Starting out advice

Hi all my name is Justin I am a full-time student attending the university of phoenix online, trying for an Associates degree in web design. My personal opinion is that the school is wasting my time with bs classes that have nothing to do with web design, so I decided to take it upon myself to learn via trial and error, books, videos and helpful forums such as TF.

I have adobe photoshop CS5, Dreamweaver CS5, and some cheap software called Web Plus x4. My goal is to complete a fully functional site for myself to use for a portfolio.

I am just looking for some start up advice, maybe any tips on how to get my first few clients. How to charge as a beginner. etc etc.

Thanks for any input.