Everything is a Remix and That's OK - 42

This is Law and Wit episode 42, Everything's a Remix and That's Okay. Welcome to Law and Wit, Creative Counsel for Entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Brittany Rettell, mother of 4, entrepreneur, naptime lawyer, and attorney for creative entrepreneurs. I'm here to share inspiration and action so that you can tackle your business blocks and confidently own your business in every sense of the word. Thank you so much for being here. Hello listeners and welcome back. I'm so excited to have you here. I'm Brittany Rettell, the host of Lawn Wit Creative Council for Entrepreneurs, and I'm here to talk about the business of creativity. And today I have a really special episode that I want to share that's kind of a counterpoint, except not really, to what we've been discussing about, especially the last episode, um, about protecting your brand, about copyrights, about trademarks, about the stuff that you can do to kind of protect your things, your stuff, your content, your nest. And I think it's, it's probably seems a little bit of a contrarian position that someone like me, an attorney, who, yes, a big part of what I do and how I make my money is convincing people of the big scary world out there and how your stuff is so special and we need to protect it and without taking these steps that you're at risk. And all of that is true, certainly to a point. But I also think I have an obligation, a responsibility as someone who's in the creative space to also, you know, offer some really good counters in terms of why everything's a remix and that's okay. And the irony is, is even by saying that, Everything is a Remix is actually the title of a really popular YouTube series called Everything is a Remix. So see, see how it is? Like, I can't even use that phrase without also referencing something else. So my point is here today is that you'll hopefully take away some lessons about and just some things to think about, some useful thoughts for your own content, your own creativity, your own thing that you're putting out into the world, um, and a way to approach if and when you do get copycatted, when you get ripped off, um, or someone close to you, and some ways that you can turn that energy and maybe some of that angst and fear, um, into better productive energy, um, and just where— and so that you can be in a good place along that spectrum of moving forward with stuff, um, and then, you know, fear and hoarding and keeping things in a little bubble so that no one, you know, gets to it and no one rips it off, which also I don't think is really useful or really practical for the world at large. So, so let's get to it. So the first thing that I wanted to talk about is the— first of all, I got to give my little disclaimer. While I'm an attorney licensed in Utah and Idaho, I'm not your attorney unless you want me to be. And anything I say today on this podcast or any of my other online resources is not official legal advice. This is just me sharing general information. So if you have any questions about how this applies to you and your specific set of business facts, please contact a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction. Okay, okay, with that out of the way, um, let's talk about creativity and how everything is really a remix. Um, so as I work in the creative arts and especially among creative entrepreneurs, which obviously are— there's a whole lot of people who fit into that category, um, every You know, I have clients who are artists and illustrators and hand letterers and photographers and graphic designers, to people who have Etsy shops or run product-based businesses, um, that are, you know, rely maybe on creative lifestyle things. Um, you know, they're not just simply me-too products that are produced, but they have some sort of creative element into it. Um, to people who are influencers and content creators, and that's how they make their living, is they sell their influence, their content, whether it's, you know, photo, audio, or video. Um, to— I have clients who, um, you know, between the service-based or product-based or have some sort of combination of all three in parts of their business. So, um, so I'm definitely in it and have seen a whole range of emotions and kind of philosophies about creativity. And here's what I think. Here's the gospel of creativity according to Brittany. Um, nothing is 100% original, and that's okay. Okay, um, and let me explain why. Creativity, while I think it's wonderful and I think it's something to be admired, and I do think it's both a gift and a skill, meaning I think there are people who are more creative than others. I also think that it's something that you can nurture and grow. I don't think that you just have it or you don't. I think that creative problem solving can be applied to pretty much anyone in any position in anything that they're doing in their life, in their— at home or at work, in any pursuit in terms of trying to think outside the thinking outside the box, having a growth mindset, keeping an open mind, being collaborative, being unique or inventive and novel. I think those are all really great and useful synonyms for creativity. I really like the book Austin Kleon writes, Steal Like an Artist, which I'm going to quote from a little