I agree that our industry is "abnormal". I do not think that will ever change. It is what makes us special.

I agree that most clients will either be happy to pay for your time, or they will find other methods to accomplish what they need to accomplish. If you get one that gets angry that you are not providing free service to them, maybe it is best that they are no longer your client.

We have a very wealthy client, and I am not sure why or how he got so wealthy because to put it bluntly, he is dumb as a rock when it comes to anything with buttons or a screen. He calls us up at least 3 times a week because he cannot print an attachment, or a popup ad took over his browser and he cannot get out of it, or the ink ran out, or the printer is jammed....lots of printer problems because he cannot figure out how to use email efficiently, so his colleagues have to email him things to sign, he prints them, signs them, and faxes them back.

We send him a bill once a month for most of the time spent on the phone and teamviewer. He does not question anything. Sure, there are a few calls that do not get documented on the calendar for billing. But those are mostly when I am in the field, and I have to log in with teamviewer from my phone, ctrl+alt+del and close chrome before he calls the 1877 number because if he does not all his files will be deleted. :)

Other clients do not value our time, and figure out how to do things on their own. As Mac said, everyone knows how to unplug a modem or a directv box and plug it back in. It sometimes just takes one time of them doing it to realize they are not going to break anything. Similar to the first time you had to cut a big hole in someone's new ceiling. You know the serial killer shows where the first time cuts have hesitation marks? They get better and more confident over time. Bad analogy?

My short answer is start sending invoices for all of your time. Either you will get money in return (YAY!), or you will get no more calls (YAY!).