Doing this will give you not only a good sense of the business side, but also whether it’s something you really want to do on your own.
Also, find a niche and specialize. Part of the reason there is so much noise is your skill set is presumably generic. Saying “I’m a senior web developer” puts you in competition with millions of others.
The competition is global as well, when it comes to the freelance market (e.g., India, Pakistan, etc.). Whereas, I’m a “Senior developer in X technology” when there are only 5-10 others who can do the same thing puts you in a league of your own.
Find a small business or smaller shop to work for (even accept less pay and use a little savings so you know how that feels), raise your hand to do stuff you normally wouldn't do (if you're an engineer, volunteer to help with sales, marketing, customer service, etc.), make nice with the owners, and constantly learn what they do.
Once you get their playbook, jump out on your own or side hustle practicing it until you're ready.
That is what I did. It took a few years, but I'm happy I did.
I sent a message to a slack channel on the 20th of October, talked to a bunch of people, and started another contract on the 1st of November.
And - I must stress this - I have no big names on my resume, I'm not the author of a famous open source lib. I'm just some dude who specialized and took a real interest in the business vertical I was in.
People need software professionals. Be easy to find. Talk it up where people in your industry hang out. Have conversations without any thought of whether they'll go anywhere. No hard selling required.
the fact that you have a bunch of people you can message (in slack, or email or otherwise) is already a leg up, and that would've taken work to setup previously - may be even years for such a network.
When people ask about networking, or how to line up clients for contracts, they are actually asking the methods to which you (or anyone) setup such a list of contacts.
I would say "just give your resume to some agencies", but it's like leaking your email address on the internet, you will get spam forever. Or use LinkedIn.