Virtual Stone Mason (January 2007)

  Has the Internet been good for the stone industry?  Are there dangers for the budding stone professional?  Will the industry be a better place in the computer age?
  And, how much about the stone business can really be learned from a computer screen?
  For a start, there’s plenty of information on geology – where stones and minerals come from, and how they’re formed.  The insight gained on many a university study page or spelunker’s blog can add insight to the world of stone. 
  If you want a real educational blast online about granite, go to “Rob’s Granite Page” (uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rmr/), which is a website designed by a university professor who loves rocks even more than myself.
  But, shutting yourself in and reading about stone on an electronic device can never take the place of going out and actually putting your hands on the stuff.  The Rocky Mountains aren’t the same on TV as they are in person.  Nothing makes you feel infinitely small like standing on one mountain and looking up at another snowy precipice while breathing in cool, crisp, pine-filled air (nothing like those air fresheners). 
  The U.S. National Park Service has done a superior job of preserving some wondrous natural-stone landmarks like Mammoth Cave National Park in south-central Kentucky, for example.  If you want to see for yourself the power and glory of stone, don’t hesitate to take your family on an adventure.  The movie adventures of Huck Finn in the caves have nothing on the real thing.
  Another way to take in the real beauty of stone, and how it gets to where we service it, is to take a quarry tour.  They don’t happen very often, but when they do, they are worth the time and money invested. 
  Why do I say invested?  Just like a good university degree is an investment, nothing helps you to sell stone or your stone service like the passion that comes from actually being there.  The difference between reading about it online and being there in person is like the difference between being at the 1990 AFC Championship game, where the home-team Buffalo Bills beat the Oakland Raiders 51-3, and sitting at home watching it on the little screen. (I know; I was there on Jan. 20, 1991).
  But there is a more-serious risk to the modern-day virtual stone mason then just missing out on the experience – it’s missing out on a real education.  Those Buffalo Bills of the early ‘90s didn’t just read the playbook and then show up on Sunday to get to those four Super Bowls in a row.  They trained long and hard, day-in and day-out, and conditioned themselves to being the best in their conference four years straight. 
  Now, in the last six years, I’m getting a sense that we could be seeing a downturn in conditioning and training within the stone business, due to the sheer proliferation of online forums.  The virtual world may be taking away the courage and confidence gained in everyday work to perform at a high level. 
  On the Internet, people are asking the same questions, but getting wildly mixed answers and messages.  Now, to be sure, online forums are a great way to network and share ideas, but it in no way takes the place of practice and conditioning. Asking how to hone and fill travertine in a chat room does not give you the same experience as doing it yourself, or with someone who can show you how to do it.
  When I started in this business, I didn’t have the Internet.  I didn’t have online areas where I could throw out a question in a worldwide free-for-all.  And if I did, I might’ve relied too much on the answer, instead of focusing on the basic training I had to master to be a success in this business. 
  To avoid hard work is to take the path of least resistance, and it’s easy for anyone to do, like some current sports heroes who have a good year and then think they’re too good to practice.  By relying solely on virtual advice, it takes away your edge, your confidence and your conditioning.
  I see many who’ve been in this business as long as I have still relying on strangers to give them advice on how to make money. Some are even going backwards in training because someone they’ve never seen – let alone met – convinces them that they have a better way, even though that person may not have any actual success in business. 
  So it then begs the question, who is the bigger fool?  The one who leads, or the one who follows?
  We also have a proliferation of ads from many sources online.  How many Eastern stone importers have emailed you this week saying that they are, “very much interested in partnering you with successful business adventure?” 
  Some are more-subtle. You get individuals who become virtual salespersons and do nothing all day but debate the quality of everyone’s products (except their own) on bulletin boards.  New people in the business can get sucked in by bravado and could no longer think for themselves. 
  Yes, the Internet does have a lot of valuable information out there.  It also has a lot of quicksand for the new folks coming into the stone jungle.  If you stick to those who have been real leaders all along, you will be able to tell the real stuff from the soft, warm mushy waste.
  Real help and advice is being distributed everyday at events like StonExpo by individuals like Mike Neaf from Global Granite and Marble (thank you for your “real” practical help).  Just like the difference between pictures and actually being at Disneyland, online chat rooms do not give you the satisfaction you can feel from actually being at a trade show like StonExpo and events run by stone professionals for stone professionals.
  I hope to see you there, but until I do, keep your stick on the ice.
  Tom McNall is founder and owner of Great Northern Stone Care, a Huron Park, Ontario-based stone-cleaning and -restoration company servicing all of southern Ontario. He also serves as the director of training, technical assistance, and operational support for Stone Restoration Services, a division of Stone Shop International. Tom also offers corporate and private consultation, serves as a trainer for the MIA, and is also on the organization’s board of directors. He can be reached at tom@greatnorthernstone.com.