I’ll offer no argument to impute the genius of Seth Godin. But I make it a point to steer clear of his blog. Why? Because it seems like everyone I know in blogopolis reads it. What’s worse, they take his comments as gospel. Seth could be right of everything he says. But when everyone follows lockstep, then everyone does pretty much the same thing.
My other problem with reading Seth is that he’s just one guy. No offense, to him, but there are a tremendous number of professionals, in and out of the real estate industry that come up with ideas every bit as good (and better implemented).
There’s no word of god when it comes to marketing on the net. That’s why this blog features as much advice from my peers, as it does from me.
Take this recent post from Seth’s blog for example. I don’t subscribe, but many of the RE bloggers I respect must. Greg Swann, Dustin Luther, Mariana Wagner, Jeff Brown, and Joel Burslem all mention the post. Jeff even went so far as to call the post an endorsement of what he was talking about months ago.
I think you’re wrong Jeff. I think it’s an illustration of how no one human can be counted on to be the last word on anything. I don’t need Seth’s endorsement (months later) to know you were correct at the time. Oh, and the idea to blog about high school sports? I came up with that idea about a year ago (see comments). Someone else could have easily come up with it before me.
Seth’s advice in that post is sooo 2007. It’s good advice, but I’d hate to be the one who’s just now getting it because they paid too much attention to one guru, and not enough to the professionals around them who were already making this work.
To me, “Being Remarkable” can’t happen if you spend the bulk of your time taking advice from others, or giving too much weight to one superstar’s ideas. For me, blogging has always been about taking what works for me off line, and figuring out ways to harness that success more effectively on the web. Sure, it’s great to listen to others, but look to yourself as well. Original ideas have only one origin.