Glendon's Squandered Opportunity

Post is kinda long-winded. Just thought I'd warn you.

The first time I ever heard of Glendon Cameron was here on these boards in the behemoth of a thread in the newbie section. By the time I got to reading it there were already over 100 posts and I kept putting it off, but wondered what was so fascinating that it got that much attention.

So, I start reading the thread and it seems to be your typical debate about the pros and cons of Mr. Cameron's products and I figured I should check this stuff out on my own at some point and make up my own mind.

Then something interesting happened. Glendon Cameron joined the boards and jumped into the discussion. My first thought was, "Cool. We get to hear from the man himself." But when he came out of the gates calling everyone b****** and threatening to sue a half-dozen different people, I was completely turned off.

The rest of the thread was similarly filled with defensive posts by Mr. Cameron and by the end I was somewhat surprised by what had gone down. But, there hadn't been any posts in a while and I figured that was the end of that and whatever.

Lo and behold, today,  a challenge is issued. I'm sure most of you have read it. If you haven't it's in the General Auction Talk section.

 
Now in this challenge, Mr. Cameron is offering $5k to anyone who can build a bigger storage business and grow a larger youtube channel and write a book offering storage auction wisdom, but here's the kicker. You get six months to do what took him years.

Ok, fine, whatever. Seems silly, but I started wondering why is this man so insecure? Anyone who puts out a product has to be ready for criticism. When a movie director reads people on the net putting down a movie they made, no one threatens a law suit. When New Coke flopped, Coca-Cola didn't send out an open challenge offering a bounty for anyone who could create a better cola.

Mr. Cameron obviously has fans, so why focus on the critics? Why would he waste time trying to prove he's better than everyone else when he could focus on making himself better? What's next? Will we be asked to drop our pants and measure??

But the worst part is that he had the opportunity to join this community and actually prove his knowledge by sharing it with the group. I can only imagine the amount of goodwill that would've been built by his participating in our discussions, providing examples from his vast experience and helping all of us the way we all attempt to help eachother.

Let's be clear. I am new to auctions. I do not expect to be rich next week. I have been welcomed into this group and have learned a lot from it's members. I try to provide knowledge where I can based on my experiences that most often have nothing to do with auctions.

It's a good community. He should've joined us instead of only coming around to TP the place.

I think he could have made mad book sales if he would have just come on here and joined conversation here and there and let his knowledge of storage auctions show in the posts he made.

I agree Drew, it more than likely would of doubled or tripled his sales if he did come in and communicate with others. But then again he may already be tired. If you think about it, he blogs, runs a school (I think he still does) runs two websites, writes books, and video blogs on youtube. I dont think I personally could keep up with all that myself. I know I would try, but I also know I probable burn out and start letting a few things drop.

Although I still find it very wrong how he came on here and said the stuff he said, then disappeared. Oh well, not really my problem, and truthfully I dont care. I wish any man or woman luck in what ever they choose to do. For me its a vast amount of things. For GC, obviously an entrepreneur, Drew a good webmaster, TC a good webmaster and researcher, rules a good webmaster and writer, the list goes on.

Now in this challenge, Mr. Cameron is offering $5k to anyone who can build a bigger storage business and grow a larger youtube channel and write a book offering storage auction wisdom, but here's the kicker. You get six months to do what took him years.

Ok, fine, whatever. Seems silly, but I started wondering why is this man so insecure? Anyone who puts out a product has to be ready for criticism. When a movie director reads people on the net putting down a movie they made, no one threatens a law suit. When New Coke flopped, Coca-Cola didn't send out an open challenge offering a bounty for anyone who could create a better cola.

Mr. Cameron obviously has fans, so why focus on the critics? Why would he waste time trying to prove he's better than everyone else when he could focus on making himself better? What's next? Will we be asked to drop our pants and measure??

I was gonna stay out of this but...

These are my answers to your questions:

"wondering why is this man so insecure"....Glendon, IMHO, has a problem with criticism of any kind...Go and read some of the replies to his blog post...at the first hint of criticism, Glendon comes out with both barrels blazing....It's his way or the "Highway"

"no one threatens a law suit"..."so why focus on the critics"....He threatened to sue because he has no control over what is posted here or on the internet other than on his own site....that is why he "Previews" all post before they show up in the comments/replies section

It is a sad thing, I thought Mr. Cameron was a better man
 

That was a good post Matches and pretty much right on.  I've yet to read the book thread.  I had found his website about the time I found this one.  Spent 5 mins on his website, compared to checking and posting to this site as much as possible.  I'm one of those guys he is pissed about as I find storage auctions and such to be common sense.  What seperates the good, bad, and ugly is your experience, contacts, and work ethic.

Would I ever buy Gelndon's books - nope - specially after his comments and such here.  Would I buy a book from Drew - yep.  Drew has shown from what I can tell over the internet to be open and honest.  He takes the good and bad comments and has yet to remove them.  I don't pay for his Atlanta listings since I don't hunt those grounds but I have sent a few people the links to this board and his listing site that wanted to head to Atlanta.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. It was just bugging me, I was home alone with some time to kill and felt like venting. 

The one aspect of business that GC clearly doesn't understand is the concept of "goodwill." How the consumers, in general, feel, not about the products, but about the company behind the products.

Businesses spend a lot of time and money trying to foster goodwill.

Matches, you make a good point.  Like our mommas say, when you give respect you get respect.  Your life, and your business, are all a part of who you are and reflect each other in every decision you make.

I watched on video on youtube of GC. He began talking about how you have to hustle to get by.  This, to me, is completely wrong and tells me what type of person he is.

Picking isn't about 'hustling' someone out of their money or items.  Picking is about having fun, meeting new people, learning about new things, and becoming a better person through trial and error.  The people you meet are selling their items because they are in a time of need. Maybe they couldn't make a payment, found themselves in trouble with  the law, had a loved one die.  This isn't about stealing from the poor to make yourself rich...this is about helping other people, and maybe learning something about yourself in the process.

Just my belief I guess...

this is about helping other people, and maybe learning something about yourself in the process.

Just my belief I guess...

Now lets all hold hands and sing Kumbaya.
To me this is business, buy low, sell high. It's neither my concern nor my problem why a unit is being sold. My only real concerns are that it is being sold and how low I can acquire it for.

One thing I made lite of in the most recnt GC thread is this, as long as we are talking about him, people see his name, google him and view his website/videos.  He know's how to get the "crowd" going and does that. 

Alloro, sure when you are buying a unit you have no idea who owns it, but I guess I'm speaking from a different viewpoint, as I buy the majority of my goods by other means where I usually deal with people directly.

To me, whether you are buying and selling, you get what you give.  I give deals to people every day. In fact, I donate a lot of items each month. I feel blessed to be able to do the things I do and hope that by "paying it forward" I can sleep a little better at night knowing I helped someone out. 

I have seen businesses come and go in my area because they forget one very important fact. Business is about people.  When you determine how you are going to diversify your marketing mix, you will find People at the top of the five most important avenues for marketing.  In fact, I talk about how to network and the marketing mix quite a bit in my book, that's how important I feel it is to doing business successfully.

To me, whether you are buying and selling, you get what you give. 

I absolutely agree with you on this because now you're talking about customers. Earlier we were talking about where the product came from. These are two different subjects.