I'm a freelancer and get work from two main sources: friends and former colleagues; and RentACoder. RentACoder has worked very well for me, I rarely use the si

I'm a freelancer and get work from two main sources: friends and former colleagues; and RentACoder. RentACoder has worked very well for me, I rarely use the site to get work and instead get referrals from previous clients. It was painful working essentially for free in my first two weeks, but you make up for it pretty quickly. One thing I would have done differently is to shout from the rooftops, right from day 1. I only recently took advantage of the likes of LinkedIn to find work, and this has also worked really, really well. Keep building your list of contacts, shout out to everyone you know that you're available and this is the list of what you can do. Charging is simple: when you don't have many clients, drop your prices. As you get more and more work coming in, raise your prices. Keep doing so until your work drops off, then drop your prices a bit, and keep doing so until you get work. I was terrified the first time I told a few clients I was increasing my rates, I thought they'd all desert me! Break through this psychological barrier, the rewards are there for you if you do :) Finally, get prepared for the fact that from time to time you're going to have to wait longer than you want to get paid. I've yet to get properly burned, but have definitely had to wait to get my cash from time to time.