@keithamus this is a great article, especially the recommendations of valuable things to focus on that you've listed at the end.
I myself started freelancing in the late 2000s too, so a lot of what you've written sounds very familiar. I used many frameworks over the years, even Preact, but I'm not inclined to put myself into a "framework developer" box - I believe in choosing appropriate tools for a project, instead of forcing the project into your favorite toy, err, tool.