[apitaru]

There's a lot of great advice here already. As a long-time freelancer, I'll try to add my tiny part:

I'm always amazed the influence that personal projects have on which kind of work comes through the door. There's a reason why many companies have a public 'labs' page. Featuring these projects will pull in clients that appreciate your sensibilities (I believe these are the best clients to have).

btw - the fact that you're on the first page of HN is a good start!