Hi, I also started my first business at 19. Before that I played live music at wineries Fri-Sun and taught guitar lessons. Unlike most of my friends I did not attend college and taught myself. In fact, I have been programming for the last 10 years :)

While not impossible and I can attest you can make great money with programming services it is a tough road. The problem is there is a lot of competition.

For music, I wrote my own and got a lucky break when looking for a job as a server. They asked if I had any experience which I didn’t and ended up asking if I played music (the odds of that are probably pretty low). So, it was the right time and luck.

For the property Preservation company I was 19 and had worked at another company for only a few months before starting my own. This was in early 2011 and the foreclosure boom was still running strong. There were lots of contractors, but they were clueless in how to get these jobs for themselves. The bigger part was that the banks and property management companies wanted to work with someone that could cover a large area – so I just had a list of contractors and knew the requirements for work orders.

So, the same thing applies with coding or anything else. You need to find a niche you excel at (within programming), can offer at a great price, have better service, or whatever the customers care about. You can always grow from there and add on services, but you need to build trust and recognition first. The more saturated it is the harder it is to break through (example “web development”). To start you will be competing with others on price – that’s fine as long as you don’t get stuck long term. You need reviews, word of mouth, other services you can charge more for after getting in.

Good luck!