[mattmurdog]

Honestly, it's up to you, but you have to begin somewhere even if it means at a low pay small company that doesn't care about "its website & pay." The skills you will learn working in a team/work environment is invaluable. The goal is to first get your foot in the door which ever way you can. Establish yourself, build some reputation and credibility. This is real experience, the kind that will eventually get you to the job you desire.

Always remember, no matter how good you think you are, there are other people out there that are better than you. You've had 4.5 yrs of self taught experience? When I was your age I've already had over 10. It was never above me to take that $50k job or that sketchy Craigslist posting that netted me just $500 for weeks of work.

[techsin]

I've always believed that everyone is better at everything from me. Thus the crazy need to learn everything.

What do you think i should do though?

Make sites for local businesses.

get internship

develop own product (which i think i can)

Which one of these or combination will help the most to build credibility and compensate for the lack of experience in the field.

[mattmurdog]

Why not all three? If you'e not fully employed, you have the freedom to pick an choose.

I'd try to land an internship first. The benefits of actually having a 9-5 job will help you "level up" to future employers. Sometimes there is stigma with being just a contractor/freelancer, and you'll never learn how to work in a team. When you're doing all the work, you'd never know what it'd like to work with designers, product managers, project managers, etc. These are all invaluable skills and skills/experience that you don't have and will never be able to learn until you get a "real" job. The other benefit is, you will be able to learn on the job. You'll be getting paid to learn, so what's not to like?

If you need extra money, do some local freelancing. I wouldn't try to tackle anything too big because most freelancing jobs suck due to unreasonable client expectations. You'll need to be a unicorn. (Not to be confused with consultation).

And always find time to work on your own project. This is not negotiable. Invest in yourself.