[percept]

As suggested above, you'll need something to show prospective clients. This can be challenging when most of your work isn't publicly available, which necessitates building some portfolio pieces for show-and-tell.

For UI-capable developers this would be Web apps/sites, for systems-oriented programmers this could be libraries or utilities.

Also, can you use the business owner you mentioned as a reference (worst he can do is say "no")?