Hey Old Pal, Can You Spare A Hundred Thou?
A large percentage of people on social media platforms seem to feel they have become instant buddies and peers. (It’s interesting that Facebook has “friends” but Twitter has “followers.”) Among recent requests to me from total strangers:
• Endorse them for specialties I have no idea whether or not they are proficient in.
• Provide testimonials for self-published books which don’t interest me.
• Appear as a guest on their “internet radio show” which has approximately 16 listeners.
• Coach them through a coming business meeting.
• Advise them on their current business strategy.
• Introduce them to, and give them referrals from, my clients.
• Meet with them if they come to town or if we’re in a common place.
• Review an article they’ve provided and give them feedback.
• Allow them to advertise I’ve “mentored” them because they claim to have read one of my books.
You get the idea. There is a crazed egalitarianism and a legion of self-appointed critics who feel they are dealing with peers. One guy looked at my car photos and advised me I need to vacuum the interior. Another woman told me she despises displays of wealth. And the passive-aggressives swarm all over the social media outlets. “Did that outfit fit you better when you first bought it?” “I assume that was a successful upgrade to first class?” “What a shame the Bentley’s don’t have manual transmissions.” “Your site was down today, not right for the ‘rock star of consulting.’ ” (It wasn’t.)
Groucho Marx observed he didn’t want to be a member of a club that would let him into it. Too many people feel that they’ve been invited to some party as a VIP guest, when there is in reality no price of admission and the door was simply left open.
© Alan Weiss 2014
Craig Martin
I fear I may be correct in assuming they expected you to do these ‘favours’ for free.
Alan Weiss
Yea, and as soon as possible!
Alex Singleton
Among the outrageous requests I’ve received was the junior person in a PR agency who asked me to come and train her entire company for an hour free of charge as “a sampler”. If she liked it, she would “look at” whether to book places on one of my workshops. I told her that I didn’t work for PR agencies without payment.
I get people who tell me that they “are thinking” they “might need some PR support at some point in the future” and would I come to endless brainstorming meetings, to give them solutions to their problems without payment.
One telling mark of a timewaster is the person who wants to meet in a Starbucks (or similar). They often pretend that they have an office across the road and keep referring to their office (their address is always a supplier of “virtual” offices, where you just get a mailbox). Successful people who don’t have offices but want to discuss hiring you suggest meeting in hotel bars, and pick up the tab, or they say: “Can I take you for lunch at The Ivy? I want to hire a consultant – and would like to discuss this with you.”
A month ago a random person emailed me to ask if I would send him a copy of my book free, on the grounds that he was poor. It is not expensive.
Fortunately, most of the people I deal with are not like this.
alan weiss
I guy called me last week and asked if I remembered him from years ago. I said I did, that he was the guy who constantly asked me for free things, never ever paid me a penny, seldom wrote a “thank you,” and never sent me a referral.
“Oh,” he said.
“Bye,” I said.
I’ve had it with professional victims.