I need an advice

[Sloriachilece]

Hello!
I'm new here. I've been browsing tons of forums for an idea of what to do. I was laid off from my job about 3 month ago. I've been looking for a job since then, but did not even get a single interview. I worked as a web designer for a publishing company for the last 5 years. Looks like forums.megagames.com is an active forum with active members and may be someone has some experience working as a freelance web designer. May be "Microsoft" category is not the most appropriate for this question, but I want to try anyways to get some opinions before I go ahead with my life. I'm wondering if it is possible in the current economy to find work for a freelance web designer and make enough to pay for rent and groceries. I was able to find a small project on craigslist and I developed a website for a company. It was a small project and took me only a week to complete. I got paid $800 for 1 week of work which is not bad. Please people give me some ideas. I have 2 kids and my wife is out of work as well. Thank you in advance.

[eCK0]

This is the perfect economy for freelance. I've found offering people a discounted price from a large company and labeling it something to do with economic crisis works well. For instance, I do independent consulting for IT - standard market rate is 120 - 130 dollars an hour, but I will charge people 65$ /hour and call it the foreclosure discount or something stupid that makes people laugh and feel like they can trust me. Works well for me.

[JAGPANZER]

Ecko brings forth the obvious alterntive: slash your prices.

The only real caveat is that in this economy anything web related
can easily be done for cheap by/in India. You will not be able to
undercut that industry should the freelance indies focus their attention
on the chaotic state of business here in the west.

My advice is to get training in a real technical skill.
Mechanic, electrical, HVAC, or plumbing; fairly recession resistant.
Moreover, the indies can't co-opt these jobs from India.

Keep the web thing as a side income generator.
You never know, the market shifts- otherwise if it's gonna get worse,
that market will get even more ravaged.

good luck