Warning: I’m not telling you to do any unethical or unlawful activity. Hear me out for at least a few seconds. If you see an opportunity where someone has already started something but hasn’t taken the right direction, please act upon it and deliver.
“Stealing” is merely innovation. You didn’t invent it, but you are innovating and stealing in a good way.
The best inventions are ones that become inovations.
The number one example I can think of is how Apple is know as innovators. Many people in the tech and developing industry know that Apple is very strict and somewhat harsh to inventors bringing their inventions into them. They are strict and harsh in the ways that they are very willing to turn down many requests or inventions that they’ve received. Why? Many inventions are just too outlandish or Apple doesn’t see their invention being right for this specific time in society.
So many bloggers say how they wish they would have done what others are now doing. Be that blogger that takes a risk and “steal”.
The True Importance
We need to be in the mindset of observe to steal and not follow.
I want to talk to you why it’s important to “steal” that idea or invention from the artist, inventor, or initial person who came up with it. When looking or reading successful blogs or places on the interwebs you begin to admire their work and go down “their” path. Why do we go down “their” path and why am I using quotation marks around “their”?
We go down the path of these successful people because we see them making money, gaining popularity, and/or we want to see the benefits sooner rather than later. When referring these successful people and “their” paths, it’s merely us following them. We retract their footsteps because we want them to lead us down the right or exact path as them.
Is this right? No. I’ll tell you what is right… It’s important to see how these successful people get to where they are and take advice or tips from them so we don’t make “stupid or dumb” mistakes.
These footsteps are for merely us having to learn not follow. It’s time to observe to steal from an artist.
We can always change our plan of action into becoming successful. We just need to adjust now rather than later.
Plan of Attack
On the Same Page
Remember as I’ve said before, “stealing” is merely noticing the potential of something and acting upon it before they or others do. This will involve risk, planning, and execution.
Discover the Opportunity
What happens you see an opportunity? I’m not talking about the opportunity of taking the advice from the followed footsteps and add your originality to it as basic as your own voice.
The true opportunity is when you see something not being done and truly feel there will be great benefits to a group of people. Sometimes this opportunity is not one you invented but one you discovered and feel it’s not being done correctly.
Put it in Your Name and Roll
Don’t be afraid to take credit for either coming up with something awesome or discovering something awesome and implement it in ways that you deem would be better.
When I discovered something that someone intially had but thought about it in a different way on how it would be implemented and adopted it felt strange to take credit. But, I knew if I would take credit I could roll with the idea and not be bogged down by the thought of whether to continue or not. The inventors might be frustrated if they discover what you have executed, but don’t have their frustration effect you and your idea.
Inventors are rarely innovators because they are focused on creating something new. They aren’t focused on it being adaptive or fitting with society at that moment or in that form. Be the innovator.
Review and Execute
Brainstorm, imagine, discover, observe, and execute.
Those five words pretty much highlight and sum up the items needed to be completed to steal and conquer and not follow in someone’s footsteps.
The key one though is executing. I’ve personally struggled with this. I’ve brainstormed, imagined, discovered, and observed so many times and during my time I’ve helped out so many. I’ve helped people with my ideas or innovative ideas instead of executing them in the a creation of mine.
Be an Innovator and a Leader
Once you execute you can begin to lead this thought of what I failed at doing in the beginning. Go out and lead the thought of not following people in their footsteps. Successful people want us to know of their footsteps and to not go down the same ones that they totally found as mistakes. We have every reason to go down their mistaken steps to prove them otherwise, but what is important is to not strictly follow them.
If you and I could be more innovative with our thoughts and passions we can not only lead others but we can feel a much larger amount of gratitude.
Innovate and lead instead of following footsteps striving to just break into the market and make some success with a lower amount of gratitude. Not to bring up debate, but think about the ways of Apple instead of Microsoft when referring to music. Sorry, I had to.
You will ultimately stand out and get noticed and make those inventors and other innovators jealous.
Photo by Kenny Louie.
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?love this!
one of the things i really like doing is truly experimenting (as you’ve noted)… there’s almost no risk involved!
Glad you love it, John!
I’ve made too many mistakes on not executing on my experiments. It’s because I was unsure whether to really pursue it or not. But, you truly won’t know unless you do execute.
John and Derek,
I agree with both of you about capitalising on experiments. The thing I find difficult is stepping back and trying to analyze if something was a success or not without getting carried away by enthusiasm that blinds me to failures.
As John said, I also loved this post after carefully reading it. Keep it up Derek J :]
Thanks Shaiq!
