I've been thinking about freelance work as something on the side of my full time job.

Has anyone ever done freelance work in the past? How did you get into it? What sort of work did you do?

One thing I have been wondering is how much you can charge for work?

Just did a couple of Google searches and came across this quote which I thought was quite nice...

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.
"It's you! Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist."
So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.
"It's perfect!" she gushed. "You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?"
"Five thousand dollars", the artist replied.
"B-b-but, what?" the woman sputtered. "How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!"
To which Picasso responded, "Madame, it took me my entire life."

That's a very good quote.

Personally, I don't think I'd ever want to do any IT work for anyone except close friends and family.

It's just too much of a minefield.

I've been "contracting" or "Freelancing" for 15 years.

If you want to go contracting you will need to set up a company or set up to work under an umbrella company.

Doing pure freelance work is very hard to do which is why most of use do contracting with some freelancing on the side.

As to rate it depends what the industry is what experience you have and what the language is.

Have a look at http://www.jobserve.co.uk to get an idea of what is out there and at what rate for contract work.

Join The Federation of Small Businesses http://www.fsb.org.uk/ get your self some indemnity insurance and an accountant to keep you on the straight and narrow. ( how far you can bend the rules by before HMRC get pi55ed off at you )

Hope that helps.