It won’t be long until I finish my studies… I plan to start as a freelancer . and build my own business. I think as an employee I couldn’t stand it for a second.
Thanks a lot, that’s what I meant 
You’re welcome.
I’d rather steer people to actual design competitions that have worth and weight in the world of design.
Good luck. And remember, you’re worth more than what crowdsourcing offers, the only one that wins is the website owner.
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I would strongly suggest not going straight from college to freelancing. You need four or five years’ experience in the industry first before freelancing. To be quite blunt, you won’t know what you are doing.
Once you have earned your stripes with a few years of experience, you will know exactly what I mean and will likely end up back here banging on to newbies about getting a university education and five years’ experience.
This is an interesting business model – Start from the top.
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When I was a whippersnapper, I was working in prepress and our company had absorbed 3 or 4 companies who were going under, it was back in the day that the print industry went to the gutter and places were shutting down left right and center.
I had only been there 6 months - and noticed that the competition for places was wild. People being let go, people made redundant. It really was dog eat dog out there.
I was talking to a guy who had about 20 years’ experience. And just said:
If you don’t all this in 2 years then you’re done, you won’t get a job in the industry.
That lit a fire under me - so I learned it in 2 years.
25 years later - I’m still learning…
Go figure.
Ditto. If that bit ever stops, that’s when you’re done for.
I have thought about it for a long time and I have come to the conclusion that there is no really right time to start as a Freelancer. I already work also as a freelancer beside the studies. Thanks anyway for your recommendation.
I’ve come to the conclusion that that graphic design as a profession is a lost cause. I mean, why on Earth would you need experience to start a business that relies on skill, right?
/sarc
There is; it is when you have enough knowledge and experience to know you know what you are doing.
Being a freelancer, is not distinct to running a business. It’s just a small,business. You have to be offering an honest and viable service to customers and without industry experience, how can you know that you are?
That may be so, but there is a right time to NOT start as a freelancer.
Five to ten years, give or take. That would be roughly the span for a reasonably intelligent designer to know what he/she does not know. It’s the least one can do to be responsible to clients.
People are not all the same and everyone has their own experiences.You can’t put all people in the same category. I am not alone by the way, I have friends and family who have more experience to help me. Thanks again.
You can of course start a business anytime you like. I worked with someone that wanted the owner to buy some digital printing machines and he wouldn’t. She went off and got a business lone and bought the machines and set up.
She only had 1 year experience. That was 20 years ago and still going.
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Are you omniscient? 
… You don’t know me, skills and all! I’m lucky to have people by my side who have more experience than I do. I am just very lucky.
I think some of the comments were meant as generalities rather than aimed at your specific situation, which only you know about. As a general rule, the inexperience of recent graduates makes them more likely to stumble into avoidable blunders than someone with more experience.
However, we can all point to examples of the opposite: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs come to mind.
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Abe Lincoln, Coco Chanel, Richard Branson, Andrew Carnegie
There are people who are exceptions to general rules.
Typically it’s true to have an educational background - but people can succeed off the back of their own desire.
Jobs didn’t even have any design/coding/etc. he was just a marketing person.
His vision was really about giving the people what they wanted before they even knew they wanted it.
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Some popular ones include Behance, Dribbble, and Creative Market. These platforms allow you to showcase your portfolio, connect with other designers, and even sell your designs.
As for Zombo.com, I haven’t personally used it but it’s always a good idea to do some research and read reviews before signing up for any platform. Just remember that building a strong portfolio and network takes time and effort, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results
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REMOVED! is a really good marketplace for graphics designers.
Absolutely it is NOT!