I actually think your postscript does you a disservice here. I think it’s pretty apparent, especially in light of your other posts about poor brand management/promotion, that you do not intend to hurt feelings or get ugly with people. This example is particularly harmless in that regard anyway. Instead, after reading it, nodding my head in rhythm to point after point, I came to your postscript and ended up reconsidering the nature of what you have written. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, but it’s almost as if you demonstrate your point and then back off a little from the means by which you do this. You don’t seem the type to hedge his bets, but if this was the only post I had to judge you by, it might seem you were.

PS: Well…never mind.

Totally agree.

And I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

I hope the RE agents that really need the help find your site. My guess is they won’t.

My issue with the video has to do with the lack of marketing and the results that ensue as a result.

What they did was not plagiarism. But it is an copyright violation. As a writer and holder of copyrights, I find that bothersome.

What you do in your car is not a violation of Ian Watt’s work since he did not copyright it. You’re okay there.

Bad lawyers and doctors… yup. Plenty of them. These days it seem hard to find anyone who takes pride in their work and delivers quality. And it’s for those people in RE that I offer posts like this up. If you are the real deal and what to market yourself as such, attending to better marketing, advertising and branding practices will help further your chances to gain market share and win over new customers.

This is nothing new. I’ve been going to CAR State meetings the past 5 plus years where much of the discussion has been about improving the professionalism in our industry. There was some proposed legislation to come out, only to be vetoed by our Governor. Why? Making it harder, like more eduction before getting a job as a RE professional, was seen as limiting job growth by some politicians.

I really do not have a problem with this video from either of your points.

Copyright or plagiarism –

Who knows, maybe I skipped past second grade. I don’t think this as blatant as copying a blog post or video and throwing it on your site and calling it your own.

I’ve been video blogging in my car for the past year or so, does that mean I am plagiarizing Ian Watt? Or did he start by copying Dan Hesse?

Regardless, to Matt D’s point, I think it has more to do with what you say that how you say it.

Creative marketing and Realtor image -

Should I really care about this? I mean, if my competition wants to put this crap out, doesn’t it help me stand out even more?

I’d love for my profession to get more respect and higher marks, but I don’t know how realistic that is.

Life is filled with mediocrity, not just the real estate business. I’ve seen some very bad teachers, contractors, website designers, lawyers, and, after having my knee checked by three of them, doctors. People in all professions break promises left and right.

Sure, our profession gets low marks, 5% or so from what was said earlier. Again, it makes it that mush easier for the good ones to stand out.

I hear a lot from clients saying, “thanks for getting back to me so soon”, or “thanks for doing what you said you were going to do”. Things that seem like normal, like breathing, are not normal in the business world. I stopped wondering why a few years ago.

Like Jim Rohn says, the perplexed will always be perplexed.

Those real estate agents that have a clue will continue, and those that don’t, won’t.

I just don’t know that the public image of the RE industry is going to change anytime soon, too many moving parts and too many people involved.

Want to try to change the RE industry?

Change yourself first, then worry about your own company, then your board/association, then your county, your state, your nation, and by then, the industry will be changed. I got that from some quote to an unknown monk about changing the world, so please no remarks about plagiarism .

Our industry needs to understand that to be professional you need to play by the rules, all the rules, not just the ones that you want to follow.

For example in California the Department of Real Estate has passed a new regulation effective July 1, 2009 that all solicitation material have a real estate license on it. I am amazed at all the agents and major brokers that are simply ignoring this new regulation. Most are choosing to ignore all together.

http://www.sandiegolifestyle.info/2009/07/dre-license-number-on-all-solicitation-materials/

The whole industry seems to be spinning into a “wild, wild, west” mentality.

As he indicates, “I didn’t think you’d care” to “Sorry, I had no idea I couldn’t do that”, are things I too have been offered by agents in apology.

Can we blame stupidity on this? Yes. But its a different kind of stupid. It’s not the “uh, I didn’t know I couldn’t do that” kind of stupid. It’s the “I know exactly what I’m doing and I’m going to do it anyway and hope I get away with it” kind of stupid.

Agents know better. Every agent does. They are taught from day one not to take another listing agents listing and post it on their own site as if it were there’s.

A listing, a blog post, a soundtrack – it’s all the same thing. And everyone, including our second graders know that.

So what this really is about and why we can’t lighten up here and call the video cute and funny and creative is because it isn’t. Whatever cute and funny this video can all be attributed to what the makers borrowed from the original.

And whether you can connect with this consciously or subconsciously, these violations, this disregard for common courtesy is precisely the kind of stuff that lends the profession its dead last place in the trust polls. It makes the entire “ethic” thing NAR harps on about as trustworthy as Jeff Skilling claiming Eron did the work of angles.

This stuff affects everyone who wears that Realtor pin.

I am blown away by the casual nature some Realtors are taking in their defense of this video because in doing so, you are trespassing upon the very thing you swore to uphold – ethics.

If violating a copyright, albeit in a video or by stealing blog posts is ok then what you are saying is it’s ok to be unethical as long as what you do is cute and funny.