Absolutely agree. My spouse is an active contributor to an open source project. Often, someone will come into IRC asking for help, and soon realize that the scope of the problem is bigger than they thought. Their next idea: "I should hire someone to do this for me." If you have demonstrated your tech skills, ability to communicate, and willingness to help a client... you might get the gig.
It doesn't have to be open source. As long as it's a community of techies working together to solve a problem, being the Helpful Cheerful Person in the Neighborhood can lead to consulting work.
I'd add Jerry Weinberg's _Secrets of Consulting_ to the reading list. It had a major impact on my ability to turn my tech skills into a business. For example, it helped me understand that the right answer to a client request is, "Yes, I can do that. And this is what it will cost."
Cold calls rarely work -- unless you are as good at selling (yourself) as you are as a web designer. That's a rare combination.
Word of mouth is the most powerful way to get business, of course. So the first step is to let the people you know know that you're available. Tell the people who might need your skills that you have them; if they don't need you, they might know someone who does. (This is a good use for LinkedIn.)
Have an elevator pitch ready that summarizes your tech specialties (e.g. HTML5, Dojo), business expertise ("have created several websites for realtors"), and a sense of the best match that hints at your rate ("affordable for small businesses"). Have a web portfolio ready. Update your LinkedIn page.
Depending on how much "a bit of extra cash" you can get started with sites like elance.com but my sense is that the money isn't all that great. (That perception might be inaccurate.) If all you're looking for is "a little extra" and an opportunity to expand your skills, it might still be a good idea.
I was all ready to upvote this in a passionate YEAH... and then I looked at the link. What's sexist about it? If anything, having a geek chick with a tech book makes it obvious that the company wants to hire women.
Isn't the whole point that people can submit what they find of interest and what they believe will interest others? All it takes to "ban" them is to not vote them up.
The problem with such policies is that the definitions are squishy.
How do you define "regular" and "sometimes"? At what point do you decide someone is "participating"?
If someone submits, say, 10 links to other (presumably interesting) sites for every 1 link to his own site, is that kosher? What if it's 4:1? 1:1?
How interesting do the other sites need to be? At one extreme is neat stuff that everyone likes and makes it to the home page (which benefits the "my own stuff" not at all, but certainly helps with karma). At the other is junk thrown in as filler to make that 10:1 ratio.
These are not idle questions. Especially when I think everyone in the HN community is aware of journalists' and bloggers' need to attract attention to their articles (which they, at least, believe are relevant). The question is how one can be an accepted member of the community _and_ also let people know what he created.
I don't think it's trying to list all the items we miss... the link at the end goes to an article of cool but dead tech. This is looking mainly at the terms that made it into the language (like "dial a phone") that are no longer literally relevant.
I just hired someone for an internship position -- wholly based on personal networking.
That is, I knew her from active participation in a baseball fan forum (http://www.azsnakepit.com). She was cheerful, courteous, kind, etc. That is, she unconsciously demonstrated everything any sane businessperson would be looking for.
After Liz had a baby, she asked me for advice about how to find a part-time work-at-home job where she could learn a new skill (and avoid going stir-crazy from talking only to the baby). And I said, "Hey, _I_ need someone!" I'm now paying her a lot more money than she imagined, she's doing a great job, and the work is getting _done_.
Therefore, I recommend that you begin rooting for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Only good things can come of this.
It doesn't have to be open source. As long as it's a community of techies working together to solve a problem, being the Helpful Cheerful Person in the Neighborhood can lead to consulting work.