I'd stay away from elance and other similar sites if I were you. Focus on getting your name out there as a freelancer in certain niche communities (Django, for instance) rather than competing mostly on price for any kind of work.
I highly and wholeheartedly disagree with this. Yes, there are a number of projects on elance that are only concerned with price, but I've managed to pick up a few good clients via elance who were willing to pay a higher fee for quality work. My suggestion: don't apply to the jobs that say their budget is $5-10/hr for 3-6 mos.