First, realize that the search process is totally different from a job hunt. Good tech companies hire for talent, not skills. However, developing talent into something comercially useful isn't a short-term proposition. Unless you have extensive project management experience/have shipped several impressive things, your best bet is to become expert at a particular skill/tool, and sell that expertise, than being a good "back-end developer".
You need to get comfortable around non-techies. This means: explaining how your contribution reduces expenses/increases revenue, realizing the client often doesn't know, or frankly give a damn about the technical merits of the project ("python? you mean, like, the snake?"), and that you'll have to network a lot with non-technical people. Tech people might be a source of referrals, but most of them default to "building" vs "buying" (paying you) to get the job done.
Get off the internet. Seriously. Business-to-business commerce is still very telephone, referral, and relationship-driven. Elands, craigslist, etc. puts you head-to-head against undeniable idiots, offshore guys whose cost of living is about 1/10th that of oakland
www.elance.com (better fixed jobs) www.vworker.com (better by the hour) www.ifreelance.com (don't know it well) www.scriptlance.com (smaller?)
whosreppin.me : A site to connect voters with their local reps (django)
hckrn.ws : A mini hacker news targeted for mobile devices (node.js / couchdb)
What drew you to these projects?
whosreppin.me was built for an NPR KQED iPad hackathon event. So it was super simple and streamlined and I used a more familiar set of technologiess (postgres, django) in order to mash something up in a weekend. The neat part is that whosreppin.me shared 1st place w/ one other team.
I would try attending some meetups on the areas/languages you want to work in as there are always non-tech people turning up to them looking for people to help build a prototype for investment/etc.
To be honest, it's a good idea for anyone who regularly has up-and-down work (eg freelancers, independents, etc) to attend these types of events as you can always have work lined up.