Assuming you're looking for contract work in general and not specifically refrigerators, he sets a good example for how specialization gets you consistent work.

Basically, find a niche industry (refrigerators, greenhouses, toy cars, whatever), find an audience, think about what they could use, and acquire the skills to give it to them. I used to be an actuary before I did software, I plan on going back to my old companies and contracting myself because I know they have data analytics needs I can meet.

If you want an excellent book on this topic, read "Soft Skills" by John Sonmez. Excellent book for shaping your career.

A lot of niche industries e.g. around embedded might pay less than web development, ironically.

Yea but the metric of success in embedded mught be more clear than web, which tends to be more customer facing.

I looked up the book and the search engine suggested the search "John Sonmez scam". I guess he's not in good standing in the industry or the Web in general.

You have to be pretty cool.

I see what you did there.

When my fridge stopped working, I didn’t think it was cool.

Mine was the compressor last week. Daggum LG

Don't be so cold...at least it wasn't a Samsung...

No, you have to be trying to be cool.