Ask HN: UX in small companies or freelance, where to start?

I'm still learning English, please excuse.

I'm on a postgraduate training in UX. I work in a web agency as frontend developer but would like to switch into UX. It seems only large companies 200+ employees are looking for UX only people. Smaller companies are looking for UI designers or UX/UI designers.

I'm much happier in a small company or when i'm able to work for myself.

What would you recommend me? Am I missing something?