My above post didn’t consider “road”’players. I don’t look at true road men as “pro’s”. While it’s true being a road player is a profession I was referencing tourney pro’s. The road is (was) tough action. Cowboy is a smart guy-respect!
Bad time to be a pool pro?
- Thread starter hotelyorba
- Start date
My above post didn’t consider “road”’players. I don’t look at true road men as “pro’s”. While it’s true being a road player is a profession I was referencing tourney pro’s. The road is (was) tough action. Cowboy is a smart guy-respect!
Ralph is hardly an example of a successful pro.
You could look at this as a great opportunity to learn about online/video coaching people that have their own tables.
Get a group together, coach them, discuss what they would like more/less of etc. Figure out pricing and you have another source of income that doesnt require you to leave your house. Maybe give the initial group a discounted rate to help you figure this out.
Jason
Get a group together, coach them, discuss what they would like more/less of etc. Figure out pricing and you have another source of income that doesnt require you to leave your house. Maybe give the initial group a discounted rate to help you figure this out.
Jason
Thank you!
Jason, thank you for the suggestion. I'll give this some thought. I can see the upside as well as the drawbacks but in today's world you have to consider the alternatives.
I just recorded a podcast with Cue It Up and mentioned something I taught to my sales team years ago. It's a chess idea called "The Space Left Behind". Namely that when an opponent moves a piece and creates threats, they also are no longer protecting squares they were eyeing before. All good chess players train themselves to spot the spaces left behind to see if there are opportunities to take advantage of those holes in the position. Likewise in sales if one resource diminishes, another arises. So if leads are down, you now have more time. This is a bad thing if you sit around and piss it away, but you can reinvest it in other ways. Spend more time with the clients you have. Research and development. New products and new lead sources. Etc. It doesn't have to be a total loss.
I'm not narrow minded so you can count on me not to fritter away my resources. At this time my calendar remains full. If that changes I'll reinvest my time into each of those areas. This isn't call shot, it's Texas Express. I may not hit the pocket I intended but I'll give it enough speed to get the 9 in play
Jason, thank you for the suggestion. I'll give this some thought. I can see the upside as well as the drawbacks but in today's world you have to consider the alternatives.
I just recorded a podcast with Cue It Up and mentioned something I taught to my sales team years ago. It's a chess idea called "The Space Left Behind". Namely that when an opponent moves a piece and creates threats, they also are no longer protecting squares they were eyeing before. All good chess players train themselves to spot the spaces left behind to see if there are opportunities to take advantage of those holes in the position. Likewise in sales if one resource diminishes, another arises. So if leads are down, you now have more time. This is a bad thing if you sit around and piss it away, but you can reinvest it in other ways. Spend more time with the clients you have. Research and development. New products and new lead sources. Etc. It doesn't have to be a total loss.
I'm not narrow minded so you can count on me not to fritter away my resources. At this time my calendar remains full. If that changes I'll reinvest my time into each of those areas. This isn't call shot, it's Texas Express. I may not hit the pocket I intended but I'll give it enough speed to get the 9 in play
Half joking half serious:
Most of the field in a pro event ends up losing money when considering entry fee, travel expenses, and hotel expenses. Thus, wouldn’t pros actually be better off financially staying home, and come out ahead during these Corona times?
Most of the field in a pro event ends up losing money when considering entry fee, travel expenses, and hotel expenses. Thus, wouldn’t pros actually be better off financially staying home, and come out ahead during these Corona times?
My time frame was Mid 1970's to early 1980's when I was still living in the area of North Hollywood Billiards, in SF Valley close to the Gina Cue shop.
Year 2020 the times have changed, so many of the old pool bars, and pool room are nothing but memories.
Do not quit your day job.
You use your income from your day job to finance your nighttime entertainment.
My thoughts are with all who will have diminished opportunity to earn a living, and that includes all who look to pool for their livelihood, including playing pros, teaching pros, poolroom proprietors, poolroom employees. event producers, equipment manufacturers and distributors, and the many others who look to pool for their income.
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Don't know if it's been said but, the average experienced pool player is very resourceful.
Think about it. Many advanced amateurs and lower tier pros almost never risk their own money. 99.9% of the time thay have backers/sponsors that take 100% of the risk.
I'm not saying that players will be taken care of. What I am saying is:
Seasoned player's, regardless of how successful are no stranger to doing without or finding a way to "make it work" (being resourceful).
Sure, some are better at it than others but, most all of them are good enough at it to survive.
Jeff
Think about it. Many advanced amateurs and lower tier pros almost never risk their own money. 99.9% of the time thay have backers/sponsors that take 100% of the risk.
