1. Charge by the hour. Your rate is not high enough. IMO, start at around $100/hour and see where that gets you. Don't fall into the trap of trying to calculate

1. Charge by the hour. Your rate is not high enough. IMO, start at around $100/hour and see where that gets you. Don't fall into the trap of trying to calculate your expenses and divide them down into 40 hours/wk, etc - that simply doesn't work. What has worked really well for me is asking the question: "How much would I want to get paid to not spend the next hour with my family/dog/whatever is important to you?" 2. Stay away from oDesk, elance, Freelancer.com, etc. You won't get quality clients that way, and you'll constantly be competing with some guy that only charges $8/hr for "expert" level web development. Gun.io has been very nice for me, and going to networking type events in your area could help too. The majority of my business comes from people that I've met in person at an event like this. 3. Make absolutely sure that you bill for each and every hour you work. No freebies. You're running a business, not a charity. Get paid before you deliver the final product. Always have a contract. ALWAYS have a contract. In most cases, don't let your clients dictate technical solutions to their problems. They're the client, but you're the expert. Regarding a contract, you don't necessarily need to know legalese. Putting the terms in writing is adequate. See https://github.com/cweagans/Contract https://github.com/cweagans/Contract for an example. IANAL, YMMV, etc.