Christy, regardless of what happened at the sitting, I am really proud of you for doing this. Remember, it is pretty uncommon (at least in the USA) for artists to do commissioned portraits from life. Most of the artists I know who use live subjects for sittings use either family members or paid models for their figurative work.
Portrait clients do not care how you get there, they want an accurate likeness which meets their approval. It's hard to blame them for that, especially when large sums of money are involved.
I think one of the best ways to get free sitters is to trade off with another artist - he/she sits for twenty minutes, then you do.
In the meantime, you can draw objects from life to keep yourself in shape. I highly recommend my friend Paul Foxton's website,
www.learning-to-see.co.uk . He taught himself how to work from life and is very articulate and generous with his ideas and methods. I think it's one of the best sites on the internet.