Your ideas are not safe.

They will be borrowed, twisted, contorted, and stolen. They will be used and abused until you don’t even recognize them yourself. When you put an idea into the world you can be confident that you’re not getting it back. It doesn’t belong to you any more.

Sometimes you’ll have an idea, only to discover that someone beat you to it. When that happens you have to be honest with yourself. You have to abandon your idea because it’s already been done. Congratulate yourself on thinking like another person but don’t hold onto the idea like it will be your last one ever. It’s not your idea. Move on.

Sometimes you’ll have an idea and put in hours to develop it. Then, someone else will come along and steal it. They shamelessly let you put in all the heavy lifting before stepping in at the last second to claim it as their own. Usually, they have really lame excuses for their behavior.

“It’s such an obvious idea. I’m surprised more people aren’t doing it.”

“I didn’t know it was a big deal.”

“I didn’t even know I was doing it.”

Those are direct quotes from people who I have heard discussing the theft of creative ideas. They come directly from message boards, chat rooms, and real life.

The problem, of course, is that an obvious idea takes a lot of hard work. Making something look simple is really fucking hard. When someone else steps in and strips you of your idea they are not only robbing you of your final product, they are cheating you of months of labor and thought. They’re being lazy and you end up getting the shaft.

I experience this all the time. My friends let me know when people are using my jokes or routines without my permission. People have stolen my ad copy word for word, copied my photos, and even tried to take my clients right out from under my nose. It’s the sad truth of the career I’ve chosen.

People want a short cut. They don’t want to spend hours to get where they want to be. They need an easier option or a magic word that will get them there. So they lift a paragraph from someone and borrow a photo from someone else and before you know it, they have a muddled mess, copied and pasted from other creative minds. I don’t know how these people can sleep at night.

I write all of this to say, that I don’t care if you steal my ideas. Sure, it’ll suck and I’ll be sure to tell you I’m not happy. (I’ll say it to your face, believe me.)  But, it’s going to keep happening. It doesn’t make it any easier but I’ve come to terms with it.

The more success you have, the more other people’s ideas start to look just like yours. Just be ready for it and keep creating. The only thing you can do is work your ass off to stay ahead.