bit. It's one of those works and resources I highly recommend to kind of delve into the creativity and creativity mindset. He says on there that the artist is a collector, not a hoarder, mind you. There's a difference. Hoarders collect indiscriminately. Artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love. And I love that when in the thought of creativity, because, um, I think that you need to be thoughtful about your influences, especially if you're a creative who's, um, who's creating content. And what are you taking in, and how are you filling up your well? And are you getting too close and, and getting too narrow-focused in your vertical of the— of what you're consuming in your media? So I think that's always something you need to be thoughtful of, especially if, you know, if you work in one medium and that's what you do. If you are, you know, a hand letterer and that's what you do, then yes, certainly, you know, be in the hand lettering business, but also, you know, make sure that you're looking in stuff in art and architecture and you're watching science documentaries and you're going for a walk outside and, you know, make sure that you're getting a wide range of influences there and not just staying too much in your zone and your corner of the creative universe because I think it is, should be thoughtful about what you're collecting. I, I really agree with another thought from David Burkus who says that this idea that ideas are combinations of pre-existing is so important because many of us believe that huge, amazing, disruptive ideas belong on a pedestal to be observed, written about, and almost worshiped as something only a few blessed people would be able to spring forth. But if all ideas are combinations of pre-existing ideas, then anybody can do that. End quote. I totally agree with that as well. That, um, and I think this should be— honestly, it should be, um, you know, an okay thought for you. It should be a satisfying one that, um, it's okay if your idea for something, uh, whatever it is that you want to do, is it completely original, or if it has elements or is borrowing or influenced or sampling from other things, that's okay. And that's totally normal. Um, and it doesn't— it just doesn't put this difference in the separateness and the special snowflakeness to people who, you know, invent something, to put something out in the world. And I think it broadens it and it democratizes and takes some of the shadow off the process. And so that we can all be involved in nurturing those creative energies and influences in ourselves and be just being able to think and just be okay to remix and, you know, reconstitute and change up the way things are being done. And out of that comes something that's original and new. So So that's kind of my first one, is my first thesis here is everything's a remix. And with this, I also sort everything from the Joe Campbell's, Joseph Campbell's work into like the hero's journey and archetypes, which goes through and looks at, well, pretty much every great story or work of literature or art has similar elements in terms of the hero's arc and the hero's journey. And you even see this that's now being co-opted into branding strategy. I just finished Donald Miller's StoryBrand. Which I highly recommend if you're working on your own brand and your own branding messaging. And of course, he's, you know, they recognize that all the popular movies and myths and legends that we— in books that we read have very similar and overlapping elements of we want a hero, we want there to be conflict, there are archetypes of good versus evil, there are, you know, certain things we have to have, there's, you know, can I get some exposition, and then the conflict and climax, and then, you know, close of that. And that's why we see all that stuff and again and again is because our brains like it, honestly. Humans like it. And so it's, it's okay and normal to see some of those patterns repeating itself. Some other books that I highly recommend if you're interested in kind of diving into more of the study of creativity: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, I highly recommend. I also love, love, love Steven Pressfield's The War of Art, not to be confused with The Art of War. That's the Japanese, you know, the Japanese— I can't forget Japanese, Chinese, sorry, um, you know treatise on, you know, war and strategy. That's not what I'm talking about here. Stephen Pressfield's work, who was an author who worked as like author on the side while he was a taxi driver for years and years before he finally hit it, you know, big and got his work out there. So he has some really interesting thoughts about creativity and the resistance, which is kind of this opposite power that goes against when you have the creativity. So I highly recommend that. Okay, so that's my first truth. The second about creativity is that, um, so if we accept this premise that a lot of things are, are just remixes and nothing's original, um, you know, what does that mean for protecting our stuff? Or, you know, how, how does that serve us if still— why does it hurt so much when stuff gets ripped off or copied or people don't give you attribution like they should? Um, which it totally happens. And I think it's really important to talk about this because