Should we share information

Jonathan Ellis

moderator
Should we share information with other contractors, especially in an open forum like this, or at a local round table where our direct competition will be at?

I am not attempting to get Biblical on any of you, but I will do it anyway. Luke 6:38 says: "Give and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over... "

This verse is generally used during tithes and offering time at churches. If you truly read the verse, it does not specifically talk about money, although the Bible does talk about giving your first fruits and giving of your tithes, in this particular passage, it is just talking about giving. This can mean time, money, or yes, even information.

-OR-

what about this one: Proverbs 11:24 "One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want."

You can grow richer by money, obviously, but also knowledge and experience.

Realize that if you share information with competition and they take an account from you, there was probably something you were not doing right to begin with. There are many out there that will change companies to save $ 0.32 per year, and the advantage to them is you have them for now, but they are going to switch on you to get the lower price again.

I am not saying to post who you work with and how much you charge, but the general sharing of information is a good thing.

Using myself as an example, you can change my name to your and it still works, when Jonathan has the opportunity to help out someone newer than myself then I turn around and have these really old guys like Ron or Russ or someone else offering me information. I gave to the newer guy and the ancient :rolleyes: guys are giving to me.

In the past, I would not help out anyone in fear that they would go behind my back and get some work I have. Since learning the advantage of networking and working with other contractors my business has grown more in the past 8 months than ever before.

Share your information, it yours to use and to GIVE AWAY.
 
I think that educating your local competition can only be a positive for you. You raise the standards, you create skilled help when needed on big jobs, and a referral sharing network.

The problem is that alot of guys take and take and take and never give back. Luckily, they dont stay in business very long.
 
LOL, some are just fun to pick on. ron was picking on me about my age this past weekend, so I am just having a little fun with them
 
The problem is that alot of guys take and take and take and never give back. Luckily, they dont stay in business very long.

It is only a problem for them, they are only hurting themselves. It is being greedy with knowledge. You can NEVER satisfy greed.
 
The way I look it at... Is if you live in a big city say houston.. in houston alone there are over 2 million homes and business and thats just houston... Sugar Land is huge... Pearland.. and all the surrounding areas..

There is no way you asa company can handle everything... So no matter what the competiition there is always going to be work..

Like scott said the better trained your competition is the easier it will be to find help on bigger jobs. or to sub work out.

John
 
I think it's time the forums become closed to the general public. Anyone wanting to learn from professionals in these services should have to pay a monthly or yearly fee to access the information these boards provide.Maybe even making proof of required insurance part of the criteria for being a member.
A fee would maybe help weed out the ones who aren't that serious about it,. yet they give it a go because they have some info.

There's enough info on these boards to make any random reader dangerous to
themselves and the property owners.

These services as a whole aren't taken as serious professions,..and part of the reason is these boards provide the "weekender" enough info to do sub-standard work,..which reflects on us all.

Jeff
 
I disagree 100%. Ive seen first hand what teaching someone the wise ways will get you......several stabs in the back. The ones stabed in the back are above reproach as far as quaility of work so your "doing something wrong" holds no water. This new guy didnt have to spend thousands of dollars and hours in trial and error figuring out the best most effecient way to do things. He has little to no overhead so he under cuts you by a little more than 32 cents.

Thats not to say I wont help someone. I need to get to know you first though.
 
I think it's time the forums become closed to the general public. Anyone wanting to learn from professionals in these services should have to pay a monthly or yearly fee to access the information these boards provide.Maybe even making proof of required insurance part of the criteria for being a member.
A fee would maybe help weed out the ones who aren't that serious about it,. yet they give it a go because they have some info.

There's enough info on these boards to make any random reader dangerous to
themselves and the property owners.

These services as a whole aren't taken as serious professions,..and part of the reason is these boards provide the "weekender" enough info to do sub-standard work,..which reflects on us all.

Jeff


How long have these boards been up? How many readers of these boards have you bid against or even met in your local area?

If it was that easy there wouldn't be pressure washer (hot and lots of times with reclaim) for sale on Craigslist on any given day.

The only people who would bother to take the time to read all that is on here are the ones who WANT to better themselves. A true hacker would see boards like this as a waste of time.
 
I disagree 100%. Ive seen first hand what teaching someone the wise ways will get you......several stabs in the back. The ones stabed in the back are above reproach as far as quaility of work so your "doing something wrong" holds no water. This new guy didnt have to spend thousands of dollars and hours in trial and error figuring out the best most effecient way to do things. He has little to no overhead so he under cuts you by a little more than 32 cents.

Thats not to say I wont help someone. I need to get to know you first though.


I might agree with Roger for the second time in my life. I guess thats +2 as the rednecks say.
 
I disagree Tony,...because you don't know who is reading these boards, you don't have to be registered to only read. I believe there are lots of guys taking information from here and using it and never posting even once. And the info they skim over can be enough to peak curiosity and go pass out some flyers.

Jeff
 
I disagree Tony,...because you don't know who is reading these boards, you don't have to be registered to only read. I believe there are lots of guys taking information from here and using it and never posting even once. And the info they skim over can be enough to peak curiosity and go pass out some flyers.

Jeff

Lets hope they become a competitor and not a hack lowballer.
 
I do agree, we as a whole can learn from each other,..but I also believe there should be a closed board to members only.

Jeff

That is a good idea for certain information that you may only want to share with people you know and trust IE. prices, contracts, etc...But we always have the private message and email for that.
 
I sometimes question this also.There is alot of info shared here but it would be interesting to know how many unregistered people come here and lurk.

If in a perfect world we educate everyone to the "Right way of doing things"Than don't we place everyone on the same level?Why would I hire you when I can hire him to do it because he knows what you know?

I have answered a few PM's about stuff local that helps guys out,but if it gets to the point where we educate our competition to our level than we lose our edge.Anyone can buy the best equipment,advertising,logos,etc.A successful business has to have an edge of some sort or what it supplies becomes a commodity.
 
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