Books, video courses, etc. aren't training OR consulting. You write once, and infinite people can buy them. A workshop is training but it's also a product because you only have to make it once, then you could present it yourself or easily have somebody else present your material, or turn it into a series of videos, etc., etc. Just because you are currently doing the work yourself doesn't mean that's the way it has to be.
As for your point about not "blogging about the location of their mine"…
As I have shared in many places, Freckle is grossing over $400k/yr now. Yep, a time tracking app. I "blog" (present, talk, podcast, etc) about this all the time. I give away my "secrets" (such as they are) repeatedly. I show people my revenue, and I teach about how I designed the software and how I market it. Of course the way we market it is plain to see considering the marketing is on the internet and I tweet it, link to it, talk about it, etc.
Surprise, surprise -- nobody has ever copied Freckle. Nor have any of our competitors copied even a single element of our innovative interface. Not even the really obvious stuff their customers need!
The fact is, you can tell people your "secrets" all day long and rest easy. Because the reason those people aren't rich isn't because they lack "secrets," it's because they lack discipline.
Finally, you claim that if people make money with training/workshops/videos/books, then we're just "giving presentations about gold-mining."
But 42% of our gross revenue in 2010 was from JavaScript workshops. Yep, programming workshops. About code. Amazingly, there were no pickaxes or sieves in sight.
I understand that you're angry. Whatever it was you signed up for, in the hopes of striking it rich (or at least highly comfortable), it had to do with shiny software and not boring old ebooks or video classes on how to effectively onboard new customers. What we do isn't sexy. But the fact is, unless you can help people, you're not going to be able to make sales. Help can come in any form, even as software, as long as it works for the customer. If your products (yes, products) don't help people, though, you're sunk… and sexiness won't help you.
Books, video courses, etc. aren't training OR consulting. You write once, and infinite people can buy them. A workshop is training but it's also a product because you only have to make it once, then you could present it yourself or easily have somebody else present your material, or turn it into a series of videos, etc., etc. Just because you are currently doing the work yourself doesn't mean that's the way it has to be.
As for your point about not "blogging about the location of their mine"…
As I have shared in many places, Freckle is grossing over $400k/yr now. Yep, a time tracking app. I "blog" (present, talk, podcast, etc) about this all the time. I give away my "secrets" (such as they are) repeatedly. I show people my revenue, and I teach about how I designed the software and how I market it. Of course the way we market it is plain to see considering the marketing is on the internet and I tweet it, link to it, talk about it, etc.
Surprise, surprise -- nobody has ever copied Freckle. Nor have any of our competitors copied even a single element of our innovative interface. Not even the really obvious stuff their customers need!
The fact is, you can tell people your "secrets" all day long and rest easy. Because the reason those people aren't rich isn't because they lack "secrets," it's because they lack discipline.
Finally, you claim that if people make money with training/workshops/videos/books, then we're just "giving presentations about gold-mining."
But 42% of our gross revenue in 2010 was from JavaScript workshops. Yep, programming workshops. About code. Amazingly, there were no pickaxes or sieves in sight.
I understand that you're angry. Whatever it was you signed up for, in the hopes of striking it rich (or at least highly comfortable), it had to do with shiny software and not boring old ebooks or video classes on how to effectively onboard new customers. What we do isn't sexy. But the fact is, unless you can help people, you're not going to be able to make sales. Help can come in any form, even as software, as long as it works for the customer. If your products (yes, products) don't help people, though, you're sunk… and sexiness won't help you.