The general public will never see us as an industry that adds value
That's because, by enlarge, we don't. No social value is created by my owning the domain prior to a business that sells the product. No social value is created by my shitter site out ranking a business site because I know better SEO.
Despite being a massive industry employing tens of thousands of people and involving big household name companies, financial advisers are still seen as being 'a bit dodgy' by many people.
That's because, by enlarge, they are a bit dodgy. For advisors that don't make their income from hourly fees they need to give their clients suboptimal advice and sell suboptimal products.
Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Australians have benefited hugely from good financial advice there's still a bad perception about the industry due to misconceptions about commissions, memories of the old insurance agents from the eighties, and of course the more recent dramas with mobs like Storm Financial.
People are emotional beings, not rational. People often care about the "how" more than the "outcome". Ie a financial advisor may improve someone's financial position, but they will do it with their own interests taking precedence. That's what the public hates.
It's the same things people are lashing out at bankers and government for, ie institutions prioritising their self interest above their social obligations. In good times these institutions are happy to take accolades of "serving the public" but in bad times their line of thinking is "you're on your own".
It's just human nature... and 99.9% of us are all the same at heart.
Like Snoopy said, just accept it because this is how it's going to be for a long time. If you think you're doing good, then keep doing good and don't give a stuff about what others think.
Agreed - and if you're not doing good - it's best to keep lying to yourself because the reality will just depress you unless you are a psychopath.
And if my assessment does depress you, just know there is nothing WRONG with being a middle man in the short run - middle men in many cases are necessary because markets are inefficient due to asymmetric information (perfect markets require perfect knowledge), but with time markets generally become more efficient and middlemen will be squeezed out.
Both domainers and financial planners are likely to become smaller industries over time.