it's so easy for those things, when those things happen to you, for you to take it really personally. Anytime that I've had someone reach out to me and want help when something like this has happened and they want to know their rights, they want to know what legal steps can we do, I, you know, I see people a lot, I get tagged a lot in a lot of comments and posts when people are kind of out ranting about someone that's ripped them off and You know, there's a lot of words of like theft and I can't believe this and it's, you know, this is a sucker punch and this hits me in my gut and oh, you know, this is just devastating, um, and a lot of really strong language. And I— that's totally fine for you to feel that way. I can totally understand how you can be in that position, but I want to offer you 5 thoughts that you can have instead. Um, and I also want to reference, um, definitely you want to go back and look at my, um, episode 11 which deals with all about what to do when your stuff gets ripped off. Okay, and the first part of that— spoiler alert— the first part of that lesson is please don't freak out and go on the internet and like want to burn the village down, okay, and go out with your flamethrower. That's what we call it in our household when you're just really upset and you just really want to like turn on the flamethrower and just like, you know, burn everyone in your path, you know, burn the village to the ground, you know, go full Hulk smash style, whatever. Please don't do that. I know that it, it can feel really good and you can have like that cathartic release and you want to rally your community, and I'm not saying there might not be a place for that in, in responding to this, um, but it typically shouldn't be the first step, okay? And there's lots of legal reasons why and practical reasons why. And anyway, um, so I get all to that. So if you are interested, or if you just want to have that in your back pocket if and when someday this happens to you and someone rips you off, um, make sure you are downloading that kind of response, that battle plan, um, which is going to be attached to episode 8. So if you go to Lon Witt episode, or Lon Witt slash, uh, sorry, brittanyruttell.com/11, or go look up, um, Lon Witt 11 as you're looking here on the podcast app, um, you'll see there's a link there to get that download. Um, okay, so here are the 5 thoughts that I would suggest you try to think instead that would be more helpful, that would be more useful, that would serve you. So just you try some of these on and see if any of these work for you. First is copying is the sincerest form of flattery. I know this may kind of seem trite, like a little bit of a platitude. It is, but since when is just because something is trite or said a lot does that mean that it's not true? Okay, maybe there's a reason we all say this, you know. Maybe there's a reason why things get, you know, put on Hallmark cards a lot. It's because they're actually true. It means that your stuff is out there, and because it's out there enough, exposed enough, people are seeing it enough that someone actually copies it. Okay. So, um, I, I think that's always something to celebrate in the— at least a little bit— is that you've, you've made it. You've made it to a level that someone else thinks it was worth their time or their Photoshop skills or, um, whatever their base Illustrator copying skills to scan and trace it and try to replicate it, or to copy and paste all your sales copy or anything else. So I know you might not think like that, but again, we're just trying these thoughts on to see if any of these would serve you in having good energy going forward. Number 2, copycats will always be eating your dust. They can only get at what's behind you, okay? This should be another comforting thought. People are ripping you off from the stuff that's already out there. By that very nature, they're behind you. They're in your dust. They can't catch up. They can't be forward-thinking like you are. Your energy's in the future. They can't match you there, okay? So that should be another comfort to you. Number 3, have an abundance mindset. Okay, and this is, you know, if you're not familiar with kind of these stages or have a growth mindset, this means that instead of thinking that there is a limited pie, that there's only so much money or value or creativity or good stuff, good content, good products, good services, good businesses, whatever in the world, and that if I get knocked out of that or if I have to give out some of my share, if someone else moves up in my share or takes some of it, that I have less That's, you know, it can be a kind of a closed mindset and it can put you in a place where you're not showing up in your business and to your customers and to your audience and your community the way that you want to be. I would recommend that you try to embrace a more growth mindset that, hey, look at them, they are also offering, you know, baby swaddles made out of really soft blankets, or they're also in the baby blanket market. That's awesome. I wish them all the best. Just because you're selling baby blankets and they're selling some, even if they look very similar, guess what, guys? Baby blankets are not a novel or new invention. Attention, okay? They're not. You know, even ones with