1:14

maybe as soon as you get

1:16

the idea and you notice that you're being influenced or

1:18

inspired by someone in your industry,

1:22

stop consuming their stuff right there,

1:24

be like,

1:24

Like be like, okay, I love this idea.

1:26

Let me riff on it. Let me like put that on

1:28

a whiteboard and see where it goes. Uhhuh, because

1:31

it will go somewhere really cool. Yes. If you

1:33

do that, yes, it will go somewhere different

1:35

than what they did. Welcome

2:22

back to the Something Businessy podcast. This

2:24

is

2:24

Frannie. This is Nicole.

2:26

And we are coming at you with part

2:28

two of a little series that we

2:31

kind of went on a rant about. And

2:34

it's on the topic of copying. So

2:36

today we want to talk to you a little bit about how

2:39

to make sure that you're not being

2:41

said copier. Last week

2:44

we talked about

2:46

what

2:46

to do when you feel like you're being copied by someone.

2:49

Yeah, but what if you

2:51

are the culprits?

2:54

What if it's you?

2:56

What if the call

2:58

I'm the problem. It's me.

3:00

Oh, yeah.

3:01

There's so many songs about this. So

3:04

we're not gonna sing for you today. You're

3:07

very lucky that we're not

3:08

we're not singing We already did sing.

3:10

We're not gonna continue

3:11

taste.

3:12

But let's talk about how

3:15

to make sure that you're not infringing

3:19

on the copyright

3:20

Yeah. of someone else. Yeah.

3:22

And and what are the boundaries when it comes

3:24

to copying and like what's the difference

3:27

between being inspired by slash

3:30

You know, copying in a healthy way

3:33

or in an acceptable

3:35

way

3:35

versus Yes. There

3:37

Not being like being that guy and

3:39

like when it's not cool. When is it not cool?

3:41

Yeah. There is a healthy amount, there's a healthy

3:43

amount of inspiration that is allowed.

3:45

Yes, and there are some scenarios when

3:47

copying is actually the name of the game

3:49

Mm hmm.

3:50

cool, let's dive in

3:51

Yeah.

3:52

I'm imagining like some cool sound effects of like

3:54

a splashing into a pool

3:56

Courtney, add that in.

3:58

So Alright, where do

4:00

we want to start this conversation?

4:02

Um, well... I don't

4:04

know, Franny. Where do we want

4:06

to

4:07

okay. Uh,

4:08

I didn't know

4:09

You like how I tried to ping that to you and you just pinged it right

4:11

back to me?

4:12

I'm like, I am not accepting this.

4:16

Send back to sender. So,

4:19

we recently had a little viral moment on

4:21

the internet. If you didn't

4:23

see our Suburban Mom Starter Kit Reel,

4:27

you didn't know I was going to go there, did you? Um,

4:31

so we did this reel. There is a

4:33

sound where it's the Holderness family

4:35

and the, the husband does

4:38

all these, like, he does a lot of stuff like

4:40

this. And so, first, I

4:42

have like a couple things on this. About this reel

4:44

that relate to this topic. So the reel

4:46

is a sound where he makes a song that's like

4:48

suburban mom starter kit and it lists

4:50

off all these things.

4:51

And They're like basic mom

4:54

Outfit when

4:55

you're so basic that we all look the same.

4:57

Yeah. And it's

4:59

like a Stanley water bottle

5:02

and like your Lululemon, your

5:05

Lululemon crossbody. I think we might

5:07

have single handedly made

5:09

them discontinue those.

5:12

Hopefully.

5:12

kidding, they still have them. They have really

5:14

cute new like, uh, boucle ones now, so I kind

5:16

of want one. But anyway, so, like,

5:20

the reel is funny because, it's

5:22

funny and relatable. And the reason why it went

5:24

viral is because it's so

5:27

relatable, because so many

5:29

women

5:30

do it.

5:31

Or look like that, like dress like the,

5:33

in the outfits that we were wearing. They're wearing the, the athletic,

5:35

the athleisure, and then the,

5:38

The dad hat.

5:39

the hat and the, the sneakers that you

5:41

don't even run in, or you have the Amazon

5:44

dupe leggings. And like, everybody has like the

5:46

same. Outfit. We're all

5:48

you realize you realize

5:50

that you're one of them. or you see

5:52

them everywhere. And so it's

5:54

basically relatable for everyone because it's like, you're

5:56

like, either you're like, hell yeah,

5:58

I own it. I'm that, I'm just a Ruby mom,

6:01

or you're like, oh shit,

6:03

that's me. Or you're like,

6:05

I hate that.

6:07

Yeah. And do you know how

6:09

many people every day still, I'm still

6:11

getting notifications that people are sharing that

6:13

reel and the, and the text

6:15

always says, I feel attacked.

6:20

That's what they're saying about it because they're feeling

6:22

called out. Like they're one of us

6:24

and they're, but they don't want to be, they're like, Oh, this is

6:27

really, am I really that basic? And

6:29

they're feeling called out that they're

6:31

like being attacked and it's

6:34

making people see it. And then they're like, Oh, and the funniest

6:36

part is in the caption I wrote, uh,

6:39

white SUV, not

6:41

white ss u v

6:42

And the amount of comments are like, Oh man.

6:45

Even the white SUV. There's two

6:47

Frannie has two white SUVs. That's how

6:49

basic she is. Okay.

6:51

one of them is a, one of them is a crossover.

6:55

A u v

6:56

It's a, it's a small SUV

6:59

car.

