You would be surprised how many companies are severely lacking tools that could greatly increase worker efficiency. The first webdev gig that I ever got came while visiting a friend who worked in a pharmaceutical research lab. Upon finishing her report, she proceeded to print it out and append it to these massive binders. I asked her why not digitize it all and make it available on all the lab computers via an intranet to which her response was "I didn't know that was possible".

After seeing that, I created a quick demo in about 3 weeks as a proof of concept and asked my friend to bring it to her boss. She gladly accepted because it made her look good by going beyond her duties to help the company be more efficient. The boss loved it and set up a meeting with me where we ironed out their ideal use cases as well as settled on a price and release date. After drafting a contract, viola, I had my first side gig.

I guess the main takeaway is to keep an eye out for professional friends and acquaintances outside of the tech world who could benefit from automation or digitization in their daily jobs but are simply unaware it's possible.

Yep it all comes down to knowing people and beyond that getting to know their day to day responsibilities and problems. It doesnt fall into people's laps at all.

Reach your friends with startups. They're probably fully loaded and need more hands, even if it is just a few hours/week. Just tell them you're thinking about side jobs.