I don't think the pay rate really matters, and you could always decline it. I think this is more meant to safely allow someone to put most of their eggs in one

I don't think the pay rate really matters, and you could always decline it. I think this is more meant to safely allow someone to put most of their eggs in one basket - generally that's a risky move and the client could simply refuse to pay and put you out of business, but as a client there's a lot of value in being the main priority