#thoughtoftheday following my previous post where I shared my quandary on my personal situation regarding getting income from my expertise. I was inspired by a personal message received from a former student and I thought it was worth expanding on my situation and what I think. In a "normal" scenario, I'd be working for a big agency that would pay a lot of money to be visible and have me evangelize their brand. Or I'd be a full-time "professor" with a pretty decent salary, for whom publishing and speaking at conferences would simply be part of the job. The thing is... I'm freelance and even though I've been teaching MBAs for 10 years, I'm "only" a lecturer and I don't get the salary that should go with it, especially not in the Canadian university model. I'm honoured I will soon be teaching marketing to Executive MBAs - but clearly, I'm not doing it for the money! The truth, as the market stands, is that evangelizing for #NoConsentNoTracking doesn't exactly make me popular with agencies or businesses barely meeting #dataprivacy regulations. Exposing the questionable ethics of some might scare off others who see me as a troublemaker... Lucky for me, #dataethics is gaining momentum. Fortunately, thanks to my years of consulting and the software I sold to Cardinal Path and Supermetrics, I am financially independent. I can even afford to invest my own money to help startups in the #privacytech sector. People would be surprised at the number of requests I get, but as soon as money is involved, it falls flat... Is it just me? Am I that bad at negotiating or demonstrating my worth? Here are some examples: - I'm honoured when Maciej Zawadzinski, CEO of Piwik PRO asks for my expert input for the Privacy/MarTech predictions for 2022 report - which I gladly did. Less so when the expectation is a whole article for free... - I am flabbergasted by the arrogance of some agencies or companies that ask very specific questions without expecting to pay for it. Either the agency turns around and charges their client for that knowledge... or the company avoids paying a consultant for it. Either way, it's unacceptable. - what about conferences charging a hefty ticket price but not paying a dime to their speakers. Not even covering travel & expense... Over the years, I've given a lot to the industry, whether in the form of articles where I shared ideas, knowledge and concepts, over 130 conferences and workshops (95% of the time for free or resulting in negative ROI!), or tools I created and made available for free. I can't complain, this was my way of marketing myself and it has served me well. ➜ Now, I want to share my expertise and time with those who are willing to put their hand in their pocket and give me a little tip in return. I don't ask for much and am willing to accept even the smallest amount - it's more symbolic than anything else.