitting around unused, and because I like to write about food, herbs, and cooking, I decided to use it for this project.

Here’s the site I designed this week:

Country Kitchen Pantry