Pop quiz: On average, who is going to earn more for their C++ and Java programming services, consultants in Southern California or contractors in Ogalalla, Nebraska? Still thinking? We'll break the suspense for you: Programmers in San Diego command higher rates, consistently and overwhelmingly.

What good does this factoid do you if you’re stuck in Muncie, Indiana, or Providence, Rhode Island, or Paris, Texas? That all depends on how resourceful you are.

How do you reposition your free agent business so you can charge the rates that the big boys and girls do? "It really starts in your own head," says Bob Nelson, president of Nelson Motivation Inc. in San Diego and coauthor of Consulting for Dummies and other career books. "If you have a niche that you can do better than anyone else, you might be limiting yourself if you think you can do it only face to face," Nelson explains. "If what you have to offer is not based on your geographic location, you have to wean yourself from face-to-face marketing."

Next, you need to take your marketing campaign national. Web-based talent auctions and other online marketing techniques may be the most efficient vehicles for your efforts. For example, you can set up a simple Web site to showcase your portfolio of local completed projects and then start highlighting national customers as soon as you sign them.

You know that with the Internet's help, you can get projects done without spending 40 hours a week in your client’s office. But some of your prospects will likely balk at the idea, and you’ve got to be ready to assuage their concerns. Nelson urges consultants to emphasize results and downplay face time.

"Lead with the fact that you have access to a level of analysis that others don’t," he says. If prospects want you to make trips to their offices that you believe are unnecessary, point out that "you can save them money by not incurring travel expenses. Maybe the project will cost them much less if you just do your analysis and send it to them."

What if a potential client insists that you meet face-to-face every so often but balk at paying your travel costs? Do the math before you turn down the project. Suppose you sign up to work full-time for the client for a year and the client wants you to make a quick trip to the office every couple of weeks. Let’s assume airfare, meals and other costs add up to $600 per trip, and you’ve got to do this 25 times a year, generating unreimbursed expenses of $15,000. That sounds like a lot. But if, as in our original example, you can bill an additional $56,000 by projecting yourself into a high-end market, you still come out way ahead. That’s what we call working locally and marketing nationally.