You state...
And then you follow up with...
If you truly meant the second quote, you wouldn’t keep anything “secret†from customers or hobbyists in general. Promoting the hobby means sharing what works and what doesn’t work so ALL can benefit from your expertise. That’s what advances the hobby! Not just selling coral or other livestock. That simply advances your agenda. In my humble opinion, that’s being very disingenuous toward your customers. I’ve met and talked with you guys at a couple of MACNAs and frankly I’m surprised at this attitude. Just my candid thoughts about it.
I’m amazed at the amount of customers I get that have gotten false information or incomplete information and struggle keeping their corals in tip-top condition. I go out of my way to help them. I keep no secrets from my customers. If they learn from me, they are repeat customers. It simply good business to educate your customers in all facets of this wonderful hobby.
Dick
Dick, thanks for your feedback. I know what you mean about keeping no secrets. And I wasn't implying any husbandry secrets. What I was implying was that I'm not going to share every aspect of my marketing strategy, proprietary financial data, future product development, etc. Husbandry and coral care benefits everyone, so we have no reason to keep that stuff a mystery! Sorry if my response seemed a bit inconsistent. I can see how you might have interpreted it as such!, which is most definitely not our way. I've spent years writing, talking at clubs and mACNAs sharing what knowledge I have. The last thing I'd want myself- or any vendor, for that matter- to do is to NOT share knowledge that can benefit others!