UKW…The future?

[Martin]

For a radical, possibly even a somewhat controversial view from me (no stranger to controversy) as to the future for UKW, may I be impertinent once more, in suggesting the following to ponder over the weekend?

(For those ‘enlightened’ few that are part of our ‘Subscriber Forum’ at least that is)

Instead of buying ‘Vinyl Printers’ and ‘Sweatshirts’ let us think more toward the real future of our trade and beyond for a moment at least. Let us not only subscribe to UKW but to use that as a subscription toward our very future in a real sense.

To invest in the prospect of a wider audience within the trade by direct advertising to those individuals through ‘advertising agency mailshots’. The purpose being to make ALL engineers in our trade out there, that haven’t bothered to get ‘on-line’, and don’t even know of our existance. For them to be aware of what is going one within the trade, and how important unification is, in order for us to even survive and earn a lasting future against the ruthless adversity that IS the manufacturers and CO?

For UKW to get its act together in all departments (e.g. First off, DATABASE SEARCH FACILITY? ….non existent at the moment but a vital part of the site. In other words, in order to find answers to problems that have cropped up over the months/years, one needs to be able to SEARCH out the various subject headings!!…not possible right now but vital in the long term.

A full list of ‘CONTACTS’…Names, Addresses,Phone No’s and Email of all MANUFACTURERS,WP’s, INSURANCE AGENCIES, SERVICE AGENCIES,WHOLESALERS,ALLIED TRADE SUPPLIES, Uncle Tom Cobley and all on the database, again available through the SEARCH FACILITY.

Trade Association??? A dirty word perhaps? BUT in these ‘troubled times’ it is important for the respectabilty of UKW trademembers, to be part and parcel of such in order to gain public confidence. Historically there has been little headway in this area from others that have tried, but learning from their misgivings I believe we can go forward and create a true figurehead. An association that lays out clear and concise rules for its members to withhold, but one that does not get bogged down by dogmatic, dictatorial constraints.

We already have the attention of the trade (in part at least.. but not much 🙁 ) AND without question the public at large are in here in their droves…without doubt. Visiting UKW daily with their day in day out, often trivial but nonetheless important to them, questions that only we can hope to answer, hopefully.

The latter will continue ‘ad infinitum’ until the likes of I and others get bored (or fall asleep through boredom) at the repetitiveness and unrewarding nature of it all. On this point, please don’t missunderstand me, as it is for the moment at least, good fun helping ‘the ignorant to learning’ and pointing others in the right direction. BUT we gain little from it, possibly even (as in my case at least) sweet Fanny Adams!!

I have learned a lot from UKW so far, but gained little (apart from new friends of course 🙂 ) I am a businessman hoping to continue my trade for a good number of years to come. I want and need this trade to survive BUT I need help from my colleagues within at this point.

If you are to take on board the warnings from many ‘old colleagues’ that preach doom and gloom about our trade, then listen out! Whilst you maybe earning a good little whack at the moment (thankyou very much) It may all go the way BROWNGOODS went yesterday….tommorrow!!

Sincerely

Martin

P.S Ken will be mad at me for this I know, but hey 🙁

[patches]

Re: UKW…The future?

Just a brief reply to this Martin. You say “we have only a limited response and notice from the trade and that we get nothing from the site”.
I have to disagree because the company I am part of has had several contacts from WP’s because of our registration with UKW. These have resulted in some lucrative contracts which are dependable and also honorable to deal with. This has allowed us to invest in technology for our staff which gives an even better service and gain more revenue which is what we are in the business for after all.
K

[Penguin45]

Re: UKW…The future?

This is not a trade association, this is a meeting place, discussion shop, knowledge resource, help centre and whatever other nefarious activities we choose to indulge in in the privacy of our own bit of cyberspace. It is unregulated beyond language.

Should we choose to become a Trade Association, we will have to regulate, formulate codes of practice, form commitees and mind our P’s and Q’s, and not least; set some aims and goals.

We have a Trade Association – it’s called DASA. The fact that so many of us choose not to become members speaks volumes for the regard with which it is currently held. However, we all know perfectly well that the restructuring and reorganisation of DASA is now under way and that maybe soon their stock will rise.

As for a return on the investment in time and effort put into this site by our members, consider that UKW is not yet 18 months old. We are still doing the groundwork; again we all know that things are afoot – eJobs will be with us soon. Even now I am picking up a small but steady stream of work through Directories.

Personally, I like the style and informality of the current set-up; I like the bridge being built to the public and I definitely like the growing interaction with manufacturers, WP’s, wholesalers et al.

Patience Martin, this is an evolving body not to be particularly pushed or rushed in any given direction.

Regards,
Chris.

[kwatt]

Re: UKW…The future?