particular— if they have stripes on them, also not new. Even if they're in cool colors, also not new. Even if they have little swaddling hats or layout gowns that come attached in matching colors, also not new, okay? So we sometimes just need a reality check a little bit and understand that there's a big wide world out there. There's a lot of human beings on the earth, and because the way that we sell our goods now, we have access to so much bigger markets than we ever did before in terms of if you sold shoes in your town, you really were only going to be able to sell shoes to the people, you know, in your close vicinity or who you could ship to, which wouldn't be very far if you go back far enough. That's, that's not the case anymore. And so we just need to remember that, that the pie is very big and it's getting bigger. You know, it's, it's getting better all the time. Um, you know, channel a little bit of that energy that, um, that you there's still space for you. There's space for you, there's space for someone else. It's a big table, it's a big pie. So maybe try that one on for size and see if that does anything for you. Okay, number 4, worst— the worst thing is not to create out of fear. Okay, the worst thing is that you are so stuck and worried that people are going to rip it off that your stuff doesn't see the light of day. Okay, that it dies in your brain and never makes it out on a napkin on a podcast, on a video, on a course, on a product, on a piece of paper, on a canvas. Okay, I think that is the greatest tragedy. Okay, the world doesn't get your good ideas and the muses won't tap you on the shoulder, that inspiration will go elsewhere. And I'm a believer in this. Pressfield again talks about this in his book, that he kind of embodies inspiration, so does Elizabeth Gilbert, as kind of a living entity. And that when you feel that inspiration, um, you should capitalize on it and listen to it and be grateful for it and take advantage of it. And if If you don't, then the universe or, you know, God, higher power, whatever you believe in, will send it to someone else because things should just be made manifest and if it won't be by you, then it should be by someone else. Okay, so the worst thing you can do is to be so stuck on all this stuff and so worried about it that you don't create at all. Even if all of my legal lessons aside, okay, I still want your good stuff out in the world and we need your good stuff. Okay, number 5, no one can copy your why. Okay, and this is why— W-H-Y. Okay, no one can copy your why. No one can sell it like you can. Yes, and let's go back to our baby blanket. Someone else can launch a baby blanket. They can even, you know, they can reverse engineer and find out where you get it made in the same factory. They can even do very similar prints. Now, if prints are a really important part of yours, then I would suggest you copyright protect and register your prints so this can't happen. But if not, if it's just, you know, a plain color, yeah, you're right, someone can totally make a knockoff of that, you know, if we can even really call it a knockoff. Yeah, they can sell a very similar thing. They can even try to undercut you on price, okay? But where will that get in the long run? Is someone going to have the brand that you have? Are they going to have the same story behind it? Why do people want to buy from you? Okay, people want to buy from people that are like them, that they have similar values. They want to buy from people who are telling them a story and are selling more than just a baby blanket. Why does someone buy a really soft baby blanket? Well, because they're buying the comfort and the beautiful feeling of wrapping their new precious little baby in something that they love. They're not buying a baby blanket, they're buying parenting, they're buying love, they're buying snuggling and that feeling that you unwrap your swaddle from your baby and they lift up their little arms and stretch and they make their little faces and you get to take that perfect picture and to send it to your family and to welcome them home. That is what someone is buying from you and no one can tell that story like you can, okay? No one can have the same type of photography, can have the same type of branding messaging, all of it done together as you can, okay? So anytime that people kind of veer off or get too in the woods about protecting their stuff and you know, sometimes when I have to deliver the bad news that hey, this particular thing that we talked about, we don't really don't have any good legal tools for that. You know, I could charge you a bunch of money, or I could send some cease and desist off, but, um, but I don't really feel great about it ethically, and I don't really advise them to. And I don't, I don't think it's a use while, you know, worth of your resources. And I'm really honest about people, about where I think their money should be and where it shouldn't be and where their energy should be. And certainly I always encourage people to really double down and work on that branding work. So You know, get some books, go to some workshops. I went to Allison Sho's Build a Better Brand workshop and it was really, really critical for me and really helpful for me to discover for myself what is it that I'm offering to other