if you're stuck in the awful in-between area of your career where you need #DataViz experience......but you can't find a client to pay you for it.....but you also don't want to work for free....
i like the idea of doing a personal project instead....but there are a lot of skills that you learn by working with an actual client....
a great middle ground that i learned from @evergreendata last year is to set aside time in your schedule to do two free things a year that are meaningful to you....