You’re in an incredibly competitive field that has a lot of options for people to DIY. You need to focus on building a portfolio for a niche or maybe a small number of them. Focus on marketing yourself as THE designer for that niche and always asking for referrals.

Most people are prepared to receive a lot of emails and sms at this time of year and will be fairly forgiving

Paid Google Ads and IG organic.

Wrong. Becoming extremely successful almost entirely depends on your network.