Its hard to start up... but can be done. The freelance thing can be good but mike brings up good points it hard to find skilled people to stay with out much pay... the one place i work for has a pretty high turn around.

Im working as a freelancer for 2 different studio's

First one dose (Pain keep) and is developing a few new games. I work for them as a modeller and conceptual artist

The second I am lead animator for a rpg.. that hopefully will be out in about a year in a half to 2 years. With them they are just starting to get investors interested on the story and what are game is going to do. The studio is in the middle of producing a demo vershion for company's like Nintendo.