point #1 - there's a difference between a startup who's figuring those things out (and has the business acumen to know how business' work) and a person who's never run a business before. i'm talking to the latter point, since a freelancer can't really do everything for someone's business (like figure out their market, audience, how to run a business, etc). that's more of a business partner relationship than a freelancer.

point #2 - this again is speaking to people who start business' without knowing how business' work (for me personally, i get a lot of leads like that). through experience i've found that until a person has a good grip on how their business works and how it can make even some money, the spend they'd have on a site design is wasted money (just setup a free squarespace or WP site).

point #3 - there's a big difference between realistic expectations and totally unrealistic expectations. sure, good freelancers can make a business go from not awesome to very awesome, but it has to tempered with reality.

i (the author) am a "regular folk" too. i've been freelancing a long time, so i'm in the trenches. the only reason that i have the word of mouth machine going is because i am picky with my clients :)

cheers! and thanks for the comment.