Do any other teen programmers find it frustrating that clients will only hire us for a lower price? I understand it's a matter of experience, but I still feel designing and programming an iOS app is worth more than $2500...

Welcome! Maybe because you still need to establish trust with your clients.. they are a bit hesitant if you could actually finish the job or not? Or a senior/experienced alternative can deliver the same on a shorter timeline/better implementation.. sometimes you also need to have exposure on how the business scope works in order to code properly which is experienced devs has edge on. Tech Skills only applies after scope-awareness

Would you believe I hired a guy in his 50's whose only job was to suit and tie up to shake hands and make it seem like there was an "adult" in control?

Works too.

@seraphimsystems That's a really great idea, unless he needs to talk code.

@Sourcerer he had the gift of the gab, and could defer to someone else when needed. This particular business was more about business analysis so he could management speak his way out of committing to anything.

@lunorian that's what I'm considering, but I don't really know what a good rate is