“Imitation is a kind of artless flattery”
English writer Eustace
Budgell in the newspaper The
Spectator No. 605, October 1714
Once again, we’ve been copied. It’s happened before and it’ll
happen again.
We’re always flattered and delighted that our clients love what we’re
doing and we’re also flattered that other companies in our industry find our ideas and writing so
wonderful they have to cut and paste without a second thought. But I often wonder
why they don’t come up with some original stuff of their own.
We’ve all used ideas from others over the years, after all
it’s the real world and there’s no copyright on ideas. But really, are these people
so desperate or uninspired that they can’t put their own grey cells to work and
shine on their own?
We’ve had our website images copied on other sites, text
lifted for social media profiles (yes, word for word), our training courses and our business model
replicated.
As I’ve said, it’s the real world and there are, I suppose,
only a finite number of ways in which you can set up a business. After 13 years
trading our particular way, someone was bound to copy the methodology at some
point, and probably this has happened already more than once.
One company actually had the chutzpah to email under the
guise of a student, asking for our fees and what would be included, in an effort to tease out how we go about things –
without thinking that we would see through this immediately. The student was working as their intern and named on their website! Most likely, if they'd come and asked me in an open and honest way, I'd have helped them with advice if they weren't aware how much they should be charging.
So, I say to those companies out there: You know who you are. And we know who you are. So get on
with running your own businesses, be successful in your own right, and look up
what ‘integrity’ and ‘professionalism’ mean.
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| Source: seanwes.com |
My own 30+ years’ knowledge, wisdom, experience and
intuition for what we do and who we do it for, plus those of my whole team - together
with proven results - are elements of a business which can’t be replicated.
“Imitation is a kind of artless flattery” said Eustace
Budgell. To paraphrase The Eurythmics, “Who are we to disagree?!”
There’s plenty of business out there for everyone, so stand
on your own two feet and be proud.
We certainly are.
