I have a dream. I want to work from home and eventually form a partnership with other programmers and have sort of a virtual office where we work on a (one or more) software products, all of us from home.
My question is, how much experience with a 'real' programming job would you expect/want me to have before taking me seriously? At the moment I only 2 years professional experience, one of those years at one of the biggest tech consultancies in the world (for what it's worth).
As a potential customer, I will take you seriously when you have a portfolio of successful projects which are only slightly less substantial than mine. That means you have to start small and kick ass. Each project will get a little bigger and you'll get a little more credibility.
As a potential partner, I will take you seriously when you come to me with a product or service you've developed that's successful enough that you need another developer to help keep up with demand.
Sometimes people find a product that generates a million dollars a year and they can do it by themselves. If so, why bring in others? Keep the money to yourself. Others find that they need help after 100k. The key is to get started and succeed. That is the only measure of credibility. Do the work yourself until you can't get by without someone else.
If you do that next week, or if you need to gain 20 years of software experience first, doesn't really matter or have any bearing.
Consulting isn't like a resume where I want to see X years of experience. I want to see what you have done. I want to see projects you have worked on. I want to talk to others who have worked with you. I would say start small. Start using your evenings to do consulting work. If you do a good job you will be recommended to others.