7:00

I mean, we have white car, two white

7:02

really wanted the sage green, but they didn't have it.

7:05

Okay, anyway, yeah. White

7:08

cars are the best, okay, whatever. So,

7:11

so anyway, we are all

7:14

part of this like, funny joke

7:16

that We're like, okay, we know we're

7:18

basic, whatever. And then,

7:20

do you know how many comments

7:22

we got from angry trolls

7:24

that are like, and that's exactly why

7:27

I don't have a Stanley water bottle.

7:32

Do you want, Okay, sorry, really? quick. Still.

7:34

Okay, so we're so, we're so

7:36

freaking, basic that we just, Okay,

7:39

so we are a studio of all women.

7:41

And we just hired our first boy. Like,

7:44

our first, like, full time boy.

7:46

man. It's

7:48

He's

7:49

he's literally like almost 40 and we're like,

7:51

he's a boy. And

7:54

it's funny because we went to college with him, so he's

7:56

a good friend. Um, perfect, perfect

7:58

first male addition to the team. And,

8:00

um,

8:01

so excited about it. His girlfriend, we needed some

8:03

male energy in the room.

8:04

His girlfriend bought him a Stanley water bottle

8:07

so that he could fit

8:07

so we can fit in with us That's, that's

8:10

how, that's what an inside joke. It is. Like, she

8:12

did it as a joke. Like it's,

8:14

I don't know if she did. I think she was like, you

8:16

need one of these.

8:18

it's, but it's like, it's funny.

8:20

your first day of school.

8:23

You need one of these so you fit in with the other girls. Yeah. So,

8:27

so, so many people were like, and

8:29

Even one of these didn't fit in with the people were

8:31

like, and that's why I'll never, or, or my favorite thing too is like, okay,

8:34

there are legit thousands of comments

8:36

on this reel and half of them are people going,

8:39

Oh, tagging their friends, like, they're having

8:42

fun with it. They're like, oh, I'm

8:44

not even in suburbia and I look like that too.

8:46

Or like, we're all, you know, it's like fun and they're

8:48

like, they're cool. And then the other half of people

8:50

are like really triggered by it and they're really angry

8:52

at us. And they're like, did you know that

8:55

Lululemon pants

8:57

have mercury in them? you're

9:00

putting it in your crotch. You're

9:02

well, don't worry about it because I am wearing

9:04

a crossbody. And my leggings

9:06

are dupes. So they

9:09

are actually worse.

9:10

are somehow, or like, all these like, guys

9:12

that are like, and, and. You're

9:15

all medicated

9:17

and have all these kids you don't even want and

9:20

you're, like, seriously, people

9:22

Yeah,

9:22

up, I only have two kids that I don't want. I'm

9:25

just kidding. I love both of my kids, It's just

9:27

people project all of their weird crap on you. Anyway,

9:29

okay, the point of this is two things. First

9:32

of all, we completely

9:35

copied, verbatim, copied

9:38

a reel from the Holderness family. It

9:40

was like a viral, like a, uh, influencer.

9:42

Family. Yeah. They made that

9:44

sound knowing people were going to copy

9:46

it. Yes. Knowing people were going to jump on that

9:48

and use the sound for their own content, which

9:51

helps spread their content

9:53

and circles back to them. Mm-hmm. they

9:56

did that on purpose. They were inviting

9:58

people to copy them. Right. So

10:00

I, that's why I also think it's really funny when people

10:03

comment, give credit where credit

10:05

is due. This is the wilderness. Family's real.

10:08

Yeah.

10:08

like, yeah, oh, cool. Yes. Thank you, Holderness

10:10

family. Like, they

10:13

understand. They're not telling

10:15

me that. They're not, like, reaching out and being like, you copied

10:17

me. Right. Right, you're like, that's

10:19

the point of a viral reel, is that the sound,

10:21

you'll see that,

10:23

copied me. Yeah, we're, if you click on

10:25

the sound you'll see that like,

10:27

Thousands of people have copied that reel. Yes. There's

10:29

a million of us all doing exactly the same thing

10:32

with the stupid water bottle and the crossbody

10:34

thing and the Lululemons.

10:35

blue

10:36

Yes. So like, this is

10:38

an example of like, copying is

10:40

actually the etiquette. Copying

10:42

is the game and that is what you are supposed to

10:44

do. You are supposed to and TikToks

10:48

and sounds and that's how

10:50

trends become trends.

10:51

Right. And do you know what I love about this? this

10:54

is an example of a real trend.

10:57

and like real, R E E L, reals,

10:59

trend, And then it's also a,

11:02

an example of how we all are dressing the

11:04

same because we're all influenced

11:06

by the same world. Right.

11:08

So no one's original.

11:11

Yeah. And then even the people

11:13

who are like, Oh my gosh, like

11:15

be original. Find your own style.

11:18

Basic people are just basic because they can't

11:20

come up with their own style. Do you know how many

11:22

people said that they are all

11:24

not all original either, because they're all saying

11:26

the same thing.

11:28

You're like, well, you're the 20th person who said

11:30

that. Yeah,

11:32

I actually responded to one of them and I was like, wow, that's so

11:34

funny because everybody who's saying

11:36

that also has a private account with a cat

11:38

as their profile picture.

11:40

Oh! Ooh, burn.

11:44

Like,

11:44

but you can't, you can't argue with

11:46

trolls. Like they will just never stop.

11:49

Like I've got, I got in a couple of like fights with the

11:51

trolls like, this is fun. And then I was like, I don't have time for this.

