Thanks for joining the conversation.

I don’t mind that you question my authority. After all, I’m just a guy with a blog (actually I pay less that $20 a month for my hosting), but it’s pretty certain that I have done more Internet marketing than Friedman, whose employer is nearly broke in large part due to related factors.

I agree with most of the points you made, but you did not address the basic premise that proves Friedman’s ignorance and undermines the value of his friend’s case study. Friedman writes that “for about “20 percent of what we normally would charge” “the customer got a better product.” No, he did not place those two statements side by side, but that’s what he said and that’s what he meant the reader to conclude.

Yes, many services that used to be provided by skilled workers are now commodities. I just significantly reduced the cost of a video project by collaborating on the editing long distance over the Internet.

But whether you are a lawyer, a plumber or a marketing agency, 60% – 80% of the value you deliver and charge for should be your skill. If free Internet tools allow you to do better work at “20% of what we normally charge” no credible writer should use you as a case study to define a new reality. Unless, of course, your are his childhood friend and you can help him produce some flimsy theory.

They can, but it just comes from India

Matt