I'm not saying that players will be taken care of. What I am saying is:
Seasoned player's, regardless of how successful are no stranger to doing without or finding a way to "make it work" (being resourceful).
Sure, some are better at it than others but, most all of them are good enough at it to survive.
Jeff
What do you think!
Skype Lessons
Thank you very much for this. I do sincerely, sincerely appreciate it. And the suggestion from Jason. This said, I've decided I will not be doing any skype training. Nor will I be offering any 'lessons' in the traditional sense, i.e. 2 hours here or there.
I just finished a three day bootcamp with a gentleman that was around 550. This man has played pool for 20+ years. He was quite knowledgeable relative to many of my students who consider themselves quite knowledgeable. He had a lot of tools in his arsenal, a ton of theory, and put in a lot of work trying to get better.
But there were things missing. Oh, knowledge, sure. There were a number of things I showed him that would all win him many games. So yes, the new shots, positional plays, pattern improvement (ok this was important), and safeties were worth the trip for him right off the bat. One problem was that he was too analytical about the game. He could talk theory, but he didn't really flow and he'd make a lot of surprising mistakes because he was too controlling. Meanwhile, while he was knowledgeable, analytical, controlling, and had a lot of cue ball tools, he hadn't really figured out how to put them together in a truly powerful way. His pool game was a whole lot of experience, effort, huff and puff, and a few great shots, but in the end it was meh.
I changed his life. From extended mental game conversations where we read and discussed key applicable passages from different books, to different types of role playing as we walked around the table, to playing scotch doubles against the ghost with me calling the patterns and him matching my rhythm and demeanor, to serious, serious, serious work on patterns, to goal setting both with his game and with his plan to get there, to watching top players during meals and pointing out nuances in their approach compared to his, to adding some core shots he was missing in his tool belt, oh and did I mention some seriously intensive work on patterns? I have done many three days now and I was afraid that I'd burn out, it takes so much passion and energy (we trained from 10AM until Midnight the first two days), but these things give me energy and I'm only getting better and better at finding ways to share my game with my students.
The end result is that I can say with confidence he'll never see pool the same way again. He has a clear vision of where he wants to go with his game, a good picture of how the game should look on the table, a good map of what he is going to do both in practice and in competition over the next 6-12 months, and has a good understanding of the physical and mental hurdles that he'll face as he sets out. Not to mention he is already playing probably 30-50 fargo points better walking out my door. Maybe more.
I know there are a lot of expansive people out there, people who embellish their high runs, people who exaggerate their money scores. I don't do that. Maybe when I was 13 I did. But I don't exaggerate. I remember thinking that the definition of success in pool is when you don't feel the need to exaggerate because the reality is impressive enough. I know where I stand, I know I'm not anything special in the scheme of the pool world, but I also know that I can play a heck of a game and that what I'm doing in my bootcamps isn't something you see on a youtube video or a phone app.
So I'm going to stick to my guns. I'm not interested in giving lessons. I'm interested in changing people's bum lives. I started this because I believe there is a market for helping players who love pool, haven't seen progress for 5-10+ years, realize they won't live forever, and want to give themselves one real shot to learn to play the way they used to dream about before they talked themselves out of it to navigate through their grieving process and reach acceptance of mediocrity. But even if I'm wrong, and if there is a market for skype or 2 hour lessons, the problem is I don't believe I can transform people the way I do when I have them live with me for three days. I have a TON of respect for people that offer traditional lessons and believe they are very good for many people and support both the instructors and those who take advantage of those resources. I just believe in what I'm doing too much to sell out and take peoples money for offering them a few flashy bits of information that make them feel like they learned something while leaving them to keep struggling and failing to figure out how to put it all together.
So for anyone that is interested in skype lessons, we have a lot of good resources here on the forums. Dr. Dave is the man I want to work with for my fundamentals and some other foundational pieces of my game (I am excited to say that once the lockdown abates we will be getting together, I am ecstatic for the opportunity to work with him on my game!). And Alex Lely is of course a treasure of knowledge and it sounds like he's doing this now, this is a super opportunity. So if you think you can get a few pointers and figure it out on your own, I'd go with those guys. If you want full service, three days and go home a different player, get out to Minnesota and let's put the hammer down. Tin Man out.
Thank you very much for this. I do sincerely, sincerely appreciate it. And the suggestion from Jason. This said, I've decided I will not be doing any skype training. Nor will I be offering any 'lessons' in the traditional sense, i.e. 2 hours here or there.
