The answer is simple: I'm not doing it for money.
My reward is otherwise and goes back to the history of humanity: recognition as in "the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged". It might sound selfish, but I think it's not: recognition is not something you decide, it's something people give you, just like leadership is determined by your peers. You have to nurture it, to be profesional and ethical in your approach while remaining true to yourself and to others.
What is rewarding to me?
- Knowing I can help others with the things I know, and learn from them for those I don't. A simple comment on my blog, an email with feedback and sugestions, meeting someone in person, etc.
- Meeting someone in person who I would have never met if I was not blogging. Be it fellow web analytics practitioners or world renowned web analytics gurus and authors.
- Speaking at conferences like eMetrics, doing research on topics of interest such as the attention economy or having the chance to meet and work with people I recognize as masters in their field of expertise.
One thing leads to another greater one
As Jeremiah Owyang said recently "remember that even the smallest thing will lead to something bigger, and it will snowball" which is akin to Malcolm Gladwell's
"How little things can make a big difference".
I had some interesting email exchanges about web analytics and the attention economy with Joseph Carrabis. His extensive profile is impressive, meeting the man is even more! If you haven't met him in person, think of Professor Henry Jones Sr. from the Indiana Jones movie: quite a fascinating character! :)Think of it, if Jim Sterne is the Godfather of web analytics, Joseph must be Indiana Jones father!
The NextStage of web analytics
One thing leading to another, I met Joseph in San Francisco. Then he helped me out with my article on "The human metric of web analytics" and we continued to exchange on various topics. Now Joseph suggested we work together on a training or a presentation that would convey the NextStage of web analytics. Joseph Carrabis is the chairman, CRO and founder of NextStage Evolution LLC, a company dedicated to predictive analytics, persuasion engineering and interactive analytics with strong roots in the social sciences and behavioral analysis.Joseph, I'll be honored to help and I'm sure it will be a rewarding experience!