Martin, why on Earth would I be mad? I’m big enough (literally) to take a bit of stick now and then and I think UKW is as well. As I said to the DASA stallwarts, things only change, grow and get better with input, whether that input is positive or negative is irrelevant… doing something about it to improve is not.

I can understand the frustration but I’ve been at this a lot longer than anyone else. 😉

The roots of UKW are stemmed from my dissatisfaction with the way in which DASA was being guided several years ago, primarily by Chris Hayter but being the way I am rather than moan about it I decided to get off my ass and do something about it. I did not see DASA as being a vessel by which I could eventually accomplish what I thought had to be done and, in many ways, I understand why it cannot do a lot of things that perhaps we feel that it ought to be doing. However, this is not a slag DASA reply it is merely an extension of what Chris has already pointed out, this is not a trade association nor is it ever liable to be one, this is something totally different.

So anyway, UKW really started in 2000 with the formation of a Yahoo mailing list. It’s taken over four years to get to where we are now and, TBH, I didn’t think it would be where it is now. Quite honestly, the response and support from a lot of the people on here has been nothing short of astounding and, I know I keep on about it but, you guys should be proud of what YOU have achieved in 18 months with this site.

Yes, I maybe drive it, yes I even maintain it and put a lot of content on it, I even do a lot of stuff in the background that you do not see or hear about it but I’m not in this for recognition or glory and neither is Dave or Kevin. We’re in this to try to improve things, for our own businesess primarily as we see the writing on the wall, but to save ourselves the only option is to attempt to save everyone else with us and so, that has become a bit of a mantra, as well as a brimstone at times.

UKW will continue to grow I expect through time and, importantly, hard work and much of that work has to be done by me, Dave or Kevin, that’s just the way it is I’m afraid. What you have to remember is that we also have families and businesses to run to get food on the table besides also running UKW. That said, I don’t feel that anyone would question our devotion to the aims to see UKW come good regardless of what happens.

There are several projects that we have worked on, many sadly don’t help you too much just yet, like some of the contract work we’ve organised or helped along a little will we say. We’ve systematically tried to get the rates on offer from WP’s and the likes up. And rest assured we’re working damned hard to raise the profile of UKW around the globe and in our own little piece of it. I am also heavily involved in some IT projects that will bring costs down, e-Jobs is just the first phase of that and we’re already about 18 months ahead of schedule as the response from the trade has pushed us harder than we’d thought.

Everything you mention is, technically feasable, of that there is no doubt and you’ll get no argument from me on any of the points raised. The problem is, frankly, financial! We need revenue to support the initiatives and I (at least) need to be devoting all my time to UKW, but as it won’t as yet put food on the table I find that I cannot do it.

And therin lies the rub for me. I refuse to take money from the independents, there’s better ways to finance such an endevour and let’s face the facts, we don’t have the kind of money it would take anyway. But other people do.

Hell I didn’t like the idea of the subscriber forum, I was voted down! So what did I do with the money? Well, it’s in a seperate (or will be soon) account and all that cash is YOUR cash for meetings, beer, whatever you decide to spend it on, in so far as I’m concerned it’s not my money.

The point is, that UKW, probably because of me, has that ethos as that’s what I believe in. Now because of the commercial sensitivity aspect (PITA, that always creeps up on you) I can’t tell you all the stuff that’s going on right now and I can’t tell you what’s going to happen a year down the line.

What I can tell you is, I don’t intend for it to get boring! 😉

K.

[kwatt]

Oh I forgot to mention Martin, almost every WP has some access to UKW. Almost every insurer that operates in our field has access to UKW. Almost all the traditional trade press has access to UKW and almost every manufacturer selling in the UK has access to UKW.

So yes, we’ve been noticed by them and they do appear to be listening at least in part to what is said. Just because they don’t all participate directly doesn’t mean they don’t care. 😉

K.

[admin]

Re: UKW…The future?

I can only back up what kwatt has said. We are in front of you Martin, we are doing things in the background, we already talk to certain people and have the ear of some influential people. However this takes time, but seeing as you are so keen I do have a project for you and Mr P and I will present this to you and Chris soon.
It will be an industry 1st for independents and will be hugely influential in the future of this industry.

However, patience is the key and one rung at a time is always best.

Kevin

PS if its worth doing well, UKW wants to do it brilliantly.

[kwatt]

Oh, I forgot that Kev.

That should shut him up for a bit! 😆

K.

[Martin]

Re: UKW…The future?

kheath wrote:However, patience is the key and one rung at a time is always best.

Spot on Kevin, that’s one of my virtues 😉

…..and I did fall off a step-ladder whilst cutting the hedge a couple of weeks back 😳

kwatt wrote:That should shut him up for a bit! 😆

My lips are sealed…. at least until I fix my broken step-ladder 😆 😆

Martin

[Author]

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