I just finished a three day bootcamp with a gentleman that was around 550. This man has played pool for 20+ years. He was quite knowledgeable relative to many of my students who consider themselves quite knowledgeable. He had a lot of tools in his arsenal, a ton of theory, and put in a lot of work trying to get better.
But there were things missing. Oh, knowledge, sure. There were a number of things I showed him that would all win him many games. So yes, the new shots, positional plays, pattern improvement (ok this was important), and safeties were worth the trip for him right off the bat. One problem was that he was too analytical about the game. He could talk theory, but he didn't really flow and he'd make a lot of surprising mistakes because he was too controlling. Meanwhile, while he was knowledgeable, analytical, controlling, and had a lot of cue ball tools, he hadn't really figured out how to put them together in a truly powerful way. His pool game was a whole lot of experience, effort, huff and puff, and a few great shots, but in the end it was meh.
I changed his life. From extended mental game conversations where we read and discussed key applicable passages from different books, to different types of role playing as we walked around the table, to playing scotch doubles against the ghost with me calling the patterns and him matching my rhythm and demeanor, to serious, serious, serious work on patterns, to goal setting both with his game and with his plan to get there, to watching top players during meals and pointing out nuances in their approach compared to his, to adding some core shots he was missing in his tool belt, oh and did I mention some seriously intensive work on patterns? I have done many three days now and I was afraid that I'd burn out, it takes so much passion and energy (we trained from 10AM until Midnight the first two days), but these things give me energy and I'm only getting better and better at finding ways to share my game with my students.
The end result is that I can say with confidence he'll never see pool the same way again. He has a clear vision of where he wants to go with his game, a good picture of how the game should look on the table, a good map of what he is going to do both in practice and in competition over the next 6-12 months, and has a good understanding of the physical and mental hurdles that he'll face as he sets out. Not to mention he is already playing probably 30-50 fargo points better walking out my door. Maybe more.
I know there are a lot of expansive people out there, people who embellish their high runs, people who exaggerate their money scores. I don't do that. Maybe when I was 13 I did. But I don't exaggerate. I remember thinking that the definition of success in pool is when you don't feel the need to exaggerate because the reality is impressive enough. I know where I stand, I know I'm not anything special in the scheme of the pool world, but I also know that I can play a heck of a game and that what I'm doing in my bootcamps isn't something you see on a youtube video or a phone app.
So I'm going to stick to my guns. I'm not interested in giving lessons. I'm interested in changing people's bum lives. I started this because I believe there is a market for helping players who love pool, haven't seen progress for 5-10+ years, realize they won't live forever, and want to give themselves one real shot to learn to play the way they used to dream about before they talked themselves out of it to navigate through their grieving process and reach acceptance of mediocrity. But even if I'm wrong, and if there is a market for skype or 2 hour lessons, the problem is I don't believe I can transform people the way I do when I have them live with me for three days. I have a TON of respect for people that offer traditional lessons and believe they are very good for many people and support both the instructors and those who take advantage of those resources. I just believe in what I'm doing too much to sell out and take peoples money for offering them a few flashy bits of information that make them feel like they learned something while leaving them to keep struggling and failing to figure out how to put it all together.
So for anyone that is interested in skype lessons, we have a lot of good resources here on the forums. Dr. Dave is the man I want to work with for my fundamentals and some other foundational pieces of my game (I am excited to say that once the lockdown abates we will be getting together, I am ecstatic for the opportunity to work with him on my game!). And Alex Lely is of course a treasure of knowledge and it sounds like he's doing this now, this is a super opportunity. So if you think you can get a few pointers and figure it out on your own, I'd go with those guys. If you want full service, three days and go home a different player, get out to Minnesota and let's put the hammer down. Tin Man out.
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It is also a bad time for Pole Pros that work at the shaker clubs. So I hear
Some relief
A financial aid bill is starting to emerge that will help. It's looking like everyone who filed taxes for 2018 and made less than $75K (under 150K for husband & wife combined), will receive $1200 each, plus $500 per child.
If someone did not file taxes in 2018 they can still get about half that amount.
The money will be automatically direct deposited into your bank if available, otherwise a check can be mailed.
Hopefully the people put-out by this will still make their rent, mortgage, etc.
A financial aid bill is starting to emerge that will help. It's looking like everyone who filed taxes for 2018 and made less than $75K (under 150K for husband & wife combined), will receive $1200 each, plus $500 per child.
If someone did not file taxes in 2018 they can still get about half that amount.
The money will be automatically direct deposited into your bank if available, otherwise a check can be mailed.
Hopefully the people put-out by this will still make their rent, mortgage, etc.