When you say bid for projects, how do you get that opportunity? I simply don't know where the people looking for consultants are looking. The guys I know doing freelance work are established in their niches and are the known go-to guy, but how do you start out without a reputation bidding for work?
Sites like getafreelancer.com, scriptlance.com, rentacoder.com, there are a bunch of them. And yes without a reputation you won't win any bids, thats why I mentioned using $500 or so bucks to make some fake accounts to build the initial reputation. Probably a good idea to just start out with one site, then when you start making some money, do the same thing for other sites
