<p><strong>Good marketing is long-term.</strong></p>

<p>Long ago I learned a new discipline (GIS, if anyone's curious) partly by participating actively first on a listserver (1996), then with my own listservers (1999), and finally on a Web-based Q&amp;A forum (2002).  I can trace a small amount of my consulting business (about 5% annually) directly to those contacts--but only beginning after four years of constant activity.  However, I can trace a much larger amount (almost 100% in one year) to work obtained due to the <em>reputation</em> established in that fashion.  That work has taken me physically to other continents and professionally it has allowed me to enter radically different application areas (ranging from the environment to telecommunications to real estate to medical studies).</p>

<p><strong>I do not expect to make any direct business contacts through my activities on SE,</strong> but I do expect that if I generate a sufficient stream of <em>high quality, visible, and memorable</em> contributions over 4-5 years or longer, then people I would never otherwise contact may come to me with interesting consulting engagements.</p>

<p>Almost 30 years ago, when I left academia to start this journey, I worked for a struggling small company that almost daily asked, "What do we want to do?  Why are we here?" This was both a corporate and a personal question. My personal answer always was, "I want to have the door to my office open so anybody can drop in and ask questions.  <strong>I want to help them solve their problems.</strong>"  The Internet has enabled that to come true.  On SE, my door is always open.</p>
