I receive lots of emails, texts,
Facebook messages and phone calls from other auctioneers — almost every day. Maybe we all do?
Most of these questions from auctioneers start out something like, “I need your help … I’m not sure what to do and I value your opinion.” I suppose most of these inquires come from people who know me or otherwise folks who regularly read or just ran across my blog?
In regard to today’s topic, I don’t know if I really consider myself truly successful (how is it really measured?) but some apparently think I am. However, that’s only part of the story.
A few weeks ago, a valued friend of mine sent me this link: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/254282. He knew that I had received some news about some people … well … a few people who have become disappointed in me — who apparently don’t like me, what I write, that fact that I teach, my expert witness work …
The point of the article, if you don’t have time or interest to read or it, is that successful people sometimes have the most haters. While my situation is not a bunch of haters, but his intent was to reassure me having even a few aren’t that unusual and maybe counter-intuitively a “good” thing …
I started to write in November 2009 on this platform and received little feedback early on. To clear up an apparent misunderstanding, it was only with social media and my numerous teaching engagements around the country that more people found my blog and much to my surprise, I started to get contacted by attorneys in auction litigation.
In other words (as I told a good friend the other day:)
… I did not start a blog with the intent of becoming an auction expert witness but rather became an auction expert witness after about a year of blogging. In fact, the first attorney who called found out quickly I didn’t know how I could possibly help him, despite my ultimately doing so …
We wrote in 2018 about the false claim that I was “going after” auctioneers https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2018/08/06/helping-auctioneers-or-the-auction-industry/ rather than the truth that I have always endevord to help auctioneers and/or the auction industry.
This content is not something I insist you agree with — but rather so long as you respect my right to express it as I hope I respect your right to counter punch … most consider the discussion fairly healthy — especially over not expressing it at all.
It is probably material that the more I’m exposed to high-profile auction litigation, the more my writing has reflected those experiences. For example, we were recently retained in a $75.2 million dollar claim (our 33rd such auction case) where we were asked to evaluate “commercial reasonableness” in regard to an auction.
This year so far, we have spoken to attorneys all across the United States, and have again heard first-hand what they are thinking and what type of situations result in auction litigation. Our writing here reflects those cases to the extent it is permitted and practical.
As we’ve argued, being reasonable often results in the least litigation, and staying out of court is the correct objective (over even winning in court:) https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2018/07/26/auctioneers-you-want-win-in-court-or-stay-out-of-court/.
Our intent here isn’t to be hated … or is it? I’d like to think not, however, if you hate us trying to help fellow auctioneers around the United States, so be it.
Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, CAI, CAS, AARE has been an auctioneer and certified appraiser for over 30 years. His company’s auctions are located at: Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, RES Auction Services and Goodwill Columbus Car Auction. He serves as Distinguished Faculty at Hondros College, Executive Director of The Ohio Auction School, an Instructor at the National Auctioneers Association’s Designation Academy and America’s Auction Academy. He is faculty at the Certified Auctioneers Institute held at Indiana University and is approved by the The Supreme Court of Ohio for attorney education.
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