I only grow indoors, so I can only speak to that. Indoor growing makes you God. Outdoors, God is God...and that God has lots of bugs and bad weather. I'm not a fan of that sort of God.

Prepare your grow space first. Paint your walls a flat white...spread mylar on your floor. Get your fan set up (yes, you leave a fan on 24 hrs/day). Buy your CFL's and get them set up in cheap shop light clamp ballasts.

Get a good potting mix that does not have time-release nutes such as Miracle Grow. You want to be in control of fertalizing.

Buy white pots---I use foil wrapped pots of whatever colors---and put a layer of broken up red volcanic rocks in the bottom (they hold moisture and allow the roots to grow into them and they are an added nute source).

I also recommend buying bat guano (I get it off of eBay), which is a high nitrogen fert and definitely a small bottle of SuperThrive. Also grab a bag of white marble or granite stones as a reflective layer for the top of the soil.

Get their home all set, then post some pics.