[Ron Lindeboom]

[Andree Franks] “I am still more of a believer in full training than Google knowledge — the Jack of All Trades, Master of None.”

I am, too.

(Though I feel that I must disclose that we sell training tools in the Creative COW Master Series and so my opinion is hardly one without prejudice.) 😉

But as always, it is a case of Different Strokes for Different Folks and from surveys that we have done, it is clear that many people are regularly using “Google training.” Partly because it’s free, and partly because it’s convenient — but most importantly, it solves the problem at hand for many busy working people.

In that world, it is “good enough.”

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Stefan Buhrmester] “A training series titled “Honest FCPX training”. The teacher would constantly rant and bitch about the bugs and missing features in FCPX, heavily breathing every time he is confronted with one, and show workarounds for them, while concluding every episode with “man this sucks, I might also just go ahead an kill myself”.”

There was such a beast: it was called Tom Wolsky’s ‘Final Cut Editing Workshop’ and it sold some but was blasted because Tom could be so forthright about things. His comments and asides were sometimes quite barbed and bordered on your proposed training model, Stefan.

It should have sold far more than it did.

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Scott Sheriff] “Every product has some spokesperson. Many are paid, some are getting in-kind, or comps. There is no shame in any of that, and it doesn’t necessarily invalidate their opinion. But disclosing those relationships, not matter how small gives the rest of us a baseline to go by.”

We agree, Scott. So much so that in the next issue of Creative COW Magazine we asked every writer to tell us their affiliations, paid relationships, free gear, etc., so that we could ascertain their prejudice in what they were saying. We disclosed it.

We are talking about extending this to the web and making sure that our sponsors and participating companies who have forums here, know that they must tell us who they are “seeding” with gear, etc., so that we can keep things balanced and ethical here at the COW.

Over the years we have done a very good job of this but as markets get more and more desperate, we have seen a few companies use some very clandestine methods to try to get themselves some extra advantage. We have warned them and we plan to get even more aggressive in the days ahead.

People trust the COW and we want to keep it that way.

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Andree Franks] “Ronald Lindeboom, your answer to my comment sounds like you felt attacked from em. hmmm?”

No, I do not feel threatened or attacked by you. My point is that I think you did a GREAT disservice to the many leaders and members here who have made hundreds of thousands of posts helping people and interacting. Today, there are well over two million posts in the COW and the number of slaps, insults, and barbs, is infinitesimally low.

Sure, there are times when things go awry, but much like travel on major airlines, the percentage is so low we buy our tickets and get on the plane anyway.

At least here when things break down, no one gets killed.

;o)

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen

[Ron Lindeboom]

Aaron,

You have ‘tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment” eh?

More accurately, it would be “Your boss has tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment.” The same boss you have bitched and complained about ad nauseum over the last few years. The one whom you think you are better than, know more than, and that clearly should be working for you if the world was just. Unfortunately, the world is rarely just and he must know more than you because you are working for him.

Also, if you wish to wade in here and jump into an argument that is not yours, be prepared to have the people you have insulted, hand you your hiney in a bag.

This was over-the-top, Aaron, and if you wish to continue to post in the COW this is your LAST warning. You have had previous warnings. Next up? Permanent removal from the site.

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen

[Ron Lindeboom]

Looks like you have turned off cookies, Rafael, or something else that is causing this to happen.

I am sure Abraham will know better than me what is causing this but I am sure we’ll get to the bottom of it.

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Simon Ubsdell] “Suffice it to say, that whichever way you cut it, Larry (along with the other lucky “trainers” who got advance copies) is going to be making a ton of money out of Apple’s decision to create a brand new product ex nihilo.”

That I agree with, to a point. To be quite honest, people are becoming less and less willing by the day to pay for training. Why? They can use as-I-need-it training from Google for free.

Companies like Total Training, Lynda, Ripple Training, Larry Jordan — yes, the Creative COW Master Series also — are finding it harder and harder to sell training. Conferences in industry events also report the same phenomenon.

