This spawned from this facebook status and thread..
https://www.facebook.com/robthegenie...t=feed_comment
The 2 points, that I think would be fun to discuss here too are:
[1]
"Sad reality ... in my continued search for new talent and team members, I'm finding more and more very qualified, web marketing related talent available to work for $7 - $12 per hour. The same tasks that 3-4 years ago you'd have to go to India to find for those rates. Actual marketing savvy types ... not just "data entry" and general admin. This is likely the unfortunate by product of (1) the US economy's dip (2) the competition and pressure from a global marketplace and (3) the many many many who read everything IM related, attempted it for years but just couldn't succeed in it so now they are happy to use their talents for a guaranteed wage."
and
[2]
"... how about this though... get them AFTER the IM loophole. I don't want to be harsh but we all know that 19 out of 20 people in IM will quit or simply spin their wheels for years but not get anywhere. BUT, during that time... they will have read a lot of articles, bought a lot of ebooks and courses, attended seminars, used software, tested the waters. Meaning they are FULLY trained for the IM world. They "fail" for many reasons (some of whihch I rant about in www.IQuitIM.com ) ... but I'd rather hire them after that entrepreneurial drive has been crushed (it's sad but REAL) and after they've invested a lot of time and money into learning IM. Now they are terrific as a marketing assistant or subcontractor. You bring them the tasks for guaranteed money / salary in their pocket and they do the work. A lot of people are talking "offline gold" ... make a tonne of money selling your IM skills to offline businesses. I'd instead suggest "IM gold" ... make a very consistent, very reliable, and fair income from home providing services to successful IM businesses."