In the 1990s I had an amazing glitzy year in the USA as a "visiting professor" at Uni of Nevada. I could have stayed on for another year but was beginning to get homesick.
When I told the academics I was staying with about my poor background they asked me to be a "motivational speaker" at a glitzy charity event. They were very much into the charity circuit raising money for good causes. I expected just to get paid expenses but I got paid $1000. This was followed by several other invitations. I now realise I could probably have made a good living at it over there, just by talking in a matter of fact way about how I had overcome the diffculties of a background where no one supported me.
Americans love that kind of thing. We Brits are often snippy and jealous of someone who pushes themselves to get on. America is a "can do" society where people often work 2 or 3 jobs because they dont have the featherbedding of benefits.
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