11:53

Like just

11:54

let her go. Yeah,

11:55

go away. So, anyway, copying

11:58

in some cases is. It's okay,

12:00

not only okay, but it is expected and it is part

12:02

of the fun. Yeah. And,

12:04

and yeah. Um, on that note too, we

12:06

were talking about how some creators literally

12:09

like, it's like, Hey, copy my method, copy

12:11

my outfits, copy my recipes.

12:13

Like

12:14

Swipe my email, my email

12:17

Specifically creating content for people

12:19

to copy so they get the shortcuts so they don't

12:21

have to go through all the time to do

12:23

stuff because, Hey, I'm the expert on

12:25

XYZ. You don't have to

12:27

go through all this heartache of trying to figure things out yourself. Just

12:30

copy me. It's fine. Here you go. I'm

12:32

giving it to you. Totally cool.

12:34

That's awesome. Copy away.

12:37

Um, I mean, there's also all these things too that are like,

12:39

hey, I'll find all the real trends. You can just follow

12:41

me and I'll, I'll share them with you and you can just copy

12:43

them. And

12:44

I'll show you the step by step on how to do

12:45

you the template, whatever.

12:48

So, all of that, super healthy,

12:50

expected, awesome, gold star.

12:53

Yes. We love it.

12:55

When is it becoming, um,

12:57

a little awkward and not cool, Nicole?

13:01

If you are following, um, accounts

13:04

that are exactly, especially in

13:06

the same market, same industry,

13:09

you're selling, literally selling to the same,

13:11

you know, net, of network of people,

13:15

Are you making that Why

13:17

are you making that face?

13:18

Because I don't know if this is recording anymore.

13:20

Uh

13:21

Uh oh.

13:21

Oh yes it is, we're good.

13:23

Okay. She made a face that looked like

13:25

a, like a sad jack o lantern, and I was like,

13:27

why? It's

13:28

face look like a, like is just

13:30

like not showing in my doc. Oh. Like, it looks like

13:32

it's not open. Okay. But it is. Excuse

13:35

me, I'm sorry.

13:36

It's okay. if

13:37

Start over on that thought and we'll cut that out.

13:41

we leave it.

13:42

Or we leave it.

13:43

Okay. So, if you are,

13:46

if you're following your actual competition.

13:48

So, if we're calling them competition, meaning

13:51

same industry. Same people

13:53

that you're selling to same location And

13:56

you're like literally doing

13:59

the same things that they're doing You

14:01

might be a copier

14:05

Yeah,

14:06

um, you know if if you

14:08

haven't listened to our previous episode go back and listen

14:10

to it because we have a lot of really specific

14:13

uh, instances of this but

14:16

you, If you, are actually,

14:18

like, watching people and

14:20

doing the same things that they're doing, beyond just

14:22

like, what is an expected service for your industry,

14:25

um, you, you might

14:27

be a little too influenced by the people

14:30

that are around you. Um, you,

14:32

what you definitely don't want to be doing is

14:34

making, even using,

14:36

like, the same real sounds that direct,

14:39

you know, like, your direct neighbor of,

14:41

Your business are doing, using Maybe

14:44

just like steer away. Like there's like, there's

14:46

so much good stuff out there on the internet

14:49

that you just I wouldn't even want to be

14:51

like

14:52

ex

14:53

like suspected. of,

14:55

of recreating something that's

14:58

like, okay, if there's like a viral sound

15:00

and everybody's using it. Right. That's one thing. And

15:02

I think if you, if you see.

15:05

Um, somebody in your industry and in your niche using

15:07

a sound and you're like, Oh, that's perfect. Like

15:10

right now there's some specific ones

15:12

about photographers, right? That

15:14

would be totally normal for me to jump on and use.

15:17

What I see people doing sometimes when

15:19

it starts to get like become like an ick

15:22

is when you notice

15:24

that they're copying like everything

15:27

from the same creator. Like all

15:29

of the same sounds from the same creator and the

15:31

same like style of reels

15:33

or the same. Um, copy

15:36

in their captions

15:37

Mm hmm. or like,

15:38

whatever, it's one thing here

15:40

and there is fine. But if it starts to become

15:42

like you're taking all of your inspiration from the same source,

15:45

that's when you're probably doing something that's like,

15:48

eh. yeah, not cool. Yeah.

15:50

And I mean, in that example, even

15:52

people who are outside of your industry.

15:54

So if you are doing the same thing, if

15:56

you're a real estate agent and you're following a real estate

15:58

agent, that's like. totally crushing

16:00

it in San Francisco, and they're like

16:02

killing it, and making content, and then

16:05

all of a sudden you start making all the same content as them. Even

16:07

though you're not selling the same houses, it

16:10

is gonna feel yucky.

16:12

And one of these days somebody's going to catch on and find

16:14

you. You're going to get outed.

16:16

Yeah, yeah. So, uh,

16:18

what are some good ways to maybe,

16:20

uh, identify that? you are doing that? And,

16:24

um, make a different choice.

16:26

Okay. So, here's what I,

16:28

here's my thing. Sometimes I will

16:30

be, you know, like listening to a podcast, like,

16:32

let's say I'm listening to a podcast from another

16:36

brand strategist

16:38

or somebody like in our industry, and I

16:40

want to like learn more about, I just want to, want

16:43

to immerse myself in it and listening to their podcast. And

16:45

of course, a little part of our brains is

16:47

like.

16:48

Ooh,

16:49

I love their business model. I love

16:51

what they're doing. I want to be like them. And you're

16:53

inspired to be like them. And that's awesome.

