Motivation is the key factor in becoming a successful freelancer. I freelanced for about 2 years and in that time I learned 2 new languages and countless libra

Motivation is the key factor in becoming a successful freelancer. I freelanced for about 2 years and in that time I learned 2 new languages and countless libraries. My average week would be about 50 hours of which I was billing between 30-35 hours at $100-150/hour (NYC area). The other 15-20 hours was finding clients, writing proposals, dealing with self-employment business issues (taxes, accounting, invoicing). Its definitely not the easiest life but the pay was good and the problems were more interesting than corporate development. Looking back on freelancing I appreciate the many skills I gained (both technical and soft-skills). Tips: 1. Pick a programming language and complete a comprehensive tutorial. Then start to find clients at $15/hr rate (check elance.com and odesk.com). Your goal should be to fill up 35 hours of your weeks with billable time. Once your weeks are full and your skills increase, creep up your rate by $5/hour until its difficult to keep your week full. 2. Look into local entrepreneurship/business Meetups as a good source of clients and avoid equity-only business people who don't value your time.