Hi Harold,

Thanks for sharing such an interesting article, and the video link is very relevant. I think you are spot on the money. Why is it that freelancers are expected to give everything away for free? Conferences, round tables, magazine articles. All in the name of good publicity. It is good publicity only for the conference, round table or magazine! So we are trapped, wishing to change the world, but having to ask our bank managers to take Kudos and Good Rep as currency. It is a challenge.

The flip side however is, that is we don't give stuff away for free, there is a tranche of society who are genuinely not in the money, and therefore if we all don't share they cannot access the good stuff. These people may be students, or low paid, or starting out in their careers, or career changers, or have unsupportive bosses, or are simply interested parties. I feel it will be a sad day when we cannot share as it is these people who miss out. It is these people that I am in a tiny way supporting via my year long campaign to tweet each day a practical tip on workplace learning (#NoPlasters). I know am giving it away, and I know this is business suicide, although it is only little tips. However I am more keen on people knowing workplace learning can be done differently than not knowing this. This makes me one of Harlan Ellison's amateurs, so I apologise to my global learning colleagues.

Of course, if a company is using your stuff and reselling it, without question they owe you. If you do that from a store, it is called shoplifting and you will be prosecuted. But I maintain the possibly naive positivity that if I share something useful someone somewhere may benefit, even if I cannot pay my mortgage this month. Then when I am out of the street with my family, maybe someone will share a kindness with me! Like I say, possibly naive postivity.

Good luck with thinking about your new business model. Perhaps you could share that with us other generous freelancers, as we all need to take stock together.

Kind regards
Michelle Parry-Slater