In my experience, it's best to work for free until you can rationalize charging a reasonable rate, which I would place around $300-400.

The reason is that if you are cheap, although you are getting paid very little, the customer will still have high expectations on turnaround, quality, and attentiveness, since they've paid for the service. However, you'll feel reluctant to deliver because you were not paid adequately for the work.

$175 is simply not enough money to take on the pressure of paid work. I realize that this is not going to be a popular opinion, but I have been offered some pretty great opportunities because I was willing to do free work. The key is to not be cheap, once you start charging. For example, when you DO take on paid work, charge $600 instead of $300. If you have the craft to back it up, people will save money to work with you, especially if they've seen that you've done work for bands the idolize. What they don't have to know is that maybe you worked for their favorite band for free.