It might sound trite but for me, the best clients I've found were people I either knew personally or who were introduced to me through an immediate acquaintance

It might sound trite but for me, the best clients I've found were people I either knew personally or who were introduced to me through an immediate acquaintance. Look around at your circle of connections - someone probably has a problem that you could solve, and they might not even realize it. After floating around on craigslist for a while, my first big client was my father in law, when I asked if he'd thought about making a website for his small business. This later turned into an online marketing campaign that paid my bills for quite a while. If you need to build a portfolio or have no connections, you can try sites like elance or craigslist - but I wouldn't rely on them for too long. People shopping sites like that are looking for a bargain and probably won't pay what you're worth.