Stop using outsourcing sites to source clients. Your new rate is $100 per hour, until I can convince you to switch to weekly rates in any case. Go out there and beat the bushes to find businesses which have problems which you can address in AWS/NodeJS/etc which are worth paying your new rate.
After your income spikes, start saving some of it so that you can tolerate lean periods between clients. This will let you stop working for less-desirable clients and try experiments like bumping your rate without having to worry about what this will do to a count-on-one-hand number of clients in the pipeline.
When you say "go out there and beat the bushes" what exactly do you mean? I have tried networking a little bit at one or too networking events but few people seemed interested in my help.
Networking events are generally not the best place to meet people with business problems -- they tend to attract a bit more of an aspirational audience. Business owners with budget congregate in predictable places: conferences for their industry, their own offices, locally organized meetups, the Chamber of Commerce, etc etc. If you absolutely can't find an appropriate event, throw one yourself. I'm totally serious. Throw a seminar on How to (Put Any Business Goal Here) With (Pick A Technology They Have Heard About Recently) For (Pick An Industry). Rent out a room for a few hours at the local civic center or whatever you have in your neck of the woods. Buy coffee/donuts for everyone. Teach folks for an hour. Give a five minute sales pitch at the end. Let folks mingle for a while so they can enjoy your coffee and donuts. Many people will come up and introduce themselves to you.
(This can be done on approximately a $100 budget in Ogaki, so that's probably the upper bound for you. If you can't afford that, write up how this advice actually worked out for you in a blog post and I'll reimburse you.)
Invite people via pre-existing networks like e.g. the Chamber of Commerce, which is generally happy to tell their members about free events which aren't (explicit) sales pitches.
When meeting people, ask about their business problems. Listen. Tell them that you understand those problems. If appropriate, say that you think you can produce a solution to those problems, since you are in the business of doing that as a technology consultant, and offer to discuss that problem in more detail after the event.
That right there:
"One thing that programmers forget is that, at some point, you weren't good at programming, but over time, you learned and now you are pretty good."
That's just an enormous revelation. I can't even tell you how good it was to talk to Dave Rodenbaugh and he basically said: "See, you are now good in giving talks. Do you remember the first time?" and I was like: "Yeah, I remember: I nearly cried afterwards"
Patrick's (patio11's) advice is really the advice you should be following. However, I can easily imagine how daunting those steps must sound. (Rent a room? Stage an event? Get up and talk? Woah.) I hate to think of that paralyzing you from trying something different. So, an alternative (though not necessarily better) option I suggest is, at the networking events you attend, look for someone to learn from.
Look for someone that impresses you - both technically and professionally. Someone that, if you could succeed in patterning yourself after, you'd consider yourself fulfilled and successful. Grab their ear, pick their brains, ask them for advice. Show them your interest, enthusiasm, and aptitude - and earn their respect. Hopefully, they'll help you get to where you want to be.
If you don't do _anything_ else, fill out your HN profile with some contact information. Right now, you're making it difficult/impossible for potential clients/employers to contact (the Hacker News) you. Why?
Thank you for your advice. +1. I put my personal contact information in my profile for the entirety of the internet to see. I wonder who the heck is going to call me? Well, there it is.
You're welcome! I love HN Notify. It's funny but I saw it off of someone else's profile too! Email notification for HN is definitely awesome. I wish someone made one to give +1 upvote notification too.
After your income spikes, start saving some of it so that you can tolerate lean periods between clients. This will let you stop working for less-desirable clients and try experiments like bumping your rate without having to worry about what this will do to a count-on-one-hand number of clients in the pipeline.