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Is it necessary to invest some time in building an impressive app of my own or is it possible to find someone who'll hire me despite the fact that I have almost nothing to show?
Otherwise you basically have to either undercut everybody in your bids to make yourself attractive on a cost basis, or when you bid on a project, show the customer a "proof of concept" or something that shows you already have something solid to show them before they choose a freelancer, which may or may not be feasible for the type of projects you're interested in doing.
Even though those seemingly unimportant jobs were all I had, I was grateful because I knew they would lead to more spectacular and promising prospects.
As expected, almost a year later, I was landing great jobs thanks to my quick, small jobs at the start. People starting seeing that the jobs were finished, people were happy etc.. Although my work is now in another realm, those qualities hold true anywhere.
Try to find some jobs in your own network, see if anyone knows someone that needs a website built or even just a simple button designed. That's how I would start again if I had to.
Most people that get into the freelance game have little experience selling themselves (I know I sure did), I would suggest sales skills will help you much more than a portfolio.
A person will hire you if they believe you can get the job done at a price they like. A portfolio is just a small part of saying I'm the right person for the job.
No-one ever asked me for for a portfolio when I was doing websites, because they aren't interested in what I did in the past, they are interested in what I can do for them. Obviously the more complicated the job, the more proof someone will be likely to ask for. Wasn't sure if your talking about making websites or more complicated development.
Can you post specifically what you have done to try and get a freelance gig. I feel we can help you much better then, rather than give generic advice about yeah portfolios are helpful(which you already know).
If you are a developer, and you seem relatively smart, there are hundreds of people waiting in line to hire you. Everyone needs a web developer. Everyone.
My pitch was: MVP For $1k. You get an MVP for 1k. 0 iterations. I could have charged $3-5k at least, looking back.
See hn thread here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2075928
This was the building block of my former consulting company.
Additionally, I'd recommend cold calling (you have to be good in sales, if you're not, get better at it now -- go read the ultimate sales machine). It's highly effective. Personal experience.
I'm a full time freelancer, and I've never shown anyone a portfolio. My jobs are all earned by my reputation, which I get by my networking efforts. Even back when I had a fulltime job, I've been attending conferences and meetups, talking to people, and generally impressing them with what I know. That's how I got the ball rolling in the first place -- I've been doing this for 4 years now. If you are a developer, and y…
Also I used to charge super cheap, because I figured it was good for me to learn and good for them because they pay less (highly not recommended).
Charge a decent amount upfront, it means you can spend more hours working for them, they will value your work more, respect you more and a whole list of other things. Also if your in competition with other people bidding too low will only land you the worst clients. The best clients pay more and because they are successful will respect your time.
For the provision they will do all the legal work - which can be considerable. I'm very satisfied with this arrangement.
I would recommend you to get in touch with agencies. Just make sure they don't screw you over - the division should be at least 80/20 in your favor.