Is Bonsai Mirai Live Worth $300/year?

[Captnignit]

(2) Same can be said for the live Q&A sessions. You have a lot of people with very basic knowledge showing up for these. I don't know how you solve for this. You don't need Ryan Neil to tell you how/when to repot a Chinese elm (just giving an extreme example to illustrate a point).

IMO, they really need a forum so people can spread the knowledge of the already answered around. I think the way it will go is submitting questions prior to Q&As that Ryan will likely pick from that haven't already been asked to death. Some sort of voting system for promoting questions would potentially be nice to have too.

 

[atlarsenal]

I’ve seen other folks break branches but at least the said something and fixed it. Not just act like it never happened

 

[Adair M]

Good point... Me and Crystal go to concerts in Philly and found it to be expensive enough that we now call a Limo service instead of staying overnight. For us it costs the same...

Grimmy

Some of the Bay Area locals take the Intensives, and commute in for the classes. Some never take the Intensives, but choose to take workshops instead. Some do both!

The workshops are half day, and I think they are $40 to $50. Usually held on weekends. If you are a member of Boon’s club, BIB, you’re required to take 9 workshops a year. Since in one weekend you can get in 4 workshops, it’s not hard to fulfill. Each workshop is a bring your own tree(s). Newbies will get more instruction on the basics, veterans work on refinement.

The Intensives were designed for out of towners, workshops for locals.

Of course, Boon makes house calls, too!

 

[BillsBayou]

The archives have 8 Tier 3 videos. All posted since August 2017:
Chopstick Creation, Feb 1, 2018 (27:58)
Steam Bending Pt. 1, Jan 25, 2018 (27:09)
Pine Grafting, Jan 18, 2018 (45:54)
Shimpaku Juniper Maintenance, Oct 6, 2017 (23:55)
Borer Removal, Sept 28, 2017, (16:25)
Hardening Deadwood, Sep 15, 2017 (12:22)
Improving Percolation, Sep 7, 2017 (29:30)
Needle Juniper Cleanup, Aug 17, 2017 (7:53)

Three of these videos are very recent. I don't know if they're accelerating their Tier 3 posts.

As for my utility, 4 of these videos are immediately useful.

 

[BillsBayou]

IMO, they really need a forum so people can spread the knowledge of the already answered around. I think the way it will go is submitting questions prior to Q&As that Ryan will likely pick from that haven't already been asked to death. Some sort of voting system for promoting questions would potentially be nice to have too.

My ideas:

Forums would have generalized topics; not more than 6 or 7.
These forums are open to all Tiers, but cannot be seen by the general public.

The key attraction would be the Video forums. Varying Tier memberships would have varying access.
Tier 1: Can only view and discuss videos that are offered free on the site.
Tier 2: Can only view and discuss videos up to Tier 2 access (archived live streams).
Tier 3: Can discuss all videos.

New video forums are created for each new video posted to the site.

Moderators will move any discussions about videos to the appropriate video forums.

Forum posts would look different for each Tier as well:
Tier 1: Get's to pick their username
Tier 2: Can change their avatar
Tier 3: Can create a signature line

If you want to get real fancy, Tier 3 posts can have a gold themed look where everyone else has a dull gray.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

His podcast has been fun.

 

[milehigh_7]

Heck, I would just like to hear back from the guy... I promise I am busier than he is...

 

[Tieball]

I edit out most of the breaks I get on video.

Great editing you’ve done. I haven’t seen a single break. I like the tree work video series you produce. Excellent!

 

[parhamr]

IMO, they really need a forum so people can spread the knowledge of the already answered around.

Something of this sort is in the works. I don’t know all of the details and I’ll leave the reveal to Ryan.

 

[Potawatomi13]

I’ve seen other folks break branches but at least the said something and fixed it. Not just act like it never happened

Where did this happen please/which stream?

 

[atlarsenal]

Ok, totally enjoying and glad I signed up with Bonsai Mirai. But I just lost a little respect for Ryan. At about 1:02 of “Deciduous Design” he breaks a branch and totally acts like it never happened and doesn’t say anything about it. He breaks another at 1:10 but couldn’t hide that one.

