I used to make a lot of money in a field I was an expert in that I didn’t like very much.
Since 2000, I have pretty much just wanted to write and get paid just enough to keep writing.
In 2000, everyone was sure that the internet would be monetized, but they weren’t sure exactly how.
Because of this, I quickly was able to write for pretty good money, but the internet did become very monetized.
My first good paying job led me to a great, honest editor who gave me a lot of great advice.
First she told me to create a blog when I didn’t even know what a blog was, and I eventually did.
Then she read a book that I worked very hard on and wanted to get published, and for free told me it was really good and referred me to an appropriate agent.
I sent some sort of query to the agent, and he wrote back that he could not publish my book because I had no platform, another word I had never heard in that context.
He told me that since no one knew who I was he couldn’t publish my book, but if I were Andy Rooney he would publish my book.
I was a bit confused, but at least he pulled the band-aid off as quickly as possible and was extremely honest.
The Beatles were artists. They never wanted to be businessmen, but each in some way was forced to become one.
I just wanted to be a writer. I never wanted to be a marketer. I was willing to pay to be marketed, but I had little desire or ability to do it myself.
I did decide to pay back my editor by buying her books and making sure that if I needed more help that I offer or insist to pay her.
Since then, I’ve struggled. I’ve written, tried to improve my blog’s appearance, and tried to market myself with varying levels of success. I think I’ve become a better writer, but with everything else I’ve paid a decent amount of money and fallen even further behind.
A lot of times on Twitter, I see something and follow people that I think can help me with any of my goals.
Sometimes, I look at my followers and always try to follow them back unless they are some crazy gambling site or something more pernicious.
A short while ago, I noticed that Alice Martin had followed me and looked at her profile. She does everything I need to do for my writing, but don’t really have the desire to do, and I was very willing to pay her to do it.
I have no idea how she wound up following me, and she had never once solicited me.
So I went to her website shroomsocial, it looked very professional, and she seemed very able to help me. So I left her a phone message and sent her a Twitter message letting her know that I was interested in paying for her help.
She got back to me with an almost comic quickness and immediately said thank you for inquiring, but that she was too busy to work for me for any price, but would answer some questions for free.
For about 20 minutes, she looked at my website and told me that I shouldn’t try to market it until I made it look newer and more marketable.
That stunned me a bit because I had just paid someone else a reasonable amount of money to do that, but she looked at my site, gave me good advice, and told me how to proceed for free.
I thanked her and offered to send out a Tweet thanking her for her time.
She didn’t tell me not to do that, but I don’t think that someone who is too busy to work for me for any price really needs someone with way less Twitter followers, much less social media presence, and an outdated looking web site to do that for her.
I again thanked her for her time and asked her to go back to giving advice to people who paid her for it.
The same day I wound up with a new Twitter follower, followed them back, and soon got a direct message.
“Hi there, thanks for the follow! As a token of my appreciation here’s a Free Twitter Training – Generate 31+ Fresh Leads Per Day (With Phone Numbers) for your Business” with a link attached. I’ve become very wary of unsolicited links on Twitter and Facebook and never click on them because most are scams to take my money or put viruses on my computer.
I do very much need Twitter training. So I wrote back.
“No problem. I’m not that far yet, but it would be cool if you could tell me how to get the Tweet and Direct Message buttons back on my profile.”
I soon got sent back the same original message offering me the free link, which I again will never click on.
I’ve learned that very few things are really free in life and looking for them can be counterproductive, but I do know that Alice Martin gave me good advice for 20 minutes for free for absolutely no reason at all. There is pretty much no way that I will ever be able to afford to pay her or for her to have enough time to work for me in the next ten years.
If that does happen, I will probably try to pay her for her services.
Right now this is the best I can do to thank her and pay her back, but she is probably working too hard for it to be of any benefit to her, and if it impedes her ability to do her job well, I will delete it.
Thank you, Alice Martin.
