I’ve been using and developing for Windows quite literally as long as there’s *been* a “Windows” – and any day that I was down for “only” 11 minutes, was a very, very good day.

Frankly, some social media “consultants” are some of the biggest abusers of the sense of “community” that is supposedly part of social media. Not to sound like an old fogey, but when I came into soc. media and asked for advice, I always gave the people who gave me the advice huge thanks and props on my blog. I never claimed the ideas of others as my own. But that way of thinking seems to have been supplanted by the need to step on others to make oneself look like the “expert” or “guru” or “ninja” or whatever some folks want to call themselves.

I’m now much more guarded about what I say to whom, and will not give advice to those who are not necessarily peers–as they may not understand the small gracious things like acknowledging who you learned what from. I’m also thinking of putting together “white papers” and charging a hefty little sum for them. From my experiences, I kno w that there are tons of people who’ve been appointed to do social media for web design companies and marketing firms who want that information and don’t want to hire a consultant in any capacity (IMO, it’s an economic/money decision more than anything–but hey, experience isn’t cheap, ya know?) Either way, I’ve gotten very tired of losing $$ because of the “peer-pressure” to be social with hard earned information.

I like Jack’s idea of putting a time limit on it. In my own business, I finally put a price tag on it. Those free coffee dates became “power” consulting hours, and I was surprised by the number of people who actually took me up them. It made me realize that some people have legitimate needs that don’t fall into the realm of services we provide. They don’t know how to ask for the help within our regular service offerings. So you either give them a time limit and dole out free advice here and there or you set up something worthwhile to you that also addresses their needs (ebooks, membership forums, group coaching calls, etc.)

If you’re getting a lot of questions about a particular thing, it might be wise to consider adding it in some way to your services/products.

You would think with the popularity of technology a Google search would be known by all.

This is something I have struggled with for a long time, still do at times but not nearly as much as before!

I used to feel that if people didn’t have the money to pay for a session I should give them one anyway, just because they ‘needed’ it. I have, however, realised that the people that don’t pay for what they want, either in money or an exchange of some sort, doesn’t really appreciate what they get, and also tend to take you for granted by asking for more ‘freebies’.
We all need to appreciate our own work and the value we offer, and if people don’t want to pay for our services, then that is not the clients we want.