Another advice I can give you if you are planning to work in the design field is to
Think about it at a deeper level. Always think about strategy. What does the company you are designing a website for (doesn't matter if it's a real company or fake company for training purposes) want to achieve. What is the ultimate goal?
How do you get users to go from the start of the website to the goal that the company wants to achieve?
Call to action. Lead the customer through your design. Think as a user. Ask other people what they would do when they go to the website.
Thought process is key. Think about target groups, identity of the company. Of course an old biker gang does not want to have a modern 2017 clean website. They want to display their identity.
Even if you are only designing websites as an example, it all still matters. Don't be scared to bring in your own experience and ideas. And be confident.
If I would walk into a meeting with one of our clients or a new client and would only listen and take "orders" , why would they even hire us?
Never act as only an order taker. You could just work at a fast food restaurant then. You are valuable because of your experience and ideas that you should bring into the design process. Don't be scared to not work with a client if you are not comfortable with them.
Oh and one very important thing. NEVER undervalue your work. I never understood people who design a website for 200$ or something. If you are doing that for family/friends at the start to get some experience, okay that's another thing.
But the moment you work with real clients, think about what it's worth for them. If you are building an e-commerce shop that will increase the revenue of the company by 500k, to keep it realistic as a beginner, the project is worth 50k. You can use that amount to provide the best product. If you would sell it for 2000 and have to do some revisions, maybe hire low quality coders, you will lose a lot of money.
Once at the top, projects with a few hundred k or even millions are not that rare. It's a hard way, but worth it. At this point I am of course not only talking about websites. I am talking about working together with clients. Developing Strategy, Identity.
If you have any questions feel free to hit me up via pm and I'l happily help you out.
bit of a long text but maybe it's useful. I don't have the best talent in writing stuff down, I'm more of a speaker