Valerie, I could not agree more. I believe happiness is the true measure of success, but even still, that measurement is so dependent on the person. One person may only be happy if they have a lot of money, and another person might be happy if they have a great family and great friends. It varies so much on the person, which makes this such a complicated question!

Jo, I’ve found that those sites, while offering tons of work, are nearly impossible to land gigs with! I’ve given a few different sites a chance, but I always get beat out on the jobs!!

The strategy I’ve found most successful is cold emailing. I’ll browse through different websites every day, say bakeries one day, fitness clubs the next- if it seems that a website is outdated and can be improved, I use whatever contact is available to email them and offer my services and how it can help their business.

I haven’t gotten a ton of work yet, but it has been the best strategy for me so far. Once you have clients, a ton of your work will be based on referrals!

PS- Great to meet all of you!

Abso-freaking-lutely!! I just graduated college, so I guess I’m luckier than most in the sense that I have the freedom right now to pursue freelance with little risk, Regardless, I’m sticking with it!