This is a rant...plain and simple. I try to keep such things to a minimum and only post topics of value or insights I find cool. However, this topic is something of a thorn for me.
As many folks know, GVH offers workshops on both beginning commercial scale hop growers and more advanced, technical topics. Our GVH team has numerous decades worth of combined professional experience that we utilize when designing and presenting our classes and other outreach activities. Yet there is a percentage of the audience that believes this information should be free.
I understand that the Internet age has made a plethora of infomation available for the price of a monthly service provider. When I was young my grandfather would tell me that the US was still a place where someone with an idea and a strong work ethic could get ahead and be successful. I always believed that but came to understand why he made such a point of it...he saw the coming age when it would be acceptible for people to expect things (material and idealogical) handed to them.
It is much the same with information. Beware of free or found info that seems very detailed or "exactly what I'm looking for..." as it is usually too good to be true. Typically, I have found, this "free" info is opinion or tradition, usually light on critical info. As with all things... "you get what you pay for..."
In my opinion there needs to be a healthy balance between getting payed for services or products and running a business with an open source frame-of-mind. It has been my experience that sharing detailed information provides one with business or personal relationships that can not be attained if everything is about making money. It can't be all business all the time.
ReplyDeleteVery true. Sharing information that can help lower or remove barriers to entry only strengthens relationships and market potential. However, there comes a point at which more highly detailed, intricate information is needed. This takes a good deal of time and in business time is money. So unless there is compensation for this time spent the business can quickly become insolvent.
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