Definitely not, unless you want to be making brochure sites for the rest of your freelancing career (nothing wrong with it, and I did that for a long time, but that's not really my idea of fun and it's generally not where the money is, either). You possess the ability to build tools for businesses, which help them save/generate $X00,000 every year--don't waste your time building brochure websites for $2000 when you can be doing that. (Of course, for certain businesses the website is just such a tool--and those businesses will be willing to invest far more in their websites. But a business that currently operates with a "craptastic" site probably isn't that kind of business.)
Think of everyone you know, that you see or speak to on a semi-regular basis. Friends, family, colleagues, etc. Where do they work? Where do their spouses/significant others work? What did their parents do when they were growing up? Write down the answers that you know, and make a mental note of asking them next time you see them or speak to them. Then ask them more about it. (Oh, your wife works in the office at ___? What does she do, exactly? Actually, what does the company do, I've always wondered...) This isn't an interview, and these aren't "leads"--you're just getting used to talking to people about work things, and familiarizing yourself with different industries. You'll probably realize that you have several contacts working in the similar industries--that might be important later.
Now, register a business name. Print some business cards. Make yourself a really simple single-page site. You're a "software development consultant" and you help businesses increase their profits by increasing revenue and reducing expenses. You build tools that save employee time by automating repetitive tasks. You build tools that help sales & marketing departments identify their best leads. You build tools that increase public exposure and make it easier for consumers to buy from your client (if the client business is consumer-facing), possibly directly online (I'm talking about websites/mobile apps). Now, buy a ticket to an event sponsored by your local chamber of commerce. You'll be directed to a table (or pick one, I guess, depending how things are run). Introduce yourself to the people at your table. Give them your business card. Ask them questions about their business, and genuinely give a shit about what they say (if you can't do that part, at least most of the time, this isn't going to work).
No one is going to hire you after that first event, because none of them will understand what you had to say. Practice communicating what you do. Also, think about everyone you met and try to imagine the problems they must face in their business every day. (You should have asked them that when you met them. They may or may not have had any good answers.) You don't have to pitch them on your ideas, not the first time around--it's just a mental exercise.
Rinse and repeat. You will eventually find someone who has been looking for your services. They're your first client. Once you get the hang of building tools that make business owners richer, and especially once you gain a track record of doing so, your services sell themself. When you get to that point, it's just a matter of closing. You go to networking events, you talk to people and exchange business cards. Later that day you send them an email saying "Hey, after we chatted I couldn't stop thinking about the problem you mentioned. Would it work to [X, Y, Z with software]?" They will be interested, you'll then tell them you can do it. You set up a meeting to discuss specifics, then you sell them your services.
That's the secret!
PS. A helpful side note, which I probably picked from reading patio11 at some point: you should basically think of your business as trying to replace pen and paper, or giant Excel spreadsheets, with custom software. You can easily book yourself solid just doing that single task for every business you come across, and you will be providing an exceptionally valuable service. Suddenly the information which used to be in a stack of filing cabinets is no longer vulnerable to a office fire or a office flood (as long as you implement a good backup system--which is an upsell--and store their files in a remote server) and their giant collection of Excel files gets replaced with a database that's easy to search, with fine-grained access control and multiple users editing at once.
Excellent distillation of dozens of patio11 posts. The key, and what I think is the blocker for so many potential consultants, is the amount of human to human conversation that it takes. It is certainly a stumbling point for me!
How do you find them?