Last year, thanks to Google searches, we had over 18 million unique people log-in over the year. Most came looking for an answer, found it, and moved on.

This is “training in the cloud.” Why buy a disc when the cloud updates daily?

This is the future and people who are professional trainers are going to find it harder and harder to make a living in the days ahead.

And yes, Simon, I agree with you about people posing with the self-aggrandized preening as the unequaled authority on FCP. Some do that, but the smart ones — like Gary Adcock, Walter Biscardi, Richard Harrington, etc. — know that as much as they know in this area or that, they are also likely to be found holding hands with another area in which they can learn from an expert with an adjacent area of expertise. No one knows everything about anything, especially in a world that is moving at today’s breakneck speed of change.

Thank you for clarifying, Simon. It is appreciated. I’m sorry to have misunderstood your intent.

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Simon Ubsdell] “You better believe it – Larry Jordan proudly boasted of the 1.2 million hits ot his website within the first three hours of the release. Can you even begin to imagine how much money that will translate into in earnings for him?”

Only 1.2 million “hits” in 3 hours??? We do that kind of traffic in minutes here at the COW, Simon. “Hits” do not mean anything, as a hit can be a page load or any graphic, video, file or anything else on a page (which can be hundreds on a page) — and most advertising agencies and ad buyers will NOT buy a thing from you based on “hits.”

It is a meaningless and totally arbitrary metric that is so outside the realm of quantification that it holds no relevance to people who work in advertising.

Now, “unique visitors,” now there’s a metric that people will buy and pay for.

All kinds of claims can be made when they are outside 3rd party verification, and that’s why I love Google, Alexa and Quantcast, etc.

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Andree Franks] “Oh one thing I don’t like about some leaders and users here is the arrogance and how rude they are!”

You find it odd that artists and professionals can sometimes be arrogant, opinionated, and rude? They are people that work in very stressful situations, make decisions in the crucible that often can affect a lot of money, but their confidence and expertise allow them to make decisions that regularly hold up under pressure. They have often built this strength and ability over decades.

Yet, most of the time they are graciously answering people’s questions and offering support and do so with great willingness to help others — even those who are competitors.

I guess you missed that part — eh, Andree?

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Scott Sheriff] “No, it’s not just you that have noticed that. It’s pretty clear they have a financial dog in the fight. It’s too bad most won’t own up to it.”

It’s funny, over the years some people have accused us at the COW of trying to control opinion and I just smile at that. Control the opinion of people like Bob Zelin, Walter Biscardi, Craig Seeman, and hundreds of other COW leaders? You cannot be serious. ;o)

We have lost a lot of leaders over the years because manufacturers and publishers get them to leave by currying favors like getting them onto the beta programs and other things. Many have fallen for it and their opinions become the best that money can buy.

Our goal here at the COW has always been to find a “balanced” discussion, one wherein both the antagonists and the protagonists court as respectful a dialogue as is possible when worlds collide. It doesn’t always happen perfectly but over the years, it all balances out and in the end it becomes a discussion in which there is much to learn and draw from.

Yes, we have a financial dog in the fight but one thing about ole Cowdog, he’d bite the crap out of anyone who tries to make him slip on any suit wherein the label reads, “One Size Fits All.”

A healthy dairy farm, as I learned growing up on one, is made up of Holsteins, Guernseys, Brown Swiss, Jerseys, Ayrshires, and a few others that strengthen the overall herd as they swap genes, bringing their best characteristics to the whole. You often start with pure breds, but you build your dairy with them to insure that the “destination” of the herd is one in which the gene pool is diverse and strong, protecting it from becoming merely a bunch of sickly in-bred “pure breds.”

There’s a metaphor in there if you want to discern our strategy in action.

And that, my friends, is what I love best about the COW.

;o)

Best regards,

Ronald Lindeboom
CEO, Creative COW LLC
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine

Creativity is a process wherein the student and the teacher are located in the same individual.

“Incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.” – Woody Allen