Ask HN: Any tips on finding short term consulting gigs?

Help! I'm a struggling single-founder, I've been working on my startup(s) and doing freelance web development (PHP/JS/HTML/CSS etc) since my former employer folded around a year ago. I've been able to find a steady stream of clients through friends, family and personal recommendations but I've pretty much exhausted this supply of customers and I'm starting to worry slightly. My main focus is my startup which I should be able to launch within a week or two, but there are of course no guarantees that it will succeed, or provide enough revenue to cover my living expenses, at least in the short term. So really my question is, how should I proceed from here? I have about enough money to cover my bills for the next 30 days, but that’s it and my partner is pregnant & due in October!

I’ve considered freelancing sites such as e-lance etc, but these sites take a while to establish reputation, so the route to success seems to be – spend a month or two doing lots of cheap jobs to establish reputation, then start going for the bigger fish. The problem is I’ve left it too late to pursue this route, I’ll run out of money too quickly. Yesterday the problem really hit home, so I spent 6hrs cold calling local businesses, just asking about their current websites or lack thereof, and although I got a few leads and some moderate interest (which I’ll follow up later), I’m not entirely encouraged.

I’ve reduced my outgoings as much as possible, but after a series of property maintenance nightmares (roofs leaking, boilers breaking etc) I have to pay a substantial amount in bills each month. I’ve considered getting a job, but senior web dev positions are few and far between in my area and I’d still struggle to cover my bills

So HN, what do you think I should do?