It's a pleasure to see my writing on Hacker News. I freelanced for 5 years and highly recommend it to anyone trying to break into any industry. It gave me the freedom to learn though working then any one job would have. I would go back in a heart beat, except currently working with a great team at a finance company. I've got some great projects ahead of me that I want to do before I'd consider moving on. I'm also learning more then I've ever had to before and it's exhilarating.
This post was written mainly for my brother and a few friends who are currently freelancing (web designers, graphics designers, and computer technicians) here in New York City.