Chuck,
The way I did it was I found an FBO that had an flight school and a VERY active charter / commuter operation. When I did not have students on my schedule I would ask to go sit right seat on one of our 9 Navahos or Chieftains. This resulted in some great experiences at only 300 hours and allowed the management to gain enough confidence to "upgrade me" to a VFR Captain on the single engine charters when I hit 500 hours. It just grew from there.
But dont try to avoid Flight Instruction. It greatly enhances your people skills and personal knowledge base. I truly feel like the guys who miss this step in their career are missing out on some valuable teaching skills that they can use later in the training department or other opportunities that pop up in the road.
Cheers,
Walt