Its all about old wine in a new bottle. Nothing is stealing in this open source world – excepting that you don’t follow a simple cut copy and paste !!!
Nice post. I think you can see this in others as well, for example, in Classical music and fashion.
The trick is to put your own spin on things that BUILDS upon what’s went before.
Where most bloggers go wrong, for example, is that they repeat what’s gone before and simply add to the echo chamber.
Ivan, its so very true with bloggers adding to the echo chamber. This is why so many people believe blogging to be “dead”.
Using existing resources is one thing, but it is better to use existing resources and add your own input to it. This will turn a copy of a resource into a valuable post for your readers.
Exactly!
Hey, i like the way how you described “Stealing”, cool bro
Thanks man! I had to make sure I put that in quotes
At least you defined ‘stealing’ in a good sense. If you follow someone you are prone to commit mistakes often because it’s not your ideas or strategies you’re following but someones. It’s good that you’re encouraging your readers to become leaders.
I’m made the mistake of following and want the readers and just everyone not to do the same. Because the best of us find this out later down the road.
Hi Derek, I really appreciated to read your post. Keep it up bro!
Awesome Maximilien! Keep coming back!
To innovate or to die! Very good article. The truth is that it did not know your blog, but from now I am going to follow it
Sounds awesome! Welcome to Blogussion.
You make some good points in this article about playing off old ideas and then using them as a platform to be innovative and create something new. Although, you use the term stealing, I don’t think that’s what it is. It’s really just improving on an old idea, but that’s what 99% of all innovation. There’s very few completely original ideas. Most ideas are built off of older concepts, which is what you describe in this article.
But overall, I agree with your point. Be innovative!
Yes innovating is merely improving an old idea. I’m using the term “stealing” to tell people to take action on improving an old idea.
Hey Buddy… Nice post. I look forward for your future updates.
Look forward to to seeing you come back. A name would be nice.
Yeah, steal and modify it, that will makes no one realize what you’ve done.
Derek, the word “steal” and “conquer” can be misunderstood, but thankfully you placed them in the right content! The way I understand it, stealing from a successful entrepreneur is more like modelling or copying his methods of success and most importantly his way of thinking. I don’t see anything unethical in this. On the contrary, I feel that every aspiring entrepreneur should look up at people who have achieved what he wants to achieve, at the level and speed he wants to achieve it, and copy their methods of success. It is called congruency (or…stealing) In my opinion it is the only tried and tested way to become successful fast in any entrepreneurial field. Alex Papa
Alex, I know I made sure that people took those words the right way.
I too feel its the way to truly become successful, but there are so many people that think they can be successful by following in a successful person’s footsteps. That is not true.
Thanks for coming by!
i love your post and i agree with you with the apple part.apple is so strict to the degree it has an army of anti apple people although it is the most innovative company.
I love Apple!
Trying to not be so bias though.
Great idea,
Looking at someone else who had already proven an idea as being successful and then taking it, adding new features and using it in a new innovative way, is definitely great. But I usually find people that steal one’s idea and use it as their own without adding anything to it.
This is why I strongly believe in the “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else”
That is an interesting way to put it. You’ve got me thinking.
Well there is no need of create something revolutionary.
Sometimes you reach success just innovating what already exists…..like facebook
An inspirational article indeed. I think developing others’ ideas is the fastest route for progress!
Wow Blogussion has really been updated with some great content recently! I love the post Derek. Keep up the awesome topics, will certainly be coming back as an avid reader!
Awesome to hear! Will be talking about focusing on your competition next week
Hi Derek,
Steal, that’s a strong word if you ask me. You have some good points here and I won’t disagree, but if I may say my piece “stealing” by its own context has malicious intent behind it. Stealing by definition is not synonymous to copying.
However, “observe to copy…” sounds a bit lame and the title you created sounds more appalling so it fits
Hey Jeedo,
Stealing gets your attention and that is what’s needed. I just worked to make “stealing” not be unethical and if you look in some previous comments others found it not to be.
Yes mate, ‘stealing’ is a great way to get ahead in business. Classic example is Xerox and Microsoft back in the day. If someone has failed to develop a product or service to the fullest, it’s fair game to swoop in and dominate the market!
I just had to be sure I explained the context of “stealing”.
Hey, Derek. It’s interesting that you chose Apple to start out your post. They are a great example of what you said here:
“Inventors are rarely innovators because they are focused on creating something new. They aren’t focused on it being adaptive or fitting with society at that moment or in that form. Be the innovator.”