 

[cmeg1]

I would like to see a stream about the greenhouse that gives aftercare to a lot of the trees he’s worked at specific times that the greenhouse has provided.Like options for heating and coverings too.

 

[parhamr]

Okay, the forum is now live for members: https://forum.bonsaimirai.com

 

[Cable]

What a fun thread, sorry I missed the fight earlier. lol.

I discovered Mirai before I found this place and have watched a few of the free videos. I really like how he explains things in a way that makes it easy for a n00b to understand. I happen to like the "rambling" nature of the videos and the banter with the audience and Mirai staff. I plan to sign up for Tier 2 soon.

 

[BillsBayou]

What a fun thread, sorry I missed the fight earlier. lol.

I discovered Mirai before I found this place and have watched a few of the free videos. I really like how he explains things in a way that makes it easy for a n00b to understand. I happen to like the "rambling" nature of the videos and the banter with the audience and Mirai staff. I plan to sign up for Tier 2 soon.

Tier 3 is REALLY worth it.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

So, is anybody interested in buying some used wires?
300 bucks a string, one time offer. I need some extra money for.. reasons. ;-)

 

[atlarsenal]

Tier 3 is REALLY worth it.

I just upgraded to tier 3 myself, mainly just to be able to see the rest of the videos that I couldn’t with tier 2. My problem, especially this time of year is finding the time to watch. I haven’t watched it live yet and haven’t participated in the Q&A. I have glanced at the forum but found it a pain in the ass to navigate. What am I missing out on with tier 3, other than full access to videos?

 

[M. Frary]

Nope.
Haven't watched a single Mirai video yet.
Who thinks I'll ever watch one?
Who doesn't?
Who thinks I would rather spend the $300.00 on bonsai supplies?
Who thinks I would rather spend it on weed?
Who thinks Bigfoot is real and is the result of Indians having sexual relations with buffalo?
Will Victor wake up and say J.T. pushed him down the stairs on the Young and the Restless?

 

[atlarsenal]

Nope.
Haven't watched a single Mirai video yet.
Who thinks I'll ever watch one?
Who doesn't?
Who thinks I would rather spend the $300.00 on bonsai supplies?
Who thinks I would rather spend it on weed?
Who thinks Bigfoot is real and is the result of Indians having sexual relations with buffalo?
Will Victor wake up and say J.T. pushed him down the stairs on the Young and the Restless?

I bet you stay up until 2am to watch infomercials on stair master too!

 

[SU2]

Yes Tier 2. Have visited Ryan several times and asked several free questions in person. Reason he is doing is he Loves Bonsai and wants to advance USA Bonsai. Despite sour grapes from cheapskate personally consider well worth learning from master.

That almost sounds reasonable! But the reality is that loving bonsai, and wanting to make $$ off people, aren't mutually-exclusive things - if he really wants to advance USA bonsai then he should make them free (he is a master so he should be making a killing on things like workshop/demo/appearance fees, the sale of trees he's worked on, etc etc etc), to put a multi-hundred-$ paywall on some bonsai videos is a money-grab not some altruistic "advancement of US bonsai" 8)

Are they worth it? I dunno because I haven't even come close to watching the virtually unlimited free videos on youtube, but the videos of his I've seen are good but not great - I've also got a lot of issue with someone who will say things with confidence when unsure, and this could be my mid-remembering but I believe it was @BillsBayou who made a thread here about the errors in his BC/bald cypress video...

But this is his way of selling you on his knowledge, not an altruistic gesture for US bonsai as you describe it :/ And his knowledge seems solid, just like tons of others out there who don't charge for simple things like videos, so it's real hard to justify - that said, there's a bougainvillea video that I think I'll be paying 1 month of tier-2 to get, will be my yardstick for him and these videos, maybe I'll learn something I didn't already know - or maybe I'll be pissed that I spent $ to hear what multiple other vloggers put out there for free, for the passion of the hobby..