Re investments: Don't be discouraged by lack of investment. Most businesses are bootstrapped. There is absolutely nothing wrong in that. Reading technology news

Re investments: Don't be discouraged by lack of investment. Most businesses are bootstrapped. There is absolutely nothing wrong in that. Reading technology news might give you the mistaken idea that all and sundry are VC funded. That is not true. Finding a job (or a consulting role) is essentially a sales and marketing function. If you treat it that way, you'll find the results much more effective. Consistently market your services, follow up on interesting leads. It takes time. However, carefully analyze every failed lead to see if you can learn something from the failure. And modify the pattern. Don't personalise a lead that does not close. You'll become depressed. I know it's hard to do that. But if it helps think of selling your services as selling a product. It helps to be extremely curious about people and see if you can help. Finding a job is a full time job. It's a sales and marketing function. You can get good at it.