Heh - saw that this morning as well.... There is this thing called competition - but there is also quality. Competition is good, makes you make your quality better!
When I was 14'ish I would post my "computer services" in the local free computer magizine. I charged $7.50/hour... I got, 2-3 hate emails a month from "pros" saying I was ruining the market. I always relplied telling them that at my age, I didn't have the experiance and skills of the "pros", so I didn't feel it was right to price myself at $30-$100/hour...
That said! When you price yourself really low - you get all the cheap and stingy, weird, can't keep their apartment clean, OH MY GOSH I need a tetanus shot people!
Exactly. It's quality. When my last contract came up for renewal I asked for a bit more than usual figuring I deserved it. They said yes, because of the quality of service I'd rendered so far. It was a REALLY good feeling. I am glad that they too saw the light: they would actually have been penalizing themselves by hiring someone else who didn't know what they were doing, even if they came at a cheaper per-hour rate - because they'd spend MORE time fixing things, plus downtime costs. Better to give it to me - I go in, nail the problem faster than anybody else can (because I have been on board since zero hour and know exactly what is going on with this beast of a system - mostly learned the hard way, like I said, only a couple of us have been with it cradle-to-grave. Grave coming soon. Replacement being planned. Memo to follow. 
).
I learned, not too long ago, to stop chasing the bottom of the barrel, as you have rightly observed. You get all the wierdos and the freaks. You start there like everybody else I agree, but you have to work to get out of that zone fast.
(especially the one sending me the Mk2 
)
). Competition, startups, strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats (SWOT analysis
.