They “stole” the interface from Xerox that would become the basis for Apple’s operating system because Xerox couldn’t see the value in expanding what they had. Bill Gates sold IBM licenses for a product he didn’t make (or even own at the time) and “stole” it from IBM who couldn’t see the potential in operating systems. I could go on and on with historic “thefts” from people who invented stuff but couldn’t see the true potential in it.
Thanks for the eyebrow-raising post suggestion and delivering with great tips.
Hey Brad,
Noticing something that has more potential than what the creator’s belief is creates a chance you take. Taking risk is just half the battle.
I’m glad I raised your eyebrow!
“Stealing is merely innovation.”
I like how you’ve said this. On one point I agree with you since creating a way to steal something requires a great plan which should be stealth as much as possible.
Exactly!
It’s very interesting from seeing getting a lead in competition under “stealing” eye. Sometimes, I don’t think we are actually stealing people idea, you know. It’s because when you observe how people doing things and you try to innovate with something new and something more efficient, I think that idea is your own and no one can claim violate copyright or something. Great post!
Like I said we aren’t actually stealing but I say set out to “steal” in terms of execution. Thanks Mike!
I think we find that most of innovative ideas or products nowadays come from other people’s innovative ideas in the past
Sometimes it’s clear and sometimes it’s not
What makes it clear is when the time is right to be implemented or its talked about in the right ways.
Thanks for these tips…have been some of them on my blog with excellent results.
Hi Derek,
I wanted to be stand out, but it is so difficult to implement lol..
Especially when we live on Internet world, one publish an article, the other will copy, there is such no original thing, one copy each other..
It is already existing since long time ago, but the thing, is can we win this competition? Indeed, being original will win it..
Thanks
Sounds like a great plan to me Derek. Although, it’s not really stealing, when you’re just evaluating what your competitor is lacking and getting the initiative to take on those opportunities for your business to outrank them on other aspects, it’s just being smart and it’s still ethical.
Being unique and useful to your industry is a mandatory to really obtain trust from your brand’s followers, the real obstacle is on how you can employ these things, and as you’ve mentioned – observing is the best way to really get bigger things your way, and taking actions to put them into effect
To me, the path to greatness lies in originality but also in taking a great idea and making it even better. We all borrow a little bit from each other because just about everything has been done. I strive to learn from others and out my little twist on it, and although I have not reached greatness yet, I don’t stop trying.
Pretty good advice. I guess the challenge is to keep up with everything that’s happening.
I think that in a way when we are designing something we are always basing it on something that has been done before. If I get stuck for inspiration for a logo or a graphic design I will go and look at what other people have done. I don’t steal their ideas, but I do get inspiration from what they have done, on how I would do it differently – isn’t that what creativity is all about?
I love the idea here and how you define :stealing”. I think it could be very similar to one way “some” people use PLR. Take it (the original idea) but put your own spin on it. maybe you could say “I often hear…” 9whatever is in the PLR but then you say “I disagree, because…” and then give your own thoughts on it. Isn’t that about the same? You are “innovationg” on the original idea. That’s just 1 example.
I’m a firm believer in intellectual rights, and here’s what I think: If the blogger had failed to see what you saw and had failed to execute what you execute, then you are not stealing anything from him (or her). I realize that this “stealing” term may have just been used to attract discussion, which is all part of blog marketing. I just had to put this comment out for everyone who may have some negative affect for the idea simply because it was given a criminal-sounding name. Really, folks, you can’t steal from somebody an idea they never had in the first place, so go ahead and “steal”!
Nicely written post. Well planned actions usually lead to great success. Looking forward to read more from you soon.
Thanks Andrew! More is on the way
i love your post and i agree with you with the apple part.apple is so strict to the degree it has an army of anti apple people although it is the most innovative company.
We sell products from MaidNaturally here. If you want to buy any of the Melaleuca products you would have to visit http://www.sometimestech.com.
Great post, i agree there is a lot of people that does not like apple but apple really innovate all the time.
I like very much the picture at the header in this post about stealing something. wonderful and amazing photo according to the theme of the post. Thanks…….!
I love the photo too! Sometimes I actually come across awesome photos and write the post around the photo.
Wonderful underground technique to get an attractive niche or topic for a new post.
Great article, I’m sure innovation always leads to success. Try to avoid “Creative Destruction”.
As to me- stealing is bad
Anyway, your advice can be quite helpful
I’m still learning from you, while I’m improving myself. I definitely love reading everything that is written on your website about good blogging. Keep the tips coming. I liked them!
We also learn a lot of new and important techniques from this blog which help us to upgrade our blogs easily. Thanks.
I thought this was a fantastic blog, not only great writing but it has a great layout, great blogging tips and ideas, well done.
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