I got a question from one of our tribe members, Matt, a few days ago about his concerns over starting a blog.
Your workshop this past Friday left me feeling inspired to start blogging my ideas, but am concerned that my audience could potentially steal my ideas and beat me to market... Is this a real concern, or am I over-analyzing it?
The idea I'm most excited about making a reality is an app. I've done all the groundwork and am ready to start working on creating the app itself, but have no legal guidance. I assume my options are either to hire a lawyer or to censor myself in my blog, but I would greatly appreciate your thoughts (as a successful, experienced blogger).
-Matt
Like I was going to edit out the part where he compliments me :D
Have you stopped yourself from starting because someone could potentially steal your ideas?
Here’s the deal, YES you’re overanalyzing it. If you have an idea to blog and are scared that someone will steal your ideas, consider the following sequence of events that has to take place:
Like what you've read so far?
Use those big shiny share buttons and show your friends how smart you are
:D
They see your idea and like it.
They like it enough to want to steal it.
They have the energy, commitment, and resources to follow through on stealing it.
They take the time to piece together all of your information across dozens of blog posts to figure out how to steal it.
They follow through on stealing it.
That’s assuming a hell of a lot out of another person. Chances are, that person doesn’t exist.
Of course, it’s POSSIBLE someone steals your idea. It’s always POSSIBLE. But is that possibility going to stand in the way of you trying?
I once heard the entrepreneur Ramit Sethi say, “You should be so lucky that someone wants to steal your idea.”
I LOVE that quote. It’s true. Chances are, your idea isn’t worth stealing. At least not at the start anyway. It’s not until you give yourself a chance to flesh out what’s in your head will you come up with something that’s potentially steal-able.
But even then, here’s the big thing to understand about blogging:
A blog is about providing value to a certain group of people. You provide value through information that helps them.
You aren’t creating a blog to release lines of code you’ve created for an app, or share your wireframe sketches (no one would want to read that anyway).
Your blog exists to build influence and relationships. Focus on what your audience struggles with, and arm them with information that will helps understand or overcome those struggles.
You’ll build trust-based relationship with your audience, and if they use information you’ve put out before, they’ll most likely link back to you because of how helpful you were. <<And look, now I'm linking to him.
So embrace your dopeness, don't wait, and create!
Take care and be awesome today,
RajNATION
Written by Rajiv Nathan
