Actually, what you've written is basically what I've been trying to do for the last year.

I'm definitely more interested in a product business, rather than a professional services business.

I've been trying to find small contracts and other sub contractors to push stuff on to. It's difficult to find clients who only need a small amount of work for the sort of things I do. Most of the potential clients I end up talking to either need something simple-yet-out-of-my-competence like throwing together a Wordpress theme, or they want to hire me full time for their early stage startup (at a huge pay cut) on a project that doesn't interest me. I might be bored, but I don't hate it so much that I'm willing to make life measurably worse in just about all aspects over it.

The few (two) potential clients who sounded ready to work evaporated after I mentioned putting together a contract. That's skeevy. Probably a good thing they disappeared.

And it's been extremely difficult finding developers who A) know what they are doing, and B) don't want full time work. I'm either finding great guys who want me to hire them full time (which I would love to do, if I had the money) or I'm finding chuckleheads who will take any scraps I can give them, but I have to redo all of their work in 2 to 3 months. My current client says I shouldn't hold everyone to my own standards. I don't know how to do that and my knee jerk reaction is that it's a terrible idea. I don't know how to make software with bad developers. I can't just sit by and watch Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee fail to complete tasks week after week that I know I could have gotten done myself if I wasn't spending so much time managing them.

I've been running side projects, but I'm blocked on turning "thing I'm excited about" into "thing that makes money". My most complete project so far is an ePub-generating, browser-based text editor. My friends use it regularly and love it, but it's been very difficult getting other users to it, so after about 5 months I think it's time to move on. I'm torn between just hunkering down and refining the tool even further + adding a pay wall, or leaving it the way it is and pursuing a new project with more potential.

I tried finding a PR/advertising partner. Everyone has their own projects and nobody wants to sign up for someone else's. I only looked for about two or three months, though. Perhaps I gave up early.

I think the big problem is that I am very isolated from people. I live in a suburb of DC. I moved here two years ago to be with my wife, a move made extremely easy by the fact that I was already freelancing and working from home. The only people I know down here are her friends. So I'm trying to get out to tech meetups, do some networking.

There is one task coming down the pipe for my current client that I'm somewhat interested in doing. I'm not sure I'm going to get to do it, though. He's been trying to hire someone with more experience in that particular area, plus there is a long list of other things that have to be done first.

In the past, I've been apt to just quit at this point and then figure out where things would go from there. I've usually been able to find a new job right away, as my skills are usually in demand, but it's always the same sort of consultoware that burns me deep. I'm trying not to follow the same pattern again. I wouldn't call it a mistake the times I've done it before, as it afforded me chances to see things from different perspectives and even got me into freelancing. When it was just me, not having any money to go on exotic vacations was fine. My wife has spoiled me in the last couple of years.

So I don't know. I feel like I've been spinning my wheels. I think I'll wait out my client to see if I get the chance to work the project I want, sock the cash away, and if I don't, double my rate on him, drop my hours back, and screw around with VR programming.