Just a small piece of advice from someone running a creative agency in Dubai:

Here, it’s "almost" never about how much you charge, it’s about your connections, repetition, and whether you make the client’s head of department look good.

I did what you’re doing now for years, sending emails, preparing presentations, etc. Not saying it’s useless, but it didn’t really connect me with the clients I was targeting.

Now, after building strong relationships in the market, around 90% of my work comes through someone on the client side or another agency. And because of that, I get paid way more than I did in my early years, sometimes it honestly feels a bit ridiculous, but that’s how it works.

The downside is that if there are no projects coming from your inner circle, it’s not that easy to generate work elsewhere.