If you feel as though you could be making so much more, working with much better clients, and enjoying your projects, then you’re not alone.  Here are five quick fixes that you can do to get on with your independent career.  It will limit a bit of your current work, but stick with it and you will meet the bigger things within a few months.

1. Set a project minimum.  It could be $500 or $10,000.  Figure out where you are now and where you want to be.  Be realistic, and remember that success is built up slowly.  Don’t accept anything below your minimum, for any reason.
2. Raise your prices.  If you charge around $40 an hour, start quoting things at $80 an hour.  Not only will this help to filter out clients that would whine about cost and devalue your work, but you will also only be taking on work that will get you far more money for your time.  Hey, you deserve it.
3. Drop the bad clients.  Do you have a client who is always nagging you, or asking for quick fixes that turn in to huge projects with lots of complaints and replies?  Drop them!  Now!
4. Only accept projects that are interesting to you.  This is really if you can get a lot more work come in, to replace all of your old work.  Start saying no to projects that aren’t interesting or something that you really want to get in to.
5. Only provide the services you like, and don’t do or outsource the rest.  If you don’t want to be a hosting company as well as a design firm, then don’t.  Either outsource it, or if you don’t even want to get involved with that, then simply don’t provide it.  Let your clients find a good hosting provider, and free up your time for more fun and profitable projects, or finding new clients.