FreelanceSwitch

In my opinion the main thing that you need to do is get out there, meet people and make friends with them. All those conferences and lunches will pay off in the long run, and probably give you a lot of opportunities for work down the line. If you are really serious I also suggest that you go to the state department's page, and register an LLC so that you can start getting tax benefits for work related purchases. If you are interested in my story of how I've started out freelancing as a college student myself you can read it after the jump.

Here are some good resource websites:
http://freelanceswitch.com
http://workawesome.com

I go to an art and design college so it is probably easier for me to get connections for work, but here is what I've done as a student. Making friends with staff and faculty has been of a huge benefit to me. I've gotten a couple small jobs, a work study and an internship simply by being friendly to other people in my major, and staff at the school. A teacher in my program who I took a two classes with saw an art piece I did (web design related) at an exhibition in the schools gallery space, and referred me for a flash job similar in nature to another client of his that he didn't have time to complete. I got a work study at my school's in house design firm as a referral from a student in my program who knew my skill set. I also got an internship this summer in NYC as a result of being casual friends with one of the study abroad staff. In the spring I…

via: http://xrrg.com/x/r/53-web-20-feeds/

43 Folders. A different look into the minds of freelancers.
http://www.43folders.com/rss.xml

A List Apart. Since 1998 they’ve been promoting the proper use of web design methods. Their ideas are original and they’ve set in motion many critical layout standards.
http://www.alistapart.com/feed/rss.xml

AfterDawn. Optical Media meets Web 2.0.
http://rss.afterdawn.com/afterdawn_news.xml

Apple Hot News Ticker. Get the good stuff directly from the source. The Apple blog will keep you up to date with Official Apple announcements and product releases.
http://wdirect.apple.com/home/2008/ticker.rss

AppleInsider. Looking for iPhone, iTunes, or just Apple Rumors in general, AppleInsider is one of the authority blogs covering this topic.
http://www.appleinsider.com/appleinsider.rss

Ars Technica. Ars Technica is looked up upon for creating original content in the Technology industry.
http://feeds.arstechnica.com/arstechnica/BAaf

BetaNews.
http://www.betanews.com/rss2

BoingBoing. Looking for something totally unique, BoingBoing publishes interesting tidbits found from around the web.
http://feeds.boingboing.net/boingboing/iBag

CenterNetworks.
http://www.centernetworks.com/rss.xml

CodeBetter.
http://codebetter.com/blogs/MainFeed.aspx

Coding Horror.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/codinghorror/

Consumerist. Consumerist has gained trust from many people by making Corporate wrongdoings public knowledge. Consumerist has also connected companies…

I do similar stuff - PHP & ColdFusion coding, and search engine promotion. I get freelance work from the following sources, in order of the amount of work:
1 - Previous clients
2 - Partnerships & referrals through friends (many of them met through 3)
3 - Networking
4 - People finding my website
5 - Forums

I run a local networking group for freelancers ( http://www.brightonfarm.com ) so get a lot of work through that. If you can find some local freelancers, it's well worth teaming up with them as you'll either have complimentary skills or can refer work direct to each other when you're too busy.

I'm lucky because I live in an area with a lot of small tech companies, which is close to London which has a heck of a lot of work opportunities.

If you're trying to attract work when you don't know anyone locally, and you can't find any business networking groups, then mailing lists and forums can provide work. A simple way of getting is to post that you need some work (good for a short term boost.) More subtle is to put "I'm a freelance _____ programmer" in your signature on forums/e-mail with contact details and links to your website. I've had work from doing the latter, although I get better quality work from the other sources listed above.

You might find the sites http://www.freelanceswitch.com and http://www.freelanceadvisor.co.uk useful, they've both got podcasts as well.

[edit - getting links to work]

Initially I'd focus less on your marketing and more on taking advantage of whatever network of contacts you've got. If you can build a client base from people that know you and trust you, that should serve as a source for continued work in the months to come. The idea is to build a base of clients that are satisfied with your work, with the hope that they'll recommend you to people they come in contact with that may need similar services. With every client you serve, think about how you can take the work you've done and re-apply that some effort towards future clients. If you're doing any type of development, and you retain the right to reuse that code, it'll save you time and money down the road.

I'd also recommend speaking with an attorney, or finding a basic contract from an online resource that you can use for jobs you accept.

You may also want to speak to an accountant to make sure you handle the tax-aspect of a business correctly. You can make some mistakes that wind up costing you a lot more in fees and penalties than a meeting with an accountant would cost.

Spend some time on the website Freelance Switch (http://freelanceswitch.com/). It is a good resource for somebody in your position.

Good luck. Working for yourself is rewarding, but it's also definitely a challenge.

There are plenty of opportunities in the enterprises. They're looking to cut costs and switching to interesting, powerful, cheap apps is one way. As a hacker you'll likely need to team up with a former enterprise insider, possibly someone recently laid off. They'll need to understand what tools are inefficient, what strange requirements enterprises have and how to sell to them. You'll need to price below the ceiling where middle managers can make spending decisions without committee oversight or prepare for long slow sales process.

One possible perspective.

Producing an ecosystem where normal 'sheeple' workers can be employed outside of the restraint of big companies is another opportunity. After these mass lay-offs people will see that working for one boss who can fire you is bad and that multiple bosses will produce more stability. These workers and the companies that use them will need sources of information[eg http://freelanceswitch.com/], tools to manage work and workers [basecamp] and ways of communicating with peers and customers[twitter].

Freelancing is all about relationships. If a possible client is looking for a freelancer to complete a project, the only difference between Developers A and Developer B is their price (because, the client isn't going to understand the skill/talent of the two developers - they're not developers themselves). But, if you're able to form a relationship with them, then you're not Developer A anymore, you're James. And there's a HUGE difference between James and Developer B. The client knows James, the client trusts James. The client knows James wont' screw them over.

So, I'd say make your approach a very personal one. Try to get them invested in you as a person. This will be difficult to do with those "one-off" jobs, but will work great for clients that have multiple projects that need to be completed. It also works well if you work as a contractor for local agencies (as suggested by @iantrerell).

Also, a decent source of information is Freelance Switch (http://freelanceswitch.com/).