That's interesting. Ever since we started our company, we had to go looking for potential clients exactly zero times. We are always working on something or other. All from our existing network. My guess is that there was some repressed demand. Currently, the paycheck is lower than what we could get working with a reasonable company, but it's under our control and (potentially) unbounded.
Not sure if we'd have the same luck working by ourselves (there are three of us) instead of opening a business. My guess is that it brings extra credibility to the table, but I have no data to back it up.
It could be worth a try, if no other reason than to be able to ping your network again, now with the news that you've got a business. I realize that there are some extra costs, but keep it to the minimum. And, if you have little to no income at first, they are not likely to be that high.