people. When am I calling and really in my flow and my state of, you know, genius and competence? And when I'm talking and offering my things to other people, what is my why? What, like, what is my big, big why? And that should reflect and be part of my messaging and my products and everything that I'm doing. So I got that after going to to her workshop. So if that's something you're still interested and don't know about and you haven't heard about any of this or Allison's show, I'll put a link in the show notes, but you should definitely check that out. She offers them a couple times a year. So, okay, so those are my kind of more useful thoughts. My third kind of thing I want to talk about generally is that, okay, so how do you move forward? And like, why does this stuff matter then? Should we do anything, put any boundaries on, or draw any lines in the sand? Basically, why would you ever want to buy anything from me or hire me to solve any of these problems then, Brittany, if all this stuff is true. So, which is an important point, guys, right? Okay, um, okay, and here are my, my 3 thoughts here, are that you should think about the loyalty to your customers and your reputation is my number 1, loyalty to your community, and the loyalty to your fellow artists and creatives. Okay, so let's talk about the first one, loyalty to your customers and to your greater reputation. So, um, if you don't take certain steps to protect your stuff, especially— I think this is way more important with, um, like physical goods, you know, and counterfeits. And this is what happens if you sell something on Amazon and other people start ripping you off and they make it look very similar to yours, similar, you know, markings, or they put up a similar name or even product photo. This happens a lot. Then, you know, obviously not only are you losing sales on this, but that people might be getting a shoddy product and one that's, that's using cheaper materials or that's not sourced the right way it should be. It's not being ethically sourced or it's not being put together. It doesn't have maybe the same standards in terms of manufacturing and processes. Um, so people— and because that can hurt your reputation all over your business because people will leave bad reviews. And I've seen this happen for like, you know, I've been shopping for trampolines for my kids and I saw, you know, a pretty reputable brand and then they had like this streak of like 1-star reviews and they were like, this is a piece of junk. And it turns out that those people were not buying the actual product, they were buying a knockoff. But you know, it was one of those like skeezy third-party, um, sellers on Amazon was doing that. So So anyway, you don't want that to happen to your brand. So there is certainly— you should be taking some steps to help prevent that. And if that's happening to you, then send me an email, give me a call, let's work on that, okay? The second is loyalty to your community. And I mean this like the larger internet community. So it's not really fair just to blame the internet or to kind of rail against the sky of like, well, none of this would have happened, you know, in the olden days, and it's the internet that's ruined everything. You know, it's not just like the internet, just like it's not the algorithm's problem. It's human beings on the internet that are maybe not making good choices, that are downloading your images and putting them up, you know, that are copy and pasting your text and your sales page and treating it like their own. Um, they're trying to rip off your course slides, or they're trying to hack into your, you know, your Amazon 3 account and get all your stuff. Um, so let's just, you know, call a spade a spade. It's human beings making bad choices, um, and that you have a choice to be part of the problem or part of the solution. So And with that, maybe involve some, yeah, some responsibility and some power on the part. And if you're a content creator, then you should care about this stuff and about content creation and about rights and responsibilities and what are the ethical and legal obligations of people to do good work and to honor good work. Okay, which brings me to my last point of, uh, that you should have loyalty and can stand your grounds for the arts, for rights, for boundaries, and for creatives to get fair compensation for fair work. Okay, so sometimes I hear people that are on like maybe the, you know, the completely opposite side of the spectrum who are, you know, I never pay attention to any copycats and only put energy forward, and, you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna put waste a second for any of that, or any of that. And I understand that perspective, and I do think that there's certainly a place for putting energy and moving forward and not worrying. And I know it can be really frustrating because the way that our copyright system is set up in the U.S., it's sometimes really difficult to make it worth your while or to make it worth an attorney's while to go after infringers if you haven't taken steps to like register your copyright for things. Because you can't get statutory damages, you can't get attorney's fees, you can't get all these perks that then make it a really worthwhile way to pursue this case. Because copyright