Hey man, I graduated from a degree in philosophy in 2009, a degree I pursued because I wanted to dig as deeply as I could into our world and what the hell I was going to do with the rest of my life.
I had already been learning things on Lynda.com, but I then fell upon oDesk and Elance and very slowly but solidly building a portfolio and a reputation. Just a bit over 3 years later, I am working full time at 30 an hour, about to give myself a 6th raise in that time to 35 an hour, having started off at 12.
It is all about the one step at a time approach and an insane commitment to quality and even working waaaaaaay beyond in order to bring THEIR visions to life.
If your own standards of quality are top notch, you will rock.