Does positive reinforcement make you want to do more?

Last night I was bouncing a couple of emails with a fairly influential person in the small business sector, very good friend as well because he somehow managed to be more hated by Microsoft than I am, something that definitely needs an award of some sort (err, Tim… SBSBBC?)

Anyhow, we got on the subject of positive reinforcement, after yesterday’s fanmail post about LiveArchive. His comment was that it “makes me want to do more” and while I can see how that positive reinforcement applies, I have to say that over the past year my “helping the masses” spirit has been all but completely shattered (to be outlined in “Why Susan Bradley is a much better person than I am”)

Here is the thing I rarely talk about because, well, it’s my own damn fault. Not a day passes by that I don’t severely regret helping some people in this business. Why? Because some of the people that I have helped the most have repaid me the least, and/or have taken what I have provided/taught them to my competitors.

Thing is, I love to help and thats just the kind of person that I am. But having been stabbed from every angle imaginable I am finding myself asking my wife to talk me out of some of the projects because the majority of the people out there are not like me and they only look out for themselves. Why go out seeking abuse?

Finally, I look at feedback from this blogs survey and I finally understand who the audience is and why things like Vladfire and SBS Show were so popular and why people were so supportive of them – because the people that really got behind it were not greedy would-be entrepreneurs but actual IT professionals, people with jobs, people that just appreciated hearing and seeing the experts and reading how (I) some overcame the associated bullshit of being in the technology business.

Speaking of overcoming… Today is November 1st.. I’ve promised you a little something-something, I hope you are pleasantly surprised with what we’ve been able to do over the past two weeks.