Watching most colleagues, I come to the conclusion that some people ignore all the explanations and warnings--it's a lost course, so they really must get into deep sh*it, suffer badly for awhile to get sick of absurd assumptions and practices, and only then they may realize their foolish mistakes...
A simple question kills all the arguments as if by magic: Why it's ok that agencies (middlemen) charge $0.25-$0.50+/word in advance, whereas freelancers should allegedly ask no more than the iconic $0.10/word, offering "best rates", "discounts", "after 45+ days", "free support", and other ploys--easily making it $0.01/word net or lower?
What exactly makes the difference to the end clients?
However, I'm glad there are still a few highflyers smart freelancers ([1]specialists in a field with decent [2] biz and [3] foreign language skills) also charging $0.25-$0.50+/word and working on their own terms, unlike timid bottom-feeding humble "pure" translators aka non-businesspersons.
If your translation job doesn't pay your bills, then it's but a hobby--find a real job or get real!