[zithtar]

I say this as someone who was a contract developer from 2008-2011 and survived solely on that income from 2009-2011.

Don't ever use the word freelance. It implies that it's not your focus; whether that's because you have other things you really enjoy (product work?) or that you have a full-time job, there's nothing you get from using that word that you don't from "contract designer" or something similar. Better yet, spend a few hundred dollars on an LLC and operate as a business and not a sole proprietorship/individual.

Right or wrong, "freelance" implies to clients that you can be paid less for the same work, or not paid at all.