[ekidd]

I agree strongly with patio11. I have a simple rule:

1. Programmers are the final authority on how long a specific piece of functionality will take.

2. Clients are the final authority on what to build, in what order, and how much money it's ultimately worth to them.

In general, clients who insist on negotiating (1) are often unsalvageable. It's better to structure the relationship so that this never comes up at all.

But if a client continues to insist, "No, you should be able to implement our video encoding server for $500," I find that the best response is, "If you have another programmer who can do that for $500—and do a good job—then you should hire them instead of me. That's a remarkably good price."

Basically, learn to qualify your sales leads: You want to work with competent, reasonable clients for whom you can earn a lot of money. Everybody else should be filtered out of your sales pipeline as quickly as possible.

[patio11]

FWIW: You can probably 10X your rates if you take responsibility for what to build, in what order, and how much money it's ultimately worth to them.

Otherwise, broad agreement with your comment.