Martial Arts Advice
After nearly 9 yrs of my = video reviews website being online, and numerous articles I’ve written and posted on the internet about training, the daily emails and phone calls I get continu= es to grow. Often the inquiries = I get are from people seeking my personal opinion about training and videos, or my personal thoughts about styles, instructors and schools, or how they do business with their students.
I guess such is to be exp= ected from a website that consistently gets over 10,000 visitors a month http://home.att.net/~erik.= mann/mavr.htm and a school that is experiencing adult student growth almost every month.<= /p>
There’s almost not = enough time in the day to answer all the phone calls, voice mail messages, and ema= ils I get, or to do so with the amount of elaboration each really deserves.
I get dozens of communica=
tions a
day from people asking me questions, and seeking my advice, related to eith=
er
their martial arts training or video purchases. Not answering each hurts me, yet
answering each in detail takes away from many other things in my life. Again, the amount of phone c=
alls
and emails is likely beyond the volume of what most people could imagine.
So allow me to draw you a= picture of things. Forgetting about m= artial arts for a moment, I am fulltime self-employed in a different industry. Self-employed of course meaning qu= ite literally time-is-money and every hour of the day counts! With the volume of communications = I get daily, I’ve found myself at times spending hours per day addressing martial = arts inquiries instead of spending it on the things that produce a household inc= ome. Guess what that does to my family = and my household income? I’m s= ure you can picture how dozens of these inquiries, and even just 5-10 minutes s= pent daily on each, could take away from the time someone who’s self-emplo= yed has to generate a personal income for his family.
No matter how much it pai=
ns me, I
can no longer allow these time-consuming and non-income producing inquiries=
to encroach
upon time that generates a consistent household income for my family. I’ve found that during some =
weeks
the time I spend on martial arts phone calls and emails from strangers is
nearly 20 hrs a week. Those 2=
0 hrs
spent week-after-week add up, and could be better spent on things that prod=
uce
income, thus giving my family the kind of lifestyle I feel they deserve.
Each year the volume of q=
uestions
I receive from people I don’t even know grows, and my family ultimate=
ly suffers
because of my feelings of obligation to respond. Now I finally understand family co=
mes
first, and my first obligation is to them!=
I guess people will constantly read my websites, reviews and article=
s I
created, and beg me for “just a minute or two of free time”. That FREE time that I keep
providing people I don’t even know is pulling me away from time that
allows me to produce a fulltime income for my family. My family has been getting more li=
ke a halftime
income from me because of that, due to my feelings of obligation to answer
dozens of emails and phone calls a day from strangers. I’ve made the decision that =
my
family deserves better! Sorry, but if you want me=
to answer
any phone calls or emails that require me to share my time, thoughts, or
opinions, it has to be done so for money.&=
nbsp;
Otherwise, spending hours a day doing this for free is doing nothing=
but
eating away at the time that can be better spent generating a household inc=
ome,
and is taking away from the things my family deserves. This decision is unfortunate, but =
the
ungodly volume of daily questions that seem to expect FREE responses has ma=
de
this necessary. So here’s what I=
217;m
willing to do: 1. I will gladly answer your question=
s by
phone at the rate of: $60/hou=
r, or
$1/minute, with a 20 minute pre-paid minimum charge ($20). If at the end of 20 minutes =
we are
not done and you still have additional matters you’d like addressed,
unfortunately our call will be terminated, and you will need to pay for
additional time for us to continue talking. 2. We will set a date & time for =
these kind of conversations that works with my schedule. 3. You can only pay for this service t=
hrough
my PayPal account by pre-paying for time using =
my PayPal account ID which is: erik.mann@worldnet.att.net 4. Upon paying the minimu=
m $20
charge (for 20 minutes), please email me at: emann@sbcglobal.net and give me at =
least
3-business-days-out from the date you pay, with 3 different dates/times at
which you hope we can schedule our conversation. I will try to make available your =
first
choice. Also, be sure to prov=
ide
your name, address, phone number, and the topic you’d like to discuss=
. I
will then respond with the time that’s best for me and then we can go
from there. 5. Personal questions abo=
ut me,
what I teach at my school, or any other personal questions directed towards=
me,
are off-limits. Allowable que=
stions
are those that generically involve your martial arts training, issues relat=
ed
to that, or videos. Upon legal
advice I’ve been told not to discuss specific video instructors by na=
me,
video products by name, video companies by name, specific martial arts
associations/organizations by name, specific schools by name, or specific
brick-and-mortar instructors by name.
Mentioning any individual or entity by name may<=
/span>
likely result in the immediate termination of our call! In fact, please don’t use AN=
Y SPECIFIC
NAMES at all. We will refer to
individuals as “Mr. X or Mr. Y” and companies as “ABC Com=
pany
or XYZ Company”. 6. Should you agree to paying for my =
time
to talk with you, you understand and agree that anything discussed is
confidential, strictly based upon my personal opinion (not fact), and the
things we discuss are not meant to be published or repeated to anyone else.=
You
further agree our conversation will not be recorded and passed on to anyone=
. 7. By making payment for =
my time
and personal opinion/advice, you agree to all the above, that all matters
discussed will be kept confidential, and not passed on to any 3rd
parties. You further agree th=
at you
are not an attorney or media entity that is trying to obtain opinions from =
me
to use for purposes other than those for which you state they are for. You further agree to indemnify and=
hold
me harmless for any possible damages or injury that could come from the
information provided you, and/or any action you take based upon it. Thank You