Kudos for asking, and for your concern over letting a client down. The "varying success" comment suggests a problem, as does no more than "I built my own person

Kudos for asking, and for your concern over letting a client down. The "varying success" comment suggests a problem, as does no more than "I built my own personal website" as a calling card. I would suggest offering to do things fixed price so you take the hit on the learning curve, but then the client still has the risk of you never delivering. I would say keep extending your own site with more and more amazing things until you do not have to ask this question. When you get there, your integrity manifested here will make you a great free-lancer.