> Learn the language of yours customers. This is something I've really got to work on, I have now idea how business people speak.

Not just their language, but their lifestyle and culture.

A big portion of my clients are Jewish; this is because an early client was Jewish and I learned the little things like... sending emails late on Friday afternoons will rarely get a response till Monday. Or, Mondays are bad days to be in touch because a lot of Jewish holdays fall on them. Etc. etc.

I picked up a ton of clients because word got around that "hey, there's this guy who is easy to work with"

> Their hourly rate does makes my brain melt.

Is that the hourly rate for both of them? (they say they work in "pair programming style"). Given the mass of skills and experience they bring that seems and extremely good rate.