16:55

They're inspiring you. We have photographers

16:58

tell us all the time like, I would

17:00

love to have a studio like yours someday in my,

17:02

in my area or whatever. And it's like, First

17:05

of all, I love that. Just come out

17:07

and tell the person that you are inspired by

17:09

them and that you would love to

17:11

do something like what they're doing someday.

17:13

Mm hmm.

17:14

Like, that's actually an invitation to say

17:16

like, hey, if you ever see me like doing what you're doing,

17:18

it's because I'm super inspired by you.

17:20

Mm hmm.

17:20

And I'm not just going to rip off everything, but

17:23

I am inspired by something you're doing. And so I think like,

17:26

that's first of all, just like owning

17:28

up to it is really cool. But,

17:30

when I see myself feeling like

17:32

I, somebody else is further along in

17:35

the game than I am, and I want

17:37

to get there and I want to be where they are, your first

17:39

urge is to go, okay, let me just reverse

17:41

engineer what they're doing and copy it.

17:43

Mm hmm.

17:44

And you're like, I could do that. I

17:46

see what they're doing. I'm going to like funnel hack

17:48

this or whatever and just like reverse it

17:50

and try to hack exactly their same process.

17:53

And a lot of people do that and they find success

17:55

in totally hacking somebody's business.

17:58

And it's weird

18:00

when other people start noticing it though. And it always

18:02

has this like weird energy behind it and it kind of feels

18:04

gross. And you're like, just. Always

18:07

a step behind the other person, though.

18:09

Mm hmm.

18:10

So, what I like to do is, is be like,

18:12

Okay, I really want to be where they are.

18:14

I like what they're doing. I'm inspired by them.

18:17

Let me take this idea that they're doing, Like,

18:19

maybe they're doing a specific

18:21

offer, Or a specific, certain funnel, Or like

18:23

a course, Or a, a 30 Days

18:25

Reels Challenge. Like, how many people have 30 Day Reels

18:28

Challenges? Lots of people have those. So,

18:31

let me just take the, the big

18:33

umbrella idea, Like, what is it? Okay, let's

18:35

say it's a 30 Days Reels Challenge. I want to

18:37

do something like that. I'm not going to just go to their

18:39

sales page, copy it

18:41

word for word or like section by section and

18:43

change a few things and like do

18:46

the same exact format. We're going to have calls

18:49

every week on this day and we're going to send out these

18:51

things in these emails and like make it exactly

18:53

like their program. That's copying.

18:56

That's not cool. That's like, kind

18:59

of like

18:59

like,

19:00

You're gonna get noticed and probably,

19:03

like, it's just weird. So instead,

19:05

take the biggest, like, overall

19:08

overarching idea, like, 30 Days Reel Challenge.

19:10

Yeah, sure. Everyone does that. You

19:12

I'm gonna write that on the top of a whiteboard,

19:14

Mm hmm.

19:14

and then I'm gonna call you, or our team, or somebody

19:17

else to, like, be another brain

19:18

We should totally do that, Franny.

19:20

And, oh, I have a million ideas about doing a Reels

19:22

Challenge. I want to do a Reels challenge, but

19:24

it wouldn't be, it would, I would start

19:26

with that as the idea, and then I'd start

19:28

going, Okay, how would we make this,

19:31

like this is what we did for our Reels court, workshop.

19:33

Yeah, we just did a Reels workshop.

19:35

We're not the first person to do a Reels

19:36

No, and tons of people are way better at Reels than

19:38

us. But we know enough to

19:41

help our clients in a big way,

19:44

and we are Familiar

19:46

enough with the app, with all of the things, we get the

19:48

trends, we get the, we get it enough to teach

19:50

our clients how to use it for their businesses. And

19:53

people were having like mind blowing moments the whole time.

19:55

Right. And I've seen other Reels workshops.

19:58

I know how other people are doing them. And,

20:02

I didn't, we didn't copy anybody's

20:04

like framework or, or

20:06

like modules or anything like that. Because

20:08

we started with, okay. What

20:11

do we want to talk about? How, what do we need to teach?

20:13

And we just started throwing things on a whiteboard and

20:15

it turned into this huge mess that then we had to like

20:18

categorize things and chunk them into buckets and move

20:20

them here. Like, what makes sense? Should we teach this

20:22

first or that first? So if I was going

20:24

to do a real challenge, I would do the same thing and be like.

20:26

Okay,

20:27

What would be the most fun way for us to execute

20:29

on this? Like, do we want a Facebook group?

20:31

Do we want a Slack channel? Do we want a Instagram

20:33

DM group? Like, how

20:36

are we going to make this our own thing that fits

20:38

into our workflows with our team members

20:40

and how are we going to teach it? Like, take

20:43

the big idea and break it down into like, how

20:45

are you going to deliver it?

20:46

Take the big idea And and on our strengths and our voice

20:49

and the thing about us teaching it, we

20:51

taught ours in person. And I feel like that is

20:53

also a big difference with us too, is

20:55

because We are actually speaking

20:57

to our audience that follows us for a

21:00

reason. There are a lot of clients that we've worked with one

21:02

on one, and so we know how to speak to that specifically,

21:04

that specific audience. And

21:06

our content is going to resonate best with them,

21:08

because they've already decided that they like learning

21:11

from us. Right.

21:13

Yeah. And so, we're not threatened by

21:15

other people doing Reels courses. Right. Or anything

21:17

like that. In fact, lots of our friends do them. Yeah.

21:19

It's like, and our, like, local friends. Uh

21:21

huh. We're not like, oh my gosh.

