What to Do if Someone Copies All or Part of Your Interior Design Business
This is one of those topics that I didn't want to talk about for a long time, but a desperate Google search of, "What to do when someone copies your business" yielded sparse results and made me realize that I needed to create this. If you are wondering, "Did someone copy Kate's business?" You'd be correct...about five times over.
But it isn't just my business that has been copied in various forms. I have watched over the past year as professionals that I respect and admire have had their years of knowledge stolen from them, repackaged and sold. (Many of you might remember the incident in which real-life designers' work was being copied by a direct-to-consumer brand through digital renderings of their products in styled spaces that looked exactly like the real-life photos - all without permission granted or credit given.)
I hope this never happens to your business. I hope you never experience that queasy feeling that climbs higher and higher in your throat when you realize that someone actually attempted to use you as their entrepreneurial shortcut. However, if it does happen to you, I hope you'll find some camaraderie and comfort in what I'm sharing today.
If you've ever worried that your colleagues might become your competitors, or worse, your imitators, this blog post is for you. I don't have all the answers, and the way I've chosen to handle these situations might surprise you. I hope this post opens your eyes to the knowledge theft that plagues our creative industry, and I hope it redefines and deepens the value you place on your own brand and your own copyright.
Once you realize why people are imitating your business and what it means for their businesses, you won't be as upset with them. You might even feel sorry for them. (That's a tall order, I know, but stick with me.)
What To Do If Someone Copies All or Part of Your Business
Before I can dive into what to do when you discover that someone has been ripping off your business verbiage, your services, your brand, or other proprietary content, I need to establish a few things:
Why do people become business copycats?
What are examples of knowledge theft versus just re-sharing common knowledge?
What are the natural outcomes of knowledge theft situations?
Why Do Other Business Owners Copy You?
In short: Copycats lack originality. They also lack the confidence, ability, or experience required to produce their own marketable ideas. They are often out of touch with their own brand and focus more on their colleagues than on their own clients. Lastly, copycats are lazy. Imitation is much easier than invention.
None of these actions or behaviors are crimes. It has been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery, and unfortunately that is true. If another business owner idolizes what you do and perceives your success to be exactly what they want for themselves, they might unintentionally follow you step-for-step.
Yes, sometimes the copycats aren't actually trying to rip you off. They are truly your loyal fans. It can be flattering but oh-so-frustrating.
Knowledge Theft vs. Resharing Common Knowledge
Knowledge theft is the grayest of gray areas to describe. Yet ironically, you know it when you see it. For example, I have a propriety method of managing social media and some pretty darn unique opinions regarding how it should be handled. A few years ago, I ran across a video of someone sharing my information, word-for-word from my past blog post, but they didn't credit me. They, in fact, had started their own business and were gladly accepting accolades in the comments for their "amazing ingenuity" and forward-thinking as a result of what they'd said in the video.
I don't know how I found that video, but you'd better believe I commented with, "I totally agree! In fact, I said that word-for-word in a blog post last year." Was that enough for them to give me credit? No...but it made me feel better.
A year or two later, I received a DM on Instagram from a longtime follower of mine saying that she had just found another business that had copied my services, verbiage, and pricing model. I didn't even bother looking at the website link she sent me. I already knew about it. I had gotten new leads simply because those leads were so unhappy with that counterfeit company that they saw my higher prices as well-worth the investment.
Ironic, yes?
That said, knowledge theft is duplicating someone else's message without adapting it for your own brand and audience and while refusing to credit your source - which can turn into copyright infringement pretty quickly. Common knowledge isn't proprietary, which means it is much less exciting and will garner much less attention. Businesses that seek to grow quickly without putting in the effort will look for exciting, new ideas or concepts that they can strictly regurgitate to their audience, or sell in a course, or broadcast on their podcast, or repeat in a video, in hopes that they'll be seen as the originator of the concept or idea.
That strategy works well until it doesn't.
That is the part copycat businesses don't think about: Imitating someone else's brand or business will wreck your reputation. The creative / home industry is close-knit...and people talk.
Oh my, do people talk. Friends, we can recover from a recession in business, but the stain of a character flaw tends to stick with a business longer than a bad tattoo on the face of a regretful college student.
How to Call Out A Copycat In Business
When I see someone imitating another business owner, I contact that primary business right away - and many have done the same for me. From there, we as the original business owners have a tough decision to make: Call out the perpetrator, or assume it was accidental, or find the middle ground (which often equates to addressing the issue but not pursuing legal action). There is no right answer and I've taken nearly all these roads.
Sometimes the situation resulted in a professional apology, other times the situation continued in deliberate denial (but their business yielded bad reviews and tended to unravel quickly). Other times, I just chose to let it go. That's something I learned from my own coach, who has been copied more times than I can count. She taught me the value of taking the high road, knowing with certainty that the knock-off brand is never as good as the original and that our copycats will always be waiting on our next move, making this less of a competition and more of a "follow the leader" situation.
Spoiler alert: If you are being copied, you are the leader.
What goes around comes around. While you might end up taking legal action, just know that isn't the only recourse and that the natural course of these situations will often end up in your favor.
On the flip side, how can we make sure we aren't the copycats? I often check myself for this because it's not a crime I want to commit. I ask myself...
Am I regurgitating information without giving credit to the owner, or am I sharing my own perspective on that topic after developing my own method or tactic?
Sharing knowledge is never wrong as long as you are crediting the source. Being inspired by someone else's business, their pricing model, their service packages or even their portfolio is also not wrong... But if you find yourself tempted to copy and paste their website verbiage or duplicate their designs (be it for a virtual rendering, for your new logo or something else), check yourself. What they are doing might be great for them - honestly, you can't really know for sure - but you can be certain it will not be great for you.
Your brand, service offerings, and marketing should be aligned with your ideal client and you should be so busy serving them that you don't have time to stalk your colleagues or competitors. In fact, if you have a niche market and target client, you will naturally eliminate your own competition.
Resources
Has your business ever been copied? Share how you handled it in my free Facebook group, Marketing for Home Pros. Let's navigate this sticky topic together!
