Being a Practitioner

[T J Tutor]

I've read a great blog post recently by GARY VAYNERCHUK. He calls his post:
"WHY PLAYING IN THE DIRT MATTERS IN BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE"

Now, the statement he makes early on after explaining his post title is that we all need to be practitioners in order have a continuing success. He states it this way, "if you’re not constantly working on your craft—if you get too romantic about doing things how they’ve “always been done”—you’re going to lose. You need to be a practitioner."

I love this statement, it is true and just! If you break it down, there are two very important points. First is we all have to be working steadily on our crafts, and two, we always have to be in a mode of growth and bettering that which we have and what we do. Constant motion in both cases.

I've had a difficult time with this a few times in my life, but I pretty well have a handle on it now.

How about you?

 

[Goldstandard89]

I find this completely relatable. If you don't know how something is truly made or understand the full chain of actions it takes to produce something or provide service. You can see this in multiple companies. If you've watched Duck Dynasty. The brothers know the intense process it takes to hand carve duck calls. But when Willie buys a wine vineyard to make Duck Dynasty wine, it a humorous disaster. You need as much knowledge and skill to carve a duck call as you need wine. Lack of knowledge always ends up showing its face in the final product.

The only other business I'm really aware of that has problems with this is kind of disconnect is in Kpop. One of the top three companies in K-pop is SM entertainment which is run by a businessman. He treats his performers as products instead of people. There have been scandals over the last five years as bands break up or leave because of abuse and debt. The company charges the performers for working for the company but never reveals exactly what they owe and why. Most have been forced to sing a full set on stage with broken ribs and ankles. Then the other two big companies are JYP and YG entertainment. Both are companies ran by ex-entertainers, JYP still will sing as a featured artist but it's secondary to being a business owner. Because of this, they are both known for treating their performers really well and paying them royalties for their work. Their bands are happier and allowed to work on private solo albums or try their hand at acting in between band albums. There are almost no scandals of abuse or stolen money from the companies because JYP and YG have been on the other side of that business.