Did you three get together and coordinate your comments? Each adds to this article so that these comments combined with my article and vLog makes what I’ve done even better.

I’ll start with Ayush – you’re absolutely right – as an entrepreneur, I enjoyed the success and established my credibility almost entirely through the upfront provision of value. You can say that my “marketing” was done primarily through education.

Because of the level of passion that I have felt, and I believe Lloyd has felt for decades relating to his expertise, we give a lot of ourselves. Don’t get me wrong – I rarely felt coerced to author papers or write articles or provide web resources – I do almost everything I do because I have a desire for it and a passion to match.

But, as Lloyd shared and I personally have experienced, a few bad apples spoil what is predominantly a rewarding experience. I don’t always learn from these lessons, which becomes my own fault. Over time, I did not create safeguards that keep me from feeling like I was taken advantage of, which reduced my enjoyment of doing what I love to do, and ultimately hurt my productivity and creativity.

This brings me to Paul’s point about having an idea of what my value proposition is, and who CAN and WILL buy what I have to offer. Whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee – your time isn’t free. Time is bought and paid for by someone, somewhere, in some way so that we can continue “a living”. Unless you’re guaranteed a trust fund and have no financial considerations, at some point, you will want to know who may be willing to pay for the unique value you offer.

Even those of us who leverage the power of the web to build our personal brand do so because we have an implicit expectation that this method of investment will eventually generate a tangible return on investment for us that we can ultimately use to pay our bills, create a lifestyle we want, invest in our children/future, etc.

Thank you for your comments!

Jane

However, there are certainly lot of helpful folks out there, who genuinely believe in helping people. But, in the end – it all boils down to the amount of time you’ve spent. And, the questions we’re left to ask ourselves – could we have spent this time better somewhere else?

Therefore, I personally believe that busy entrepreneurs who have the knowledge and skills should share their wisdom with the world for free when they have the time to do it, and if they feel that the beneficiary truly appreciates the time and effort put in helping them out.

I’ve been an entrepreneur and microbusiness person for the majority of my working career. Over the past 30-years I have helped innumerable people with business and technology issues, and yes, even photography, and have nothing to show for it. So for me a lot of the give-away stuff started before the web. Today, I still have clients who want me to write copy for them for nothing. (“All we need are just a few words–nothing big.”) Or, they’ll have a project they want me to do, but they want to tell me how much I will get paid, as opposed to me providing a quote. I’ve fired clients for this. That’s a little off topic, but similar.

I really like #1 above, “clear rules of engagement”. That is so important. Trouble is, I always advocate this, but often neglect it myself. Thus, my appreciation for the slap upside my head. Thanks again.