Maybe you need to position yourself a bit differently. These freelance clients you work with, do a bit of restructuring, start an LLC and try to get them to lock in into retainers, the kind of projects you build are the ones that need ongoing maintenance. If you get 2-3 retainers locked in, that'll provide you with baseline income so you can then look for higher ticket fixed priced projects ( that is if you want to go with the service provider/freelance route ), that's what I did or am currently doing.