There is no secret. Successful freelancing doesn't (typically) happen from behind your computer, you need to get out and talk to people that already know & trus

There is no secret. Successful freelancing doesn't (typically) happen from behind your computer, you need to get out and talk to people that already know & trust you or, if there aren't enough of those, you need to build that network. I've been freelancing successfully for almost 4 years and all of my clients and projects have come in via someone that already knew me IRL. I suppose you could be successful without that if you had a well-known brand as a developer (e.g. famous for leading some OSS project or something), but most of us are not in that situation. I'm guessing the fact that you're using these online platforms to find jobs is because you're doing this part-time and thus don't have the time to go out and network as much. That may be so, but know that it severely impacts your ability to differentiate yourself. When you advertise on those sites, you are basically saying "I am a commodity".