When I decided to take on a new consulting client I researched the local businesses and created a list of around 10 that could potentially need programming work and matched my area of programming background. I then did email contacts to arrange an in-person meeting. (face-to-face is very important)
I was lucky and found a small company (just two guys) right away that were changing their focus from print/radio/tv healthcare messaging to internet and mobile. It started out as a normal hourly rate, but I eventually negotiated to a revenue sharing model and then later I negotiated to own 13% of the company + revenue sharing. This happened over the course of about 10 years and it's still going strong. (I started with my high normal consulting rate and then later cut that in half as part of the revenue sharing agreement, then much later when I took ownership of the company I now no longer charge hourly and am paid entirely through the revenue sharing)
I've also used other people I've worked with in the past to help me in my consulting projects. So if you have friends or professional contacts that you've worked well with in the past it works to contact them. Word of mouth goes a long way in this business. And I've also met potential clients at local meet ups, but those have yet to pan out but I think if I really pushed it I could get some work out of them.
Also, if you have a tech incubator in your area try to meet up with the startups in the incubator. I've done that in two cities (one in CA, one in Europe) and it's worked well.
Also, be aware of scummy people and any decisions that you make that can affect your future career. I lived near the 'other' valley where most porn is produced and received unsolicited contacts from small porn companies. I didn't take on any of those projects which is good because later I did consulting in Defense and NSA projects and also worked for a major San Jose based tech company for a couple of years.