All of my work is via word-of-mouth and I would have it no other way. Unintentionally, I have postured myself as an "Expert" within the CodeIgniter community. F

All of my work is via word-of-mouth and I would have it no other way. Unintentionally, I have postured myself as an "Expert" within the CodeIgniter community. Frequent posts on the forums, a geniune desire to help people and promote the community, and an active blog in which the community participates are all contributing factors to this status. Clients come to me for work and all of my clients have come to me for repeat work after the fact. I give them my hourly rate, which is lower than most US-based coders but significantly hire than offshore, and an estimate of the total hours their project will require. They either take it or leave it - no bidding and worrying about whether I'm going to pick that client up. There's a long line of potential clients behind him if he turns the offer down. I guess the mentality is a bit different, in the way I freelance. Not to sound prudent, but I envision the relationship as the client competing for me, not I competing for the client. I don't need the money, it's a nicety - if the project doesn't interest me, the client seems like an idiot, or I'm just to busy, I can turn it down with no worries.