Charge enough so that you can afford downtime and choosing your gigs rather than having to take whatever comes your way. Being short on money forces you to take

Charge enough so that you can afford downtime and choosing your gigs rather than having to take whatever comes your way. Being short on money forces you to take whatever low paying work you happen upon. Low paying gigs make you short on money. It's a vicious cycle. My consulting gigs where usually long term 9 months+ full time with 3 - 4 months of downtime during the year. You need to charge enough to easily last 6 months without a gig and still afford to be choosy, pay yourself retirement, healthcare, vacation, savings etc.