21:23

Did you hear?

21:24

They are doing a Reels course.

21:25

What I invented Reels.

21:30

So anyway, I just think that really taking,

21:32

like maybe as

21:34

soon as you get the idea and you notice that you're being

21:36

influenced or inspired by someone in

21:38

your industry, stop

21:41

consuming their stuff right there,

21:42

be like,

21:42

Like be like, okay, I love this idea.

21:45

Let me riff on it. Let me like put that on

21:47

a whiteboard and see where it goes. Uhhuh, because

21:49

it will go somewhere really cool. Yes. If you

21:51

do that, yes, it will go somewhere different

21:53

than what they did. Mm-hmm. Unless

21:56

you go down the rabbit hole of

21:59

trying to hack their thing.

22:00

Right.

22:01

And, and then you're going to just, you're just going to end up

22:03

being a carbon copy. It's going to be a little bit fainter,

22:06

you know, carbon paper, carbon copy paper, where

22:08

there's like the, the white sheet and then the

22:10

pink sheet and then the yellow sheet or whatever order

22:12

it

22:13

goes Do I ever, Franny?

22:14

Yeah,

22:15

We used to own a paper store.

22:16

You know that there's canary yellow. And

22:18

then what was the pink called?

22:19

Um, shoot. I don't remember.

22:22

yellow and I can't remember either, but

22:25

it's like, she's going to look it up. Anyway,

22:28

when you write on that top sheet, the

22:31

ink is really clear. It's very

22:33

legible. It's the original

22:36

piece of paper that the ink pigment is laying

22:38

on. The person who originally came up

22:40

with the idea is that top sheet white paper.

22:43

The next layer below the

22:45

impression goes through and you can still read it

22:47

and it's, but it's still like a little

22:49

bit more faint and not, not

22:52

quite as crisp and not quite as bright and not

22:54

as, as legible as the first

22:56

one. And that bottom sheet, like why is

22:58

it even there?

23:00

Yeah, it's like the faintest

23:02

Crappiest. Yeah.

23:04

Like, don't give me that crap. I

23:06

like, I, I, that's something I'm going to buy

23:09

that and I'm going to ask for a refund

23:11

Yeah, no

23:12

because it's not what I expected. It's not what was sold

23:14

to me and it's not coming from

23:16

the right place. So just be top

23:18

sheet, white paper,

23:20

Yes.

23:22

take the inspiration, riff on it, go another

23:24

direction, follow the rabbit

23:26

hole, like follow the rabbit down the hole in

23:28

your own, like

23:30

from your own brain.

23:32

You have

23:33

You have the answers. I

23:35

You can read it.

23:36

can't find it. No. Canary yellow.

23:38

I know. I don't know. I'm

23:40

waiting for it to just come to me. I

23:42

don't know. It's not, no.

23:45

It's just this light pink. I'm searching for

23:48

in my head. It's just this pink. Oh,

23:54

maybe it's just pink.

23:55

Yeah.

23:56

Okay.

23:56

Um, yeah,

23:57

life coming through.

23:58

I know, seriously.

23:59

used to have all the Astrobrites memorized.

24:01

Yeah, we had, uh, in a past life, we

24:03

had a paper store that was like, legit, like, Dunder

24:05

Mifflin, like, reams of paper on shelves.

24:08

And, yeah.

24:09

sold it by the pound.

24:10

And we sold carbon paper.

24:12

We did sell carbon paper. Yeah. Yeah.

24:14

Um, so, yeah, definitely.

24:16

And, also, if you

24:19

need ideas, and you're just like, Okay,

24:21

I have an idea for a Reels course. And you're just

24:23

like, okay, I know the way that I like to

24:25

consume reels, I know the way that I learned reels,

24:28

And maybe sometimes you do need to do a little

24:30

research of like how other people like to learn. Go

24:33

see what other people are doing. If you're really inspired

24:35

by maybe one creator, then go see what

24:37

like five other creators are doing. And

24:40

just kind of like, you know, like,

24:42

okay, I'll, I'll take a little sample of this,

24:45

and a little sample of this, and a little sample of that, and then

24:47

how do I make it for my people

24:49

in my voice with my brand?

24:51

Yeah, it's okay to have like, kind

24:53

of a jumping off point, um,

24:56

too. It's just not, we just don't want to like,

24:58

I just, I hate the, the reverse hacking

25:00

thing.

25:01

to like, I mean there's a difference between research

25:03

and like, literally. Funnel

25:06

hacking. right. Yeah.

25:08

Um, okay, I, we're gonna, I mean this is

25:10

definitely like, you can have your own opinion on this of course,

25:13

and like, there's a lot of people who really,

25:16

You know, that's their tried and true way of doing things,

25:18

and that's just not, that's just for us

25:20

if it doesn't, like, feel good, and if it doesn't feel

25:23

aligned, like, we're not gonna go down that route.

25:25

I think that there's just, there's a difference between re,

25:29

like, reverse engineering a function

25:31

versus reverse engineering, like,

25:34

a proprietary idea

25:36

brand. Like, like a brand,

25:38

like something specifically from

25:41

someone else's voice. You know?

25:43

Right.

25:44

And so there there is a way

25:46

of getting ideas and then changing

25:49

them a little bit. Freddie and I were trying to, we're

25:51

trying to think of the, where

25:54

we got this. So we both went to art

25:56

school and there was, there is, oh

25:58

you ended up looking it up. There is

26:00

like a certain amount of

26:02

legal appropriation, legal appropriation

26:04

appropriation of changing

26:07

art. To basically

26:09

reappropriate it for your

26:11

own. art. And then I Googled

26:13

it, and then it's like, the first thing that pops up

26:15

is from a lawyer There's like, There is no 30 percent

26:19

Right, because the rule was like, if you change something

26:21

30 percent or more, that

26:23

now it's your own new artwork.

