The Price Of Knowledge

What are your skills, knowledge and experience worth? Dr. Neil relates the frustration he has when others e-mail to "just get a quick answer" from him. Of course he's talking about total strangers, not a friend giving you a ring cus he needs a hand on something. The entire post is a good read, making you wonder what exactly your knowledge might be worth (and how to develop yourself to make it worth more!), but the example he gives is priceless:

"...the old story about a railroad expert being summoned because a brand-new diesel locomotive would not start, no matter what the engineer did. After a short time studying the situation, the expert gave the locomotive a light tap with a hammer. It started right up. When the railroad received the expert's bill for $1,000, they asked him to itemize it. The reply came:

Hitting the locomotive with hammer: $10

Knowing where to hit it: $990"

Priceless. :-)