Merlin Mann writes and speaks about productivity, creative work, and attention, and hosts the 'Roderick on the Line' podcast.
HN commenters call his 2008 talk 'Better' a favorite that still holds up, and link his conversation with John Roderick and his views on charging for work.
I like Merlin Mann's take on this. Basically, charge a lot to paying customers, and give a lot of content away for free so that those who can't afford it can still benefit.
It's obviously a nice situation to be in.
For most all of my speaking, consulting, and advisory work, yes: I do charge a fee, plus expenses. And, candidly, I charge kind of a lot.
Being compensated for my speaking, consulting, and professional writing work is how I’m able to feed and clothe my family as well as fund my lavish, meth-driven, West Coast lifestyle of fast cars, fancy English butlers, and the jet packs that will not be available to normal people like you for years.
It’s also how I’m able to give away almost everything I’ve ever written or said for free. Hundreds of thousands of words and dozens of days of audio and video can only be treated that liberally if there are other ways that the freight gets paid. I don’t apologize or defend this; I just realize it’s not as obvious to everyone as it is to me.
As for how I decide what to charge and to whom or for what? It’s not particularly complicated. I charge a lot to do things I’m great at for people who know it’s a bargain. And, that’s it. Only way to fly. I don’t “dicker” and I never “sell.”
I learned a long time ago to only work for or with people with whom you have mutual admiration and respect—and who already think you’re valuable and great at what you do. In my experience, the folks who expect you to make a case for your own value make…
On the other hand: http://www.merlinmann.com/better/
This is my favorite thing Merlin has ever done, and I think about it all the time. I identify strongly with the following three points.
* identify and destroy small-return bullshit;
* shut off anything that’s noisier than it is useful;
* make brutally fast decisions about what I don’t need to be doing;
I completely disagree that honing your filter (um, to mix metaphors) is a bad thing. At a time when we have tons of ideas thrown at us constantly every single day, it is the essential thing. Otherwise you're looking at every stupid god damned cat video thrown your way.
Merlin Mann - "Better"
http://www.merlinmann.com/better/
Written in 2008, but still amazingly relevant today. The opening lines are eerily prescient about our current "everyone needs to have a take on everything" culture.
"Politics, celebrity gossip, business headlines, tech punditry, odd news, and user-generated content.
These are the chew toys that have made me sad and tired and cynical.
Each, in its own way, contributes to the imperative that we constantly expand our portfolio of shallow but strongly-held opinions about nearly everything. Then we’re supposed to post something about it. Somewhere."
Trying to "gotcha" article authors by flinging out a oneliner about why they're a hypocrite has to be the longstanding most lazy, negative thing that's done on aggregator sites. Here's the key thought-technology[0]: just because we formulate one, doesn't mean it's worth posting. A private chuckle suffices.
[0] I love this term from the fantasticly earnest podcast: http://www.merlinmann.com/roderick/
-Get my first iPhone app published (So close right now!)
- Get my second iPhone app published
- Find a job before I graduate in April
- Maintain my website better, and try to blog interesting coding discoveries when I find them
- Improve my Javascript abilities
- Overall: Be 'Better' ( http://www.merlinmann.com/better )
Roderick on the Line: http://www.merlinmann.com/roderick/
A fantastic conversation into Music, Culture, the internet, people, life, San Francisco, Seattle and Super Train.
Design Matters with Debbie Millman: http://designobserver.com/topic/designmatters/1039
Fantastic interviews with titans of the design industry.