[rmetzler]

I never had problems finding a job, but I was really bad at finding good clients.

I especially hate, when I've been brought in for my expertise and I tell them what they should do with the least risk and best outcome and they refuse, because no. I realize there might be some important technical constraint I might not know about, but most of the time they just want to respect something their boss said once, some constraint that wasn't that important at all but makes my work 10x more complicated.

[imhoguy]

This is why you should charge at least 12x more: 10x for the complexity and 2x extra to compensate your ego.

[rmoriz]

May be true in the US but in Europe you can't just increase your rates. Too many policies are involved with especially larger customers: they have a specific maximum rate they are willing to pay. In addition some agencies usually required to get into larger corps have a limit, too.

Usually contractors are hired to fix rotten stuff that in some way is a commodity. You can find 10 other contractors with the same skillset, maybe cheaper.