“Joe Kumar vs Carlos Garcia”The Verdict
Back in the not-so-distant past, boys left school to learn a trade.
Little Johnny decided he wanted to fit kitchens for a living, so he took up an apprenticeship with a local, self-employed joiner.
For 3-4 years, Johnny toiled tirelessly, brewing cups of tea, making the lunch-time sandwich run, and sweeping up after the workmen.
Now an experienced apprentice, Johnny progressed to handing out the correct tools and sawing up bits of used wood to fit into the skip. More years rolled by.
Johnny is now trusted to assist the joiner in fitting the units and assembling small items. Watching his employer at work helps him to learn the skills and techniques needed to perform this trade.
Over a decade has passed and Johnny is now a fully trusted member of the business. Capable of completing any job, on his own if necessary.
An accomplished joiner with over 10 years of experience, working all aspects of the business, Johnny decides the time has come to strike out on his own. He uses the money he’s been saving since the age of sixteen to purchase his own tools and vehicle and, armed with a few jobs passed on by his former mentor and employer, begins to establish his own trade.
After five years of working six days a week, and learning from his own mistakes, Johnny is now making a comfortable living. He continues this way for another 18 months before being tragically killed in a freak angle-grinding accident.
Johnny’s story is not unusual (except for the angle-grinding thing – please note that heavy machinery and a liquid lunch do not mix well). In the past, starting your own business meant years of watching, learning and saving hard.
Flash forward to the 21st century and anyone with fifty quid can register a domain, pay for a service provider to host his website and, hey presto, you’re in business.
And this is a problem for Joe Kumar and Carlos Garcia.
Neither have had the experience of working under an apprenticeship for years, building the character that comes with patiently working long hours for low pay for many years. Between them they have but a handful of years getting to grips with the industry.
And on the internet we are led to believe that success is measured by the size of our affiliate checks, not by the usefulness of our product or the quality of our public relations.
This is why we have situations like that of Joe Kumar and Carlos Garcia acting, quite frankly, like juveniles.
I’m not intending to insult the parties concerned, but it is hard to imagine “professionals” in any other industry, acting in a similar way.
Admittedly Joe Kumar’s contribution was more obviously childish. Badly thought out, contradictory, self-defeating, insulting and clearly written in the heat of the moment.
Carlos response appears, on first glance, to be more measured. But a closer inspection reveals elements of frustration creeping into the language. A comment such as, “beggars can’t be choosers”, destroys the professional image Carlos is keen to create.
Frustration in this kind of experience is inevitable, but the responses were not helpful. It left people choosing one side over another, few really convinced as to who came off the worse.
Experience can’t be bought, traded or won. It can only be earned over time and is absolutely useless if you don’t learn from it. Let’s hope Joe and Carlos have learnt from this one.
VERDICT:
Carlos, to his credit kept smiling through the experience and has retained a lot of support for his website and newsletter.
But his response was hurried and appeared somewhat panicky.
He would have been far better to post a simple statement on his website to the effect that Joe Kumar’s account had been deleted for breaching the terms and conditions, the accusations made by Joe Kumar were untrue and that anyone concerned is welcome to contact him directly to discuss the matter.
Any reasonable individual would be able to see the gulf between a confident, subtle riposte and Joe Kumar’s immature attack. An attack that, quite frankly, was unworthy of a response.
Joe Kumar has gained a lot of respect in this industry in a short space of time. I am only too happy to give him credit for this. Sadly, with just one email, he has lost credibility with a lot of people. Perhaps for good.
After Carlos offered an explanation for the accusations, no counter-argument was forthcoming from Joe. Incredibly, his ludicrous email is still hosted on his website.
Joe Kumar is still very active on the internet. In an industry he feels is lacking integrity.
Perhaps, instead, he should join the car wash business he holds in such high esteem.
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This article first appeared in The Nettle Ezine.
If you enjoyed it, why not try The Nettle Magazine at www.thenettle.com
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