Once you have one, print a nice business card with your website on it.

Start networking. Meetup.com has programing / startup / business type meetups... go them all! Be nice, have fun, listen to what people say, and when the opportunity comes up - usually when they ask you what you do (people are interested in you if you're interested in them), tell them you're a UI designer. Give them your card. Take their card. Send them an email telling them how glad you were to meet them (which, you were).

Place an ad on Craigslist / other popular classifieds sites. I know someone who started getting UI work this way.

When I was starting out with Python I wished to work with Django projects, so I thought myself the framework. Then I created my first web app in Django, http://www.cvstash.com, and with it I scored a couple of Django projects just by showing it. Now I work full time. If I'm going to switch technologies or would like to get some freelance gigs on other frameworks and/or languages, say RoR, I would do the same. Work experience is better, but being able to work on something on your own to start says a lot.

Off-topic: If you put time in examining a possible market with your website it might even turn out to be a win-win situation, with you getting passive income from it.

To summarize, you need a portfolio like vishaldpatel said. If you don't have one yet, then get started with doing something for yourself. Buy a domain if you don't have one yet, and show off your skills there.

The networking strategy makes sense to me. The more I learn about the business world, the more I realize the importance of networking. Deals seem to come out of friendships more than anything.

In terms of websites with my work, I didn't want to include them in the original post because this is about getting advice rather than trying to spam my services, but I did design http://www.concertwindow.com and http://www.tunesinthechurch.com. UI, design, development, the whole deal. Would love to hear any feedback!

I tried responding once and it turned into a classic "Craigslist" experience.. after a few skype conversations I showed up at the client's "office" for a meeting, which turned out to be his house, and he wasn't there. Same with the next time. And after telling him to get lost, now I get passive-aggressive skype messages from him every week or two. yikes.. :)

But armed with some strategy I'll give Craigslist another shot.

I recommend responding to lots of Craigslist postings (if there are enough in your city). Keep at it and you'll eventually find someone or several people that want to pay you. Probably not the big bucks but you'll start out here.

You can also go to businesses around you that look like they might need a website. Even if they don't, many people think they do and you can sell them that. Some businesses don't have much money, you may be able to get cake from them. Yes, I once developed a website in exchange for a cake a month. They were some of the best cakes I've ever had. You will move up from cakes and Craigslist as you develop more skill (re: programming, especially databases).

Try attending local conferences. I mean conference in the loosest sense of the word as in BarCamp or equivalent. Local meetings with other people doing what you're doing. Some of those people might need development work. If nothing else you'll see what people are up to and get a better feel for the local business.

It gets better.

There needs to be a site that not only has a rating system for freelancers, but one for the companies paying them.

Just watch out for those that take your friendship or the difficulty in creating a website for granted; don’t do the work for free, even if your portfolio is severely lacking.

The money tree starts with the guy who lands the gig from the client. That guy will then either do everything himself (or with an in-house team) or do some parts and then parcel out the rest to other contractors. If you can sell, the you don't even necessarily need web development skills. You can simply land the gigs and sub-contract out everything. Sub-contractors could even hand work out to more sub-contractors.

Where you get work depends on where you fit within this scheme. As a CSS / HTML / Jquery guy you are considered a "front-end" developer. Note that that doesn't make you a designer or a UI guy. Those are totally different areas which you haven't mentioned. CSS / HTML / Jquery has NOTHING to do with being able to deliver good designs. You are simply a coder. You will likely be handed all your designs.

If you aren't doing the selling at the root of the money tree then you somewhere along the sub-contractor track. However, you still need to be able to sell. You still have a client. Your client is going to be another developer.

Now that you know who your customer is. You now need to locate that customer. The developers you will be working for can be anywhere along the money trail. They might be agencies which generally handle marketing strategy for the client and directly sub contract out all the parts. They might be development shops which receive designs from the agencies and handle all the building. They might be solo designers who do generally do as much as they can but hand certain parts off when they are overworked. I have worked with all of the above.

All these people will likely be hanging out in places such as CMS forums, web development forums and social networks such as Twitter. They talk to each other to get help with what they are doing. For example, if they need Jquery help, they will go to a community where they can get help on Jquery. Aside from help, they will also go to places where they can discuss general happenings in the industry. If they are passionate about Jquery, then they may show off things they have done in Jquery. If they are unhappy about the direction of Jquery, then they may want to talk about that. You get the point.

Your job is to start locating these various communities and participate. You need to help people, engage in conversations and show off things you have done. Collectively this process is building your authority. It's a PR game. The more people see your face, the more they hear you talk about intelligent things, the more of an authority you will become. Eventually you will start to receive offers to do gigs for people.

Once you start doing work, then you are building a network. Your network is your bread and butter. The larger your Rolodex, the more secure your future. This is where your work will come in from in addition to all the above mentioned activities. As you bring in more work from your Rolodex, you can do less of the other stuff, but never quit. I have at time worked with certain developers almost exclusively for periods and I have been in totally new ground for periods. I have found that for me, always exploring new ground is better for building those networks.

To do everything described above, you need something to stand out. Just being an HTML / CSS guy isn't very sexy. How are you going to show that off? Your personal projects and portfolio (this is the portfolio you have before you are really even getting work) needs to be pushing the envelope a bit. Developers specializing in nothing but spitting out HTML / CSS are a dime a dozen. There is a lot of noise there to overcome. As you get closer to the bleeding edge, you have less noise. Become and expert there.

What's leading edge? I don't specialize in those areas so you might know better than me. Know HTML 5, CSS3 and all the other related buzzwords that you see in Hacker News. In the JS (Jquery) world there is a lot more you can do to impress. You can build Jquery plugins, become expert with building apps in Node (then you get into server side programming which is a whole different ballgame) and work on building great UI's. You could also begin to specialize in things like UI or design if you see something you like better.

Also keep in mind that this is all a business. Customer managemment, business management and sales are all more important than the technical skills. This is a long and stressful track, just like any business. Make sure this is something you really want to do. Contract developer is sort of like restaurant owner in that it's an idea that everyone comes up with. There are so many other businesses you can get into that you can do totally online that would likely be more interesting and likely more lucrative. Consider this, you aren't likely to ever get rich from doing web development for other people. The people with the great chance of being rich is the people you are building for, the client from which the money tree grows. ;)