There you go again, shamelessly soliciting your first free lesson, hoping to drum up new business via this web site.
You do this in thread after thread while the rest of us respect what this forum is actually for. Why don't you just cut the funny business and make a real contribution to the pool community by trying to help the person publicly instead of trying to acquire a new client?
Could it be that part of the reason is because so much of what you preach gets challenged by other instructors and posters here?
Respectfully, I would say no. Specifically:
1) I do place some help here at the forums--which is why people who oppose my teaching concepts challenge me, therefore, I'm not only "trolling lessons", but offering my (admittedly controversial at times) opinions.
2) I have been applauded at AZ for offering free lessons, and actually started offering them more often in response to threads where people called out all the instructors for not helping more.
3) I'm sorry the wording is offensive, I should say, "I'll fix the problem for free" not "first lesson is free". I did say above, "free lesson to cure your ills", the word "lesson" meaning "I'll teach you to fix the problem," unlike "I also play pool, can I take a look?"
4) I do not rely on lessons for income and I do not do lessons greedily. I do not offer free lessons to everyone, but I tend to offer them when a problem needs a free look, maybe I should say instead, "post a video, please".
5) The OP is in pain, and claims to be doing everything the same but went from running against the ghost to a really bad slump. I think a look at their stance, aim and stroke could be helpful. A week off could also be helpful, sure.
As for offering free lessons, shouldn't that be a self-correcting problem? That is, if I'm a bad teacher, they can see that in lesson one, and if I'm a good teacher who deserves to be paid for time, they can pay me for lessons and get better.
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Your post raised a really good issue, Fran--I've finished writing a book of nearly 450 mini-lessons. I was thinking of shooting it for video to YouTube so thousands of players could get free help. Your post today makes me think I'll get accused of "trying to make money" on YouTube. But is that an issue in America? Is it fundamentally wrong to try to sell pool lessons and make an honest living (or side income), since I'm (just being honest here) a very good pool teacher in person, hands-on? I used to charge less for pool lessons, and because of the toxicity here and elsewhere, it took me a while to "get over myself", if you follow me.
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PS. I want to be honest, sometimes I offer a free lesson because I see the blind leading the blind here and the other posters take issue with my nonstandard advice. I don't need to be flamed for preaching pool truth, it's not necessary, and I'd rather show the person some secret in private. I can give specific examples if that will help.