Now, hear me out.

I am not talking about plagiarism or copying/pasting what someone else is doing with one or two word changes. If you didn’t already know, plagiarism is bad.

However, I am talking about scanning those in your industry for some of their best ideas, best blog posts, best products, etc.

If it has worked for them, then there is a good chance it might work for you as well.

With some caveats.

Don’t Be a Jerk About It

Let’s say you are a writer (like me!) and you follow a few other writers and their content pretty faithfully.

One day, you see a blog post of theirs that makes your spirit soar – it could be about faith, technology, or even accounting. Either way, it speaks to you on some level.

Then, you begin to realize that it is a topic that your audience might like.

Uh oh.

What do you do? Do you just totally steal the idea without saying another word?

Nah. Here’s the thing:

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Ain’t no one who isn’t going to want a call-out or backlink to their blog post.

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Reach out to them and say you loved their idea, are working on your own post inspired by theirs, and that you are backlinking to their post and recommending the post to their audience.

9 times out of 10, they will be thrilled to hear someone else is using their blog post and sending more readers to it.

So, take their ideas, make them your own. Rip off the entire concept of the blog post, but put your own spin on it. (And never EVER plagiarize)

All it takes is not being a jerk.

At the top of your post, mention something to the effect of, “I read this [hyperlink to their post] post from [original author here] and used it as inspiration from this article. I love their content and I know they would love for you to read their blog post, too.”

Bam.

Done. 

You got to steal a great idea from someone else, put your unique twist on it, and begin forging a relationship with the author of the post you loved so much.

Stealing In Your Industry With Pride

One last thing to note when it comes to ethically stealing in your industry: everyone gets their ideas from someone else.

“There is nothing new under the sun,” is a quote from the Bible. And it’s true. 

Every idea is a spinoff of something that already existed. So, stealing is actually the norm. 

But, if you are honest about it, then that puts you way ahead of so many others out there. You recognize it for what it is and make sure the original content creators get credit first. 

Steal away! Just do it ethically by being your own person with your own style and always give props to those who have gone before you.