Also, look at corporations in general. A lot of them are inefficient and it seems like a miracle that they can make any money at all. Yet they clear big bucks. If big lumbering TPS-churning corporations can create value, then so can agile me. If someone whose job it is to shuffle papers and write memos can make a large salary, then why shouldn't my command of programming be valuable?

All in all, I think it's better to have the belief "I am worth lots of money" than the opposite.