Aggressive to Appreciative

helpingothershelpthemselves_2

I for one am very appreciative of all the knowledge I received and continue to receive from the industry.
As a heating instructor in our local trade school I share and hand down that knowledge each and every class session .

As a plumbing and heating business owner I also assist my fellow business owners in any way I can .

Much of the knowledge I received was from generations before me , so I feel it is only fair and correct to do the same in my lifetime . Besides , we are in need of qualified , experienced technicians in this field and I feel there is no better way to attract and keep potential techicians than to help them along and in sharing knowledge we can all make this happen .

Just my thought .
Ken Resnick

mp1969

Agressive to appreciative

Starting to get a little soft as I age. Curious to know how many of you have evolved from aggressive competitors to industry members who willfuly share ideas,technical info etc. Do any of you still hold back info as a way to stay ahead of your competitors? Or do we all see the value in sharing and trading those so called "trade secrets" ?
This is a somewhat loaded question as I am "preaching to the choir" however, this forum especially has created a think tank of very talented and experienced tradesmen.
I do not participate daily yet I scan the messages like I read my daily newspaper, finding valuable information from very knowledgable people.
Final question, what would you hesitate to post???????

Rich Kontny

P.S. Thanks again to Dan for providing this forum and all who contribute!

P.P.S. I have definitly moved to the appreciative mode! TY!

David Sutton_6

By helping others we help ourselves

Rich, welcome to the club, only by sharing do we grow as a TRADE, we all complain about the hackers out there, if we all grow to a higher level of knowlage, i dose not leave much room for them because the people we serve now know what a professional is, i am a one man show now but i work with other companys and other one man outfits, this way we all succeed.I will say nothing but good things about the other contractors, share all the things i know with them, this way we all look like pros to the end user the custermer....David

George_10

Winners share

In my life time, I have noticed that the big winners in life and business are not afraid to share information. They know they will get their fair share of the business no matter what, so it never hurts them and in fact helps all to rise to a higher professional level.

Poor installations and solutions are bad for the industry as a whole. Good jobs and well thought out solutions give the industry better PR. Again it makes the whole pie grow for all.

Unknown

I heard a great quote once.. "If you know something, and you don't teach someone, it's just like you never knew it".

If you're trying to improve your understanding regularly, sharing that info with others will never put you "behind".

If you're just trying to do what you've done for the last twenty years, and not trying to improve, then yeah, maybe you'll be overtaken.

But even if you are selfish, consider this. If you educate your competitors, maybe their system costs will increase and make you more 'competitive" instead of the high bidder by bidding it right, as opposed to bidding against low-ballers that don't get it! Maybe everyone's systems in your area will improve at the same time, on the jobs you aren't bidding on. Maybe it's just the right thing to do!

George_10

In order to teach someone else

You must have the information in crystal form in your mind.

You must understand it so you can make accurate statements.

If it is fuzzy in your thinking, your explanation will be lacking.

So you see, sharing has some true benefits for the sharer also.

hydronicsmike

Especially when it comes to hydronics...

...everything I learn, I am more than willing to share with anyone who wants to listen.

lets face it, it is (hopefully) bettering our industry. We still have way too many systems that are installed incorrectly and then do not work properly, giving our industry a bad name.

If we can get more people to put in more systems that work appropriately and increases customer satisfaction, it should increase our overall market share (hydronics vs. scorched air). Not sure about the exact number, but remember hearing something like 2% hydronics vs 98% scorched air in new construction. I am almost willing to bet that if we only increased our share to 10%, then with the workforce in place today to do hysronics (from manufacturing to installations), we wouldn't have the man power to handle the demand.

So, anyone who is in the business for a longer period of time from here on forward, would definitely profit from educating others.

what do you think??

Enjoy your weekend gents.

Mike

mp1969

Thanks guys

You all should probaly know that I have been a member on here for about 3-4 years. We have been blessed with a very forward thinking gentlemen in "Dan Holihan".
This think tank is exactly what the creators of cyberspace had hoped for (and no it was not Al Gore) I believe it was a European consortium of thought called "CERN"
This is indeed a great resource and even though I have seen a few terse responses to DIY's I for one feel that it only shows how technical and difficult our trade(s) can be.
Thanks again for verifying what I felt was occuring!

Rich Kontny

J.C.A._3

My tag line.....

On OTT, Alan gave us all a space to put in a little "tag line" that appears at the bottom of anything we post. Mine says "LEARN,LEARN,LEARN....If you already know, TEACH! This is a mantra to me.

Our esteemed host gave me some sage advice a while back. He told me that the day I stop learning will be the day they plant me in the ground. Having worked in the field for over 20 years now, I have to believe that he's right.

Sharing knowledge can only result in something better for the industry, why hold back? If your afraid that someone will know as much as you, there are a whole other set of problems. Never stop learning, but more importantly NEVER STOP TEACHING. Our industry needs good people. Chris

mp1969

My Tag

J.C.A.,
I guess my tag would be "share" because I know for a fact that if you give of your time,talents or resources once you will recieve at least thee times as much!

Thank you!
Rich K.

Unknown

It is better to give than receive -

the interesting thing I have found is that I have received more in my career than I have given. So I work very hard to give more because I owe a lot more to everyone than they owe me. I love teaching young techs who look at me all wide eyed and full of desire to learn. If I did not have to eat and pay the mortage I would do this for nothing. Say anyone want to feed me and pay my mortage?

I love to give away all my "secrets" which are no longer secrets anymore. There are so many ways to fulfill the "McElwain Rule" that is being able to diagnose problems in less than 20 minutes. When I have given away the tools to accomplish that the feedback from the techs and business owners is all I need.