Ask HN: What proficiency does one need to start freelancing?

How proficient should one be in a particular subject before starting to take on freelancing jobs? I have this image in my mind about most freelancers being people who went to their 9-5 software development job for 10 years before they started to freelance. My company which I have had for a few years have done some (when looking back at it now) very basic php/web-design freelancing for local companies. I was reading the thread about where to find freelance jobs (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1526199) and realized that there are a lot of projects that need coders out there. Having invested a good amount of my education recently into software development, project management and economics I think this would be a really good way to keep learning new things and at the same time get some pressure ( and money ) to motivate and make me prioritize the project at hand. Of course I wouldn't seek out projects that I knew were out of my current or near-future skill-set but this is probably the