26:25

Right. And so, like, the example

26:28

that the Googs, you know, gave

26:30

back to us was, like, Andy Warhol.

26:33

He used, like, the Campbell Soup labels.

26:36

In his art. And Campbell's Soup

26:38

owns a copyright to that design, but

26:40

he changed it enough and changed the colors

26:43

and changed the da da da to be able to use it

26:45

in his own art. And we see that around

26:48

all over the place. But like, when

26:52

you're doing it for commercial purposes and

26:54

for a way that you're going to actually be making money

26:57

for your business, you're putting yourself at the

26:59

risk of actually being, having legal action

27:01

taken against you.

27:02

Mm hmm.

27:02

So, let's not do that.

27:04

Yeah. Like,

27:05

Let's not end up in court. Or

27:09

having any kind of like public slandering

27:12

happening. Or people noticing

27:14

it and calling us out publicly and all that stuff.

27:16

Like, ew. It's just heavy and gross

27:18

and like not fun.

27:19

Ew, lawsuits? Ew. No. So

27:22

if you realize that you're copying somebody, because

27:25

so much of this can be subconscious,

27:28

If you're consciously copying someone, just stop.

27:32

Stop doing it. Like it's, it's

27:34

yucky. It's, good. someone's going to notice. It,

27:37

it will not work out for you. Try to get your

27:39

own ideas. Um, try to find

27:41

a healthy amount of inspiration and

27:44

just, honestly, just

27:46

stop and try to figure out what

27:48

your why is.

27:49

drop, and

27:50

Stop, drop, and roll.

27:51

Stop it, drop it, and then

27:53

roll on.

27:54

So most of the time, what Franny and I figured out

27:56

when we were having a conversation about this is most

27:58

of the time this is a brand issue. This is,

28:01

you are unsure

28:03

of where you stand as

28:05

a brand, as a business, and who you're serving.

28:08

And so when you're, you're kind of up

28:10

in the air, and you're not really sure what

28:12

the answers to those questions are, it's

28:15

gonna be a lot easier to adopt different

28:17

personas.

28:18

Yeah, you're just, you're, you

28:20

don't know who you are as a brand, or where you stand,

28:22

or like what,

28:23

The reason you exist. And

28:25

so, Um, So if you're really

28:28

in that, in that kind of like, oh

28:30

crap, I like, keep, I don't have any original

28:32

ideas, I mean it's honestly this like, almost

28:35

like an imposter syndrome. And at that point

28:37

you kind of are being an imposter. like, You

28:40

know, if you really feel like you have no original

28:42

ideas and you just have to leech on

28:44

to other people's ideas to even...

28:47

create content at all or to do anything

28:49

at all, then this is a deeper issue.

28:52

This is a branding issue. And

28:54

we really recommend doing that deep brand

28:56

work, figure out, first of all,

28:58

the reason that you exist in the first place. Why

29:01

do you want to do what you do? Why do you

29:03

do it better than anyone else? why

29:06

you the go to? Why are you the brony for

29:08

everybody? For the, for the specific

29:10

people that you serve. And I think, um,

29:13

well, I just keep like starting thoughts and then they

29:15

just disappear. They just like leap out of the brain.

29:17

They just appear. They just appear.

29:20

They just disappear. I'm just getting too excited

29:22

and heated on this topic. Um, before you

29:24

went on on that, I just wanted to throw in like, what I

29:26

think you're talking about now is when we're

29:28

like, grasping on to a

29:30

lot of different... People's things and we're

29:32

not, maybe not necessarily like finding one person

29:35

and copying their whole business. Mm-hmm. we're not like being

29:37

like the copier mm-hmm. but we're just

29:39

being so unoriginal and grasping onto like

29:42

trending things or like cool

29:44

templates or mm-hmm. some Canva

29:46

template thing or a creative market

29:49

brand. Mm-hmm. Or going on Pinterest

29:51

and finding like a new brand colors thing

29:53

or a new logo and like our brand

29:55

just starts to look like a hot mess of a

29:58

whole bunch of things that are cool and trendy. Mm-hmm.

29:59

and

30:00

And nobody's going to ever recognize it,

30:02

it's not going to be memorable, it's not going to build trust

30:04

with people because it's just

30:06

this, like, discombobulation of

30:09

trends and copying. But,

30:13

not necessarily copying, like, one specific brand.

30:16

Yeah. Or it could be. I mean, it's just,

30:18

it's really, it's the void of original

30:20

ideas. When you're in that void

30:23

of original ideas, and

30:24

Trends, and copying like one specific brand. Which is easy

30:26

to do, because you

30:28

like

30:29

Which is easy to

30:30

of

30:30

Because you like a lot of

30:32

an entrepreneur, you're

30:33

if you're an entrepreneur. You're probably a little ADHD.

30:36

You probably like a lot of stuff.

30:38

You like a lot of stuff, and honestly, when

30:40

you're just trying to find the easy button of what works.

30:42

And you're just, you know, like, I'm just

30:45

like imagining these, we work with a lot of small

30:47

businesses, and a lot of the times when

30:49

you're getting started, and you're just kind of floundering,

30:51

and you're just like trying to, fit like, stick stick

30:53

it to the wall? We need to Stick the baloney to the wall?

