To some extent, I began my career as a consultant or business coach by being paid in food. Essentially, people started to say, “Can I buy you lunch and pick your brain” or something like that. At first, I used to think this was a wonderful thing. All I had to do was talk and eat. Marvellous!
Call me naive if you like, and back then I had no idea that I could get paid for simply talking about stuff. Of course, it wasn’t talking about the weather or the football, it was talking about something specific. Then, one day, and I don’t remember what the spark was, and I had the thought that I could be earning money instead of being paid with food. And, earning ten times the cost of lunch for the hour.
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Today it’s more likely someone will just buy you coffee, instead of lunch – cheapskates! And, the question remains the same for a lot of experts: Where do you draw the line between offering free advice and asking for payment for the payment your provide.
However, I still hear people being confronted by this. If you’re asked to lunch or coffee for someone to pick your brain, here’s four ways to answer this question:
The key here is to be clear about how you want to be paid for your expertise. Do you want to be paid in food or money?
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