[Nursie]

I just started looking for contracts on job boards (notably jobsite.co.uk, which may not be the best but has worked for me). When applying for them I ticked the box to allow the website to publish my CV to any/all agents.

I then spent about two weeks telling people that no, I'm not interested in a perm role, and got work at about the end of week 3. (for reference I'm a server-side C/C++ programmer with an interest in crypto and about a decade's experience).

That's when I registered a company, bought domain names, got accountants (nixon williams, they specialise in this, seem to be ok so far) who handled tax registration etc etc.

-- edit --

happy to answer any further questions. I'm only about a year in and on my second contract.