To provide an anecdote the other way: I do small business software and webhosting in the southeastern US, and I have often had prospective clients seem taken aback when I mention my rates, which are nowhere near the rates being bandied about in this thread. If you choose to sell your services to small businesses, be prepared to fit into a reality where the client thinks $80 an hour is a terribly high amount for a 5-10 hour job, and is prepared to just not have the work done instead. Very little is actually required for most small businesses; some of them are still considering upgrading the old machine running Win98 that's been doing invoices for 10 years, and unless it breaks, it's "good enough".