{"id":140,"date":"2011-06-19T23:49:34","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T03:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/?p=140"},"modified":"2011-06-19T23:49:34","modified_gmt":"2011-06-20T03:49:34","slug":"upping-the-ante-professional-credentials-and-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/?p=140","title":{"rendered":"Upping the Ante: Professional Credentials and Small Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago I was hanging out with Hank, the farrier, at the barn where I ride.\u00a0 If you didn’t realize that farriers still existed, you might look at Hank and think he was an actor that played a blacksmith on a tv western.\u00a0 Hank is huge.\u00a0 His massive hand could palm my head like Julius Irving’s on the rock.\u00a0 His grip\u00a0could turn coal into diamonds.\u00a0 Hank has grizzled dark hair that defies gravity in all directions, always wears dirty Carharts, and generally reminds me of Mr. Edwards on Little House on the Prairie<\/em>.\u00a0 He’s a great guy.\u00a0 Anyway, Hank and I were relaxing while he was sharing a cold beer with his favorite horse, Master Tony.\u00a0 Hank started to talk.\u00a0 This was unusual.<\/p>\n

Hank was upset about a topic one doesn’t usually associate with horse shoeing: the increased expectation of professional credentials – and how this was affecting his Small Business.<\/strong>\u00a0 Apparently, as Hank schooled me, in the United States anyone can hang out a shingle and proclaim to be a farrier.\u00a0 (A farrier is a tradesman who\u00a0specializes in shoeing and hoof-care for horses and other equines.)\u00a0 However, one can take a series of exams and become credentialed by one of three professional organizations.\u00a0 Hank was grousing that too many newly-declared farriers were becoming credentialed, leading the public to believe they were expertly qualified in their trade.\u00a0 According to Hank, who is not credentialed, many of these same farriers have little experience in handling a wide variety of horses and have difficulty actually performing the work in a timely manner.\u00a0 To add to the confusion, the various credentials offered by these organizations are not equally as rigorous to acquire.\u00a0 Many of the old-time farriers, working before the advent of this credentialing system, were now being viewed by the public as less qualified.\u00a0 As a Small Business owner, Hank was wondering how he could compete.<\/strong>\u00a0 (In an extreme example, one farrier with a doctorate in an unrelated field, like astronomy, listed “farrier, PhD” after his name on his\u00a0business cards.)<\/p>\n

This is a subject that must be stuck in people’s craw, because it came up again later in the week.\u00a0 I was talking with Mike, a physical therapist.\u00a0 He was upset because in the next year all newly graduating therapists will need a doctorate to be licensed to practice.\u00a0 Mike graduated with his master’s degree several years ago, but went back to get his doctorate last year.\u00a0 Even though Mike feels the doctorate did nothing to make him a better clinician, he felt he needed it to\u00a0remain competitive in the marketplace in the the eyes of the patient, his customer<\/strong>.\u00a0 As Mike says, “I didn’t want some fresh-out-of-school therapist who has never managed a patient load to\u00a0be introduced\u00a0as ‘Doctor,’\u00a0 while me with my fifteen years of experience still be just plain ‘Mike.'”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, I am not anti-education.\u00a0 I am a full-on nerd with three college degrees that I worked old-school hard to earn.\u00a0 But I think the issue here for Hank and Mike is\u00a0twofold.\u00a0 First is the issue of applicability: will these degrees or credentials really make them\u00a0better at their jobs?\u00a0 Will they add\u00a0anything to the (meal) table?<\/strong>\u00a0 My tally is as follows:\u00a0 Degree #1: most definitely.\u00a0 Degree #2: I could make a case for it.\u00a0 Degree #3: Not even F. Lee Baily could make a winning argument.\u00a0 Mike contends that his doctorate did nothing to add to his clinical skills.\u00a0 If Hank gets credentialed, he will be tested on things he already<\/em> knows, not learn new material, for the process, so he fails to see how this will make him a more competent farrier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Secondly, what is the toll of these (higher) education expectations on the small businessperson?\u00a0<\/strong> Hank will take his exams, but it will require a three-day trip and a hefty fee to do so.\u00a0 That’s quite an expense for a small-town farrier.\u00a0 Mike got his doctorate at considerable personal expense, and it took time away from his practice that he could have used for patient care or to develop other revenue-producing programs.\u00a0\u00a0As all Small Business owners know, time and money are precious resources.\u00a0 How much of them do we need to spend to maintain marketability?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I would argue that even though Mike and Hank don’t feel their new credentials add to their skill set, they do add value to their Small Businesses.\u00a0<\/strong>Whether we like it or not, we operate in a consumerist society.\u00a0 Value is an intangible concept.\u00a0 If the customer sees value, it is real.\u00a0 Just like a muffin and cup of coffee purchased at a cute streetside cafe may not actually taste better than those grabbed at the Citgo while gassing up on the way to work, the patron may see it has more value, and therefore be willing to pay more, or\u00a0chose that product over another.\u00a0<\/strong>So it is with the credentialed vs. uncredentialed farrier, or physical therapist with or without a doctorate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What do you think?\u00a0 Have you ever allocated your resources toward credentials that did not improve your product but added value in the eyes of your customer?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago I was hanging out with Hank, the farrier, at the barn where I ride.\u00a0 If you didn’t realize that farriers still existed, you might look at Hank and think he was an actor that played a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[33,8,20],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-operations","category-marketing","tag-competition","tag-small-business","tag-small-business-ownership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}