I've been freelancing on-and-off for about 10 years now. It's been a great ride, but you're smart to ask about the pitfalls. To your questions: 1. The market

I've been freelancing on-and-off for about 10 years now. It's been a great ride, but you're smart to ask about the pitfalls. To your questions: 1. The market sets your rate. For better or worse. You can argue a little up, and a little down. But at the end of the day you can only charge what the market will bear. In many cases however, that might be higher than you expect. 2. Build your own projects first. Spend a few weeks cranking out side projects and throw them up into a portfolio. Once that's done, start networking. The marketplaces are too commoditized (lowest-bidder type stuff), I'd stay away from there. Just go to business functions, social functions, etc and make sure people know what you do and that you're available. Tell your friends to refer their friends to you. Once you get rolling on your first client, your sales pipeline should be almost entirely referral based. Focus on doing such an amazing job with your first client that they run out and tell 10 people, which gets you 10 more jobs. 3. It's feast and famine. You'll have 6-figure months, you'll have 0-figure months. You'll need to learn to budget differently than someone on a w2. Save up a lot of "runway" (I'd recommend a year's worth of living expenses). Otherwise you'll find yourself in "salesman" mode when you're not even done with the last client's project yet. I think the biggest mistake new freelancers make is to just take on any client who shows up. It pays to be picky. You need to "qualify" the lead, just as much as they need to vet you. Only take on clients who have demonstrable ability to pay, are a joy to be around, and see eye-to-eye with you on project direction.