I do freelance work, and THIS advice is the advice that has helped me the most.
Be, act, and appear a consummate professional at every front. Quality of clients, size of projects, it all depends on acting the correct part.
Might drop the term freelancer as well, although thats a little more controversial. It has appeared to me lately, that freelancer has begun to give the impression of cheap roll-of-the-dice...where as something like 'consultant' tends to be more in line with stable, experienced, professional, and yes, more expensive.
For general Python contracting work, go to people who already employ Python programmers, demonstrate competence, and then ask if they are hiring or know anyone who is. This can be virtually or in meatspace, at meetups and whatnot.
For getting work which is more than just being an interchangeable body who can ship a web app in Python, you'll want to find businesses which have problems which are amenable to solutions with computer programs, and then sell them that you're the right person to do that. I've gone over this many times on HN -- use hn.algolia.com and search for [patio11 consulting] or [patio11 prospecting].
(n.b. You should also shutter the business which sells fully functional prototypes for $3k, because that is not sustainable. Good clients know this, so if you're using that business for lead gen, you're selecting for pathological clients. You're also proposing to do project management for projects for the worst freelancers and the worst clients, at a fee of 8% on $3k, which is an even worse idea than delivering those engagements yourself.)
I know that sounds snarky, but that's really that's all there is to it. Once you find your way into a local dev community, you'll quickly find more and more connections. Good luck!
The organizers of that event probably know of companies in Vancouver who are looking for Python developers. You could also comb the attendee list and try to figure out what companies they are working for, as they'll probably be using Python.
Your longer-term resolution, which I hope to share both with you and people whose present position resembles your position back in February (so that their position in October does not resemble your position as of this moment), is to improve the management of your business or, if you are unable or unwilling to do so, to secure gainful employment as a computer programmer, and trade the upside for predictable paychecks every 2 weeks until such time as you have financial/social/etc resources to survive natural variation in cash flow.
You're a freelancer. Variability in payment schedules is something which your business needs to be able to deal with.
You manage a business, and you should comport yourself as such, rather than as e.g. a college student who occasionally works for spending money. This implies, among other things, radically raising your rates, securing appropriate credit to smooth out your cash flow cycles, securing appropriate savings to smooth out your cash flow cycles, securing social and professional relationships such that you have them available in leaner times, and locating the business somewhere conducive to success at it. I express no opinion on whether Vancouver is that place, but if you've got no support network there and are at the margins of Canadian society, I would suggest rectifying that.
You should work on your pipeline such that you've always got some engagements which are in the pitch stage, some which are in the execution stage, and some which are in the "get the final invoice paid up" stage.
You need to increase your billable efficiency to more than the number you think is required for meeting your monthly expenses, because if you shoot for poverty level incomes, you will be poor when the business performs at plan and destitute when it does not. Your minimum viable number is not $600 a month. It is closer to $3,000 billed a month. This is the absolute "pack it in if you cannot hit it" minimum number -- a successful freelancing business should be billing much more in the current environment.
I assert, without fear of contradiction, that you do not charge nearly enough for your services. You need to charge more, substantially more. You probably get bad clients and bad projects from something like oDesk. Do not get bad clients and bad projects which pay you no money. Instead, network actively and get better projects from better clients at the prevailing wages for professional work.
P.S. The best clients will not respond well to hearing about you being a hair's breadth from financial disaster, because this does not happen to professionals. It suggests a lack of professional competence and will, therefore, impair your ability to land engagements doing professional work. In keeping with the "comport one's business like a professional" strategy, you will want to avoid sounding like you need to get paid ASAP.