[Redoubtable]

Could not agree with you more. Part of the reason I wrote this was so I could mentally reset myself to get back to work. Frankly I'm embarrassed I got caught in the trap and spent valuable emotional energy on it caring about it in the first place. - Julie

[michaelwww]

It might help to think of the Hollywood model. The pretty young men they put out front are the actors and you are the writer. It's been noted before many times that writers don't get much respect, but they are the geniuses who come up with the narrative, the dialog, and the ideas that make up a successful production. Writers usually don't show off well to investors or at parties. That's where the pretty faces come in. I'm usually dismissive of the next young genius on the cover, because I'm more interested in the real brains behind the outfit, who may or may not be marginally social-able introvert living in an eco-bunker somewhere who definitely does not want the attention.

[smackay]

Michael Lewis' book, The New New Thing, probably offers a good insight to this. Jim Clark is probably the character that all the choreographers of pretty faces seek to emulate.

[marquis]

Try travelling and telling people what you do - you'll blow their minds. I take my laptop anywhere from New Zealand to Dubai to Argentina, and working On The Internet is still a novelty that you'll gain hearts and minds from the wonder of it all. Get some perpective on how awesome your life and work is!

[stcredzero]

People are downvoting you for advocacy of "big fish in small pond" psychology, but your comment does make me wonder: Why hasn't teleconferencing disrupted the economics of public speaking yet? Why, and is there an opportunity?

[doctorpangloss]

We make money. In the reality markets people pay us. And they pay us more for the product than it costs to create it.

I understand you were venting here, but in this paragraph it sounds like you still care deeply about how the It crowd perceives you.

[Redoubtable]

I'm sure I do or I wouldn't have felt the need to exorcise it in public. But I do definitely care that my business makes money and that what it costs us to make our product is less than what what we get paid for it. That is just running a business and answering to the market.

[thesagan]

Frankly, I needed to read your blog post for a "situation" I'm currently in, so your embarrassment is not in vain :)

[larrys]

"I got caught in the trap and spent valuable emotional energy"

Of course as a result of hitting that tipping point many more people know who you are now which isn't a bad thing and could have some future benefits.