❤ Copycats & Idea Thieves

IMITATION IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF FLATTERY, OR IS IT? That fear holds many people back from starting something new, from a new business to a new product. But here’s what I think.

While the whole copycat syndrome is very natural and normal among small children as they begin to develop their own identities, what I find disturbing is how prevalent it is among adults. There is a shockingly large amount of grown women who must have never properly transitioned from the whole copycat phase as children and are still walking around imitating one another to this day. Yes, they do exist and you probably know a few of them personally. Having a copycat can be flattering and even somewhat amusing, at first. However, after awhile, it becomes outright annoying.

Do you have a “friend” in your industry who you share everything with, but you soon come to the realisation that you are the only one giving, and that they are “borrowing” all of your ideas, changing them slightly, and calling them their own? It can be frustrating, right?

Yes, it's true whatever thought process you went through to create your product offering or company is something they never experienced. You know why you used those words in that way in your marketing. You know why you choose to do things at a particular time and in a particular way. You know what is really behind every element of what you do. In fact you don’t even have to think about it, because it came from you.

The copy cats? They think what you created is gospel. They think you are providing the template to ‘how things should be’ in your industry. Suddenly, in their eyes, you have become the point by which what they do is defined.

Feeling sorry for them yet? You should be. Aside from not engaging their imagination, copying you (to such an extent that you notice!) ..and trust me I HAVE NOTICED! means that whatever they do is static. They may make changes but they will never get the heart of it.

Of the two of you, who is in the better position to tweak what you do and communicate with your market? Who is better placed to make changes as markets move? You are. Every time. The copy cats will give it a go but it will usually just stay lukewarm. Without your input they will never work out why it doesn't work for them. I say they suffer from an acute case of “not invented here” syndrome. 

View the opportunity to review what you do and how you present it as an opportunity – without copy cats poking at you, you might well end up stagnant through inertia (and that’s not good for anyone!).

I'm not just saying this, I've been there. I have my words, my ideas and my favourite product all lifted in various places. In fact look out for a spate of copy-cats coming my way soon. Using slight variations of my timeframe, my pricepoint, my structure and my description (might launch a spot-the-copy game soon!). :)

Funnily enough, it hasn't impacted on my business. It makes me sharper and continually focusing on communicating the essence of what I do, which is a good thing. In fact, I'm so confident that what I do stands on its own feet that I actually CREATED my own biggest competitor product under a different brand! I figured others were doing it so I’d do the same (with the advantage this time of it being created with all my inside knowledge).That is how much I believe that – so long as you are always on it, with a clear brave message, speaking the words that resonate so strongly in people’s heads that they think you are psychic – people will come to you.

I’m not naive about this, I know that there’s a chance things will change and real competition will emerge. But if things start going down will I blame the market, the economy or copy cats? No, I’ll blame myself for not communicating effectively enough. At that point, I will make changes. And that is something that the copy cats will always have trouble achieving.

This week I have been deep into the book “Turning Pro” by Steven Pressfield. I have lost myself in thoughts of what it really means to “go pro” and leave the “amateur” within behind – not only in my business but my personal life as well! I'm so into the concept of the book that I even purchased the audio version so that I could listen while I read! Am I crazy or what? haha. (Next I’ll be sleeping with it on repeat in hopes that I’ll acquire all the habits of a professional through osmosis ;)

I'm sure you've heard the saying that there are no “new” ideas. I’ll be the first to share that everything I know and teach, I've learned from someone else.  I'm constantly feeding my brain with new ideas from family, friends, books, blogs, audios, teachers and mentors. But I also work really hard to give credit where credit is due, and revamp old ideas with a fresh perspective. But there is a big difference between using someone’s ideas to get your creative juices flowing and flat out stealing someone else’s stuff.

“copy cat” syndrome WILL happen to you at some point (especially as you get more successful). So what do you do? You need to embrace business competition and understand that competition is inevitable, especially in lucrative, high demand business niches. Get ready to achieve your business success via differentiation and serve your market segment well. And what about the copycats? I remember my mom lecturing me about a copycat I once had, whom she’d nicknamed “Single Black Female.” In the process she said to me, “If someone wants to try to emulate you, you can’t really stop them, but you’d be a fool to sit around and pass them the playbook.” What she meant by that is you can’t control someone else’s actions, but you can control the access and insight that you grant them into your life.