30:56

I've never heard the bologna though. Okay, I like

30:58

Is it. a noodle? Stick a noodle to the wall?

31:00

Stick the wall and see

31:01

Spaghetti in the wall or baloney, whatever.

31:05

Don't copy that. I'll know.

31:07

sayings. It's the

31:08

will know. We are the best at that. Don't

31:10

steal baloney at the wall or I'm gonna know.

31:12

steal bologna at the wall?

31:13

Yeah, don't steal my, my... That

31:16

is my original thoughts.

31:18

Trademarked, copyrighted, stamp on.

31:21

Trademarked, copyrighted...

31:21

it in the baloney.

31:22

Signed, sealed, delivered.

31:25

So, yeah.

31:27

Yeah. so

31:31

Sorry.

31:33

So if you have no original, I

31:35

mean you, it's not that you don't even have original

31:37

ideas, it's just you're trying to figure out what works. Because

31:39

you're like, you're trying out business.

31:42

Well, it's like what we were saying at the beginning of this, everybody's

31:44

selling the template or the swipe file or the thing

31:46

that they're allowing you to copy. And if you're

31:48

just grasping onto a bunch of those things, it's watering

31:50

down your brand and you don't have a true

31:52

like brand voice and visual aesthetic to

31:54

stand on, which is where

31:57

a handy dandy brand guide might come in and come

31:59

into play.

32:00

Yeah,

32:01

It really is such a lifesaver. It's such a game

32:03

changer.

32:04

a brand guide. So this, this

32:06

is something you can go back and listen to our

32:08

episode about. about what you need in

32:10

your brand guide. And, um, we give

32:12

a lot of helpful hips, helpful hips?

32:15

we need to stop.

32:16

crap. What is wrong with us? Um,

32:19

so I give a lot

32:20

pick a profession that doesn't require,

32:22

Required speaking to people

32:25

It's got lots of helpful helpful tips of

32:28

what you need to have in your brand. guide What

32:30

all of that deep work that you need to figure out So that

32:32

way you are creating very intentional

32:34

contents And you're speaking

32:37

to someone that you can actually make a difference with. Okay,

32:40

so, in our previous, air previous

32:42

episode, we talked about what

32:44

if you are the recipient of

32:47

the angry email? Ooh!

32:50

I know, I didn't, we didn't plan that.

32:52

okay, so I get an email from someone that's

32:54

like, hey... Snatch

32:58

You're copying everything like they didn't they

33:00

didn't give it the 24 hours They

33:02

just sent

33:03

I know, I'm like yeah.

33:05

they are like mad Raging mad

33:07

and now they all of their like people

33:10

are coming after you. They're posting it on their

33:11

story.

33:12

They're like this person's cop and for Santa's

33:15

copying everything I'm

33:16

mean, that's

33:17

I mean, that's what you're risking actually is somebody unhinged

33:20

being the one that you're copying or

33:22

who thinks you're copying them.

33:23

you have to hope that they listened to our previous episode

33:25

and took 24 hours.

33:28

didn't, but you get this email. Yeah. And

33:30

you're like, Oh my gosh.

33:32

I'm found out.

33:35

What do you do?

33:36

know. That's let's just not

33:38

be that person.

33:39

Okay. Yes. Okay. Don't be that person. But

33:41

if you are that person, how are we going to help them out, for any, Um,

33:45

if you literally are, if you're like you're

33:47

found out, you're like caught red handed. You're

33:50

like, oh shit, I, this is not subconscious,

33:52

this is like, I legit have been copying you.

33:55

Um,

33:55

for that person, just like, don't be that person.

33:57

Okay, don't be that person, but

33:58

for that person? Yeah. Own up to it? Yes.

34:01

Apologize. Literally

34:03

apologize, own up to it, and just say like,

34:06

I mean, it's kind of what Frannie was saying before, like,

34:08

if you are, tell the truth. Are

34:10

you just like really inspired by that person?

34:13

Maybe they're quite a few steps ahead of

34:15

you, and you want to be just

34:17

like them?

34:18

Mm hmm.

34:18

Just say it. Just say like, you

34:20

know what? Like, I'm super sorry.

34:23

I am really sorry. I really look up to you, and

34:25

I didn't mean to, you know,

34:27

blatantly rip you off. I just want

34:30

to be like you. Tell the truth.

34:32

Come be a person. Show

34:34

some emotion, and then take

34:37

down the things that you copied. Like,

34:40

Just, you know, if it, if you blatantly

34:42

ripped them off, just take it down and

34:45

apologize and hopefully,

34:47

I mean, if they're, if they're, if they

34:50

are writing you an email, they're giving you a chance

34:52

to... respond.

34:54

not posting it all over their Instagram yet, at

34:56

They're And they're, and they're probably not seeking

34:58

legal action or, more than

35:00

likely, it's probably like a content

35:02

thing. And in which case, apologize, take

35:05

it down, and hopefully

35:07

make amends. Yeah.

35:08

Yeah.

35:10

I don't know. I mean, nobody wants those yucky

35:12

feelings, so don't be that person, but I

35:14

don't think any yucky feelings are worth, like,

35:17

Like feeling that way. So

35:19

chances are, which we also addressed in the last

35:21

episode is that maybe you

35:23

didn't intentionally like completely rip someone

35:25

off, but you are just being highly influenced

35:27

by them. And if that's the case, our recommendation

35:30

for that is to try to look outside

35:32

your own industry for inspiration, like

35:34

for ideas, for reels, for ideas,

35:37

for copy on your website or whatever,

35:39

whatever thing it is, or even design. Like

35:42

sometimes when we're doing brand design for people.

