[smadam9]

From my experience, my first jobs were from people I was connected with. Usually it was a small job building a quick website for a friend, or their boss, or a friend of a friend...you get the idea.

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.