How do beginners find design projects?

You can look for freelance jobs on Upwork or Fiverr.

the template route is definitely the fastest way to make money while you learn. but instead of waiting around on upwork for someone to hire a beginner, just find local businesses on instagram with terrible graphics. redesign one of their recent posts, dm it to them, and say you can do a weeks worth of content for fifty bucks. most will ignore you but a few will always bite. its way easier to sell a finished product than a service when you dont have a portfolio yet.

Start with something from a freelance website/market, and engage a lot with free community projects.

Sites like Upwork and local meetups will get you your first gigs