35:44

Of course, we're going to go to Pinterest and look for inspiration

35:47

and I like, I

35:49

love to look to like food

35:52

brands like packaging and like other

35:54

things or go to, I like to go to Barnes

35:56

and Noble and just like look through like art books or

35:59

fashion books or something like that because

36:01

you can be inspired by something

36:03

and And take, like,

36:06

something from that, you don't know what it's going to spark

36:08

for you and bring it into a completely

36:10

different industry. And nobody's going to accuse

36:12

you of ripping someone off if it's a completely

36:14

different, you know, area that you're

36:16

being inspired by. Well, I

36:18

The we were doing weddings and it was

36:20

really tough to pose the bridal party. And

36:23

we would always, like, look in, like, Vanity

36:25

Fair and Harper's Harper Bazaar and, like,

36:27

try to, like, look to, like, more of a high

36:29

fashion editorial way of arranging

36:32

bodies. Because you're like, oh my

36:34

gosh, I'm just, I'm going to be too influenced

36:36

by everything I'm seeing on Pinterest. And, you know,

36:38

like, I am tired of the all,

36:41

all the pretty maids in a row. Like, how do I do

36:43

it different? You know?

36:44

Yeah, I know. And, and it's like, yeah,

36:46

you are sort of like, maybe you're copying a Vanity

36:48

Fair pose, but like, how cool is that?

36:50

You know, like you're not trying

36:53

to make a fashion magazine to compete with Vanity Fair.

36:56

You know, you're like posing at bridal party. Like, I

36:58

actually remember one time you like, Oh, look at this cool

37:00

group. Group photo of the Kardashians.

37:03

Yeah, totally.

37:04

so, such a cool way to pose. This photographer

37:06

did a really cool thing here and like It's

37:09

not, I'm not setting it up and trying to get the lighting

37:11

in the background and the outfits and everything exactly

37:13

the same.

37:14

just the way that bodies move. There's only

37:16

so many ways bodies can

37:17

Yeah, you're like, oh this is a cool way that they layered

37:19

this or whatever.

37:20

arranged these bodies. Yeah. I mean, Or,

37:23

um, with branding, I love to look

37:25

at home, decor. like, paint colors

37:28

for colors and, you know,

37:30

thinking of the way, like, surface patterns

37:32

and, you know, other ways that

37:34

maybe people are using textures

37:36

and patterns that, that could be applied

37:38

to branding, And

37:40

so.

37:41

Yep. So, and listening to music, too,

37:44

like, different vibes, like, they just get, you

37:46

know, get with you. And so, just look for inspiration

37:48

outside of your own.

37:50

competitors or, you know, your own

37:52

circles, especially in, your

37:54

local community.

37:55

Okay, and so if you are actually

37:58

at that like beginning stages of business,

38:00

or maybe you've reached a point

38:02

in your business where you just don't really have

38:04

the inspiration anymore, Randy

38:06

and I, something that we've learned

38:09

over the years is that sometimes

38:11

you need to just find somebody who

38:13

you'd look up to who's doing that thing

38:16

better than you. Go to them

38:18

and ask them what it would cost for

38:20

them to mentor you. Because

38:22

because there are so many, I

38:24

think for so many years we've thought that we're like,

38:27

we've got to like, originate this.

38:29

And it's like, sometimes you

38:31

don't need to. You just need to straight up go

38:34

ask the person who's really freaking good at something

38:36

if they're willing to mentor you. And

38:38

let them teach you everything they know. And

38:41

with their permission and good wishes. then

38:43

send you off into the sunset.

38:46

Yeah, we've done that and we've had people approach us

38:48

about that and it's usually a yes, and it's

38:50

usually been less expensive than we expected.

38:52

It's so true.

38:53

Um, like we'll just say, Hey, you've already got this

38:55

figured out. You've got the workflows. I'm

38:58

not in your market. We're marketing

39:00

to different people. Would you be

39:02

willing to give me like. Access

39:05

to your workflows and show me how you

39:07

do things and give me swipe files

39:09

and all of that and

39:11

I'll pay you, you know, what would you charge me for that?

39:14

And yeah, 100%. Find someone

39:16

who's already done it and you can get the shortcut.

39:19

And You can put your own spin on it and you're gonna like, you're gonna

39:21

want to change things in some way. But

39:23

especially just coming up, being forthcoming and

39:25

like, Yeah. That's like, the

39:28

cleanest, easiest way, and you will

39:30

sleep very well at night.

39:31

Totally. totally. I mean, it's Integritas,

39:34

and you're paying for

39:36

their knowledge. And, um,

39:39

so yeah.

39:39

And then they're actually rooting for you. And they're on your

39:41

team.

39:42

I mean, there's nothing better than that. Awesome.

39:45

Well, hopefully we've given

39:47

you guys all of the answers to your questions. And

39:50

if you have more questions about this topic,

39:52

please feel free to find us on Instagram

39:55

at something businessy and hit

39:57

me up in the DMs. I am personally

39:59

the one Nicole that is responding, responding

40:02

to those. And I'd love to chat this out

40:04

with you. Maybe we have a followup episode.

40:07

Um, but we would love to hear maybe.

40:10

Yeah, this is a hot topic. So, did

40:12

you agree with us? Or

40:14

maybe have some different opinions? We would actually

40:16

really love to know. Alright.

40:20

Alright. well that's all we got! Bye bye.