In Business, What Lengths Did You go to in Order to Prevent Rival Firms from Possibly Spying on You?

That’s a good question with an easy answer.

I don’t spend any time or energy preventing any competitor from spying on us. In fact, we publish a lot of our work on our website and freely answer questions from the public. The truth of the matter is, we live in a copycat world. It happens across all industries. If you have a good idea, someone is likely going to copy it. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Most ideas are inspired from another idea so if someone is inspired by what I provide, I can then become inspired by what they provide. I’ve already learned a lot from other people.

I’m happy to share my knowledge and contacts and believe that rising tides lift all ships. I find this a much lighter/freeer way to live. If someone needs to steal something from me/us then they probably need it that much more than we do.

It’s also much easier to live when you can focus on generating new ideas, rather than being paranoid about other companies. Anything that takes you away from your mission, is going to shine through in the execution of what you are trying to do. Most businesses don’t have paranoia as their mission.

My advice is stay positive, be thankful, and be confident. If a rival company rips something from you, that should give you motivation to continue to come up with new, different, and exciting ways to differentiate yourself from the competition. It gives you the drive to stay one step ahead. If a company has to copy you, that means your rival is already one step behind, putting you in the driver’s seat.

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This article orginally appeared on Quora.