Dry spells

In this economy, occasional or constant dry spell is expected when you are a freelancer. So how does one combat that? According to some articles I read, all you have to do is to update your portfolio, go to networking events, make cold calls or emails and etc.

But does it work? Maybe for some people but with that sort of advice given out in the open, I can expect several other freelancers will follow the same advice. Which in turn renders the information useless because everyone is using the same method but this is just my opinion.