Do you work to get paid? Have you ever used other people’s investments to convert them into a profit? If the answer to both questions is yes, it means you have practiced being an entrepreneur and a freelancer in one way or another.
Before diving straight into answering these two fundamental questions, we first should be able to understand who is an entrepreneur and a freelancer.
An entrepreneur comes up with a business idea and uses other’s investments to earn a hefty return while a freelancer gets paid for each task; he/she delivers. However, the cost of a freelancer is almost zero as he/she can do work from home using their computers and laptops.
Entrepreneurs’ originals ideas are prone to get stolen by someone too smart to copy but not too smart to come up with something of their own. Therefore, it is crucial to use backdoors and legal means to keep your business ideas safe.
Here I cover some ideas on how you can keep your thoughts from the copywriters of this world.
Getting Patent/Copyrights
This is an old but useful tool when it comes to keeping an invention or a creative work of art, for example, music and paintings, safe from the people who are likely to steal it for their benefit. Say what you may, but it is not attractive to take credit for someone else’s hard work. The patent is a legal property right given by the government to stop others from making use of an invention for their profit. Hence, if someone is seen copying a patent idea, then the owner has the right to sue the guilty. You can file a patent break lawsuit against anyone who tries to outsmart you into first revealing your business idea and then executing it. Before doing any patent registrations, you need to hire a patent attorney to submit a provisional patent application.
Less Sharing
Here’s a harsh truth, if you talk too much about your business idea, then it is no one’s but only your fault if the concept gets stolen. You need to be vigilant and control yourself while talking about a business plan. You’d better decide beforehand who you are going to share your ideas with. A thought comes to anyone, but who is going to be smart and not reveal information is what matters. Someone who copies your concept has not stolen it, but they executed it. Al Pacino, in Godfather, summed it up quite beautifully, “Never let them know what you are thinking.”
Trusting Others
It is essential to know that legitimate investors are not interested in stealing your ideas. All they need is a proper business plan to execute. A design requires a team and skillful individuals so it can make a profit. Without trusting people, you can never build an efficient team to work toward achieving a goal inspired by your ideas. My advice is to share your thoughts with the right people. And, please, do not just directly ask them to keep their mouths shut, but encourage them not to let others know what you guys are up to. Getting them to sign a non-disclosure agreement binds people to confidentiality. This means if they share anything with others or a third party, then you reserve the right to put charges against them and sue them.
While building a team, you will need to share your business idea with people, so choose wisely and try to motivate a sense of moral and ethical commitment in them. Making them feel like an essential part of the project will keep them from spilling the beans. Moreover, do not get too paranoid while talking about your idea as it can cause you to panic and reveal more than you expected. This strategy can prove to be more helpful in trying to communicate your ideas to investors and team without the risk of being ripped off than patent enforcement.
Good Relations with Competitors
As sketchy as this may sound, it works in most of the cases. Try to establish relationships with anyone you think of as a competitor or someone who can steal your idea on common grounds. You take something from them, and in exchange, they give you something as you flourish with your unique approach. Building a sense of respect and friendship between each other will keep them away from thoughts of stealing your business idea.
