In my experience a couple of really good freelance gigs can be enough to cause all of these problems. The problem is there aren't enough hours in the day and so if a project starts getting behind you work at it harder, forego things like marketing yourself (because you can't commit anyway to anyone else) and pretty soon your presence is down. It's a painful lesson and I have been through it. When you combine this with a sluggish economy, what might have been a moderately painful lesson before can be quite devastating.
I do, however, agree with the recommendation to talk to other freelancers, etc because this really helps with the learning curves of this sort.
exactly this, if you're a lone worker it becomes so easy to be consumed by a project and forget about the things that bring in work after the project has ended.
Its not just this. The time that happened to me, the project got behind and so I made the mistake of putting the customer as the top priority and dedicating more and more hours to try to get things back on schedule.
There are also things in the appeal that make this sound legit, in particular the part about running out of money working at startups. Sure an outsider could figure this out and make a false appeal (like is often done on reddit) but they usually aren't that clever.
I do believe that chrismasgift probably needs help after hitting a rough patch, as can happen to anyone. But there's enough vagueness/disconnection in the info given to be concerned that the help needed may be more than just another paying gig.
To christmasgift, I would again suggest being sure to have a deep conversation, with someone who knows you well or is an expert counsellor, to understand how things reached this point. To those offering work, I would suggest checking references.
Whether this is a rough streak of bad luck for an earnest and talented person, or something else, such considered steps will help all involved.
It can happen, I've done it myself. It's not that difficult, especially when you live paycheck to paycheck, your rent is high and you don't have savings.
I do, however, agree with the recommendation to talk to other freelancers, etc because this really helps with the learning curves of this sort.