At least in my area, it's hard to find clients that are willing to pay even the baseline functional rate of $100/hr. I just took a job well below that, and most

At least in my area, it's hard to find clients that are willing to pay even the baseline functional rate of $100/hr. I just took a job well below that, and most clients balk when I suggest it. I just had a guy yell at me earlier this week because he thought $100/hr was outrageous (after repeating several times that the program he wanted was going to be "very complex"), and he said he would go to India before he paid that kind of money. I told him "good luck in India" and to give me a call if it didn't work out; while I need the work, I know better than to take clients like that, especially if I have aspirations of scaling to a reasonably-sized firm one day. I've found that most medium-sized companies are practically impenetrable for consultants around here; everyone has a contract with Robert Half, or has a policy against contractors, or doesn't want to pay anything above $50/hr, which is barely acceptable for a single developer, and practically useless to someone trying to run a company. I'd really like to know how I can get my foot in the door somewhere where the client won't balk and I won't feel like I can't charge the full time because the company is always talking about how strapped they are. It seems that nepotism is the only way to get in there without resorting to dirty tricks.