Ask HN: How do you find a side job?

I want to know what is your current most successful strategy for getting good side jobs? i.e. Do you have an Elance or Guru account? Do you comb craigslist for postings that are legit?

And what are some of the hurdles you are faced with that you have overcome? i.e. How to detect a client on craigslist won't pay...etc.

The reason I ask is I want to make a site similar to Elance but for local developers to compete against the craigslist people. With support by it's own developer community (i.e. developers are the moderators not moron staff). Also I have experience working for local recruiters and I want to use them to get jobs as well. Thoughts???

Also if anyone has any good ideas on how to do escrow without sucking at it please let me know.