Getting those first clients is not easy. My first one? Totally free. I offered to build their site and hope they refer me to others, which they did. I also went to a local business meetup and met someone who became a client months later, after trying for so long, think they were just scare if the cost so I offered it cheap, but it opened more doors.
Even though those first clients were free or cheap, I’m still getting paid every month from them because they’re on my hosting and maintenance plans, that’s part of what I offer.
During slow periods, I built https://www.lootdumpster.com just to focus on SEO and see how far I could take it while learning along the way. Keep doing. Keep it up. It adds up.