infringement lawsuits can be very, very expensive and not, you know, the juice isn't worth the squeeze. However, there's something to be said for setting up boundaries. Setting up boundaries for yourself, for those that work with you, whether that's people who are contractors or vendors or people who buy your stuff or people you work with on content. And when you set up proper boundaries, then you're teaching people and educating them how to treat you. And the best way to do that is to do a really good job and make it really clear how people can and can't use your stuff. And that should be reflected in all of the ways that you interact with each other. So, and you should be a best practice, you know, best practicer yourself. You know, ask yourself and give yourself a little self-audit. Are you being a good linker? You know, if you are using others' content, are you— best practice is to ask permission, okay? If not, if you're just like linking to someone, to make sure that it is a good link. Is it to their actual website or just, you just say like, oh, I found it on Pinterest? Because, you know, it's not that hard to do a reverse Google image search, guys. It's not that difficult. And we all know that Pinterest sometimes has, you know, good, good links in there, and the alt source code is correct, and sometimes it's not. And it can be obviously really frustrating as a content creator if your stuff kind of goes viral and gets out there and you're not having the proper links that you should. That all goes back to, to where, to, you know, to the website or to where you're actually going to have your monetization. So The next thing is to look at is, are you checking before, again, that you're adding something to the internet? And there's a difference between using in-app features, and I mentioned this before, than doing things like, you know, it's different. A share button on Facebook is very different than scanning something that's, you know, taking a picture of something or scanning something and then uploading it to the internet, okay? A share, you know, in-app feature like that keeps that they have the, the sources correct. It'll go, there's a link that goes back to where it was cited for. That's a very clear trail. And it's not, it's not the same as infringement, as you are taking something out from the universe, you are sampling in a way that is infringing on someone else's right, and you're not giving credit, which is kind of the worst case scenario here. And, you know, I'm just asking you guys to just slow down a little bit, you know, and certainly when you're having heavily influenced by something, you know, if you catch yourself that you're digitizing work or you're tracing things, or, you know, that's okay if you're learning technique or you're being exploratory. But if you have, you know, have the courage to step away from the computer for a little bit, especially if you find yourself like, again, you get too narrow-minded in your influences. Maybe that means you unfollow somebody for a while, or, you know, you just, you get out of your head, you get away from your desktop, and you, you know, try to refill that creative well with more influences. That will kind of expand and, you know, enliven that atmosphere and that environment that you're drawing influences from, which will help, you know, because again, everything is a remix. And if you can make that remix really diverse and interesting, then you're going to find that you're creating something unique to you that maybe hasn't been done before. So, you know, broaden your horizons, you know, cross-pollinate, get stuff from different mediums and different techniques and different time periods and art and architecture and science and the environment and everything else, and I think you're going to be much happier. So, okay, so I hope that's given you some things to think about today. I know this one is a little off the cuff because it's not legal per se, but again, I just feel a huge responsibility to speak out against this stuff. And I know that there are, you know, frankly, there are junkyard attorneys out there that you're going to find if you want to, that will tell you what you want to hear, basically, is what I'm saying. Just like everything else, there's good attorneys and bad attorneys, so there will be people that you find that will be like, "Oh yeah, no, that's awful, and we'll fight for you, and we're not going to let that stand." And that may or may not be true or useful or productive or cost reasonable, you know, an efficient use of your time and resources, depending on what you really want to happen. That's why when I am looking at these issues always with clients or with prospective clients, you know, I really try to, you know, give them a little bit of this thought work too and kind of prompt them of like, what do you really want to happen here? You know, do you, you know, say someone, you know, copycatted someone, ripped you off. Do you want an apology? Do you want them to stop? Do you want to feel better? Because here's a secret, you can feel better right now because circumstances are neutral. I believe that. Thank you. You know, Brooke Castillo Life Coaching, Life Coaching Podcast School, Life Coach School. There it is. So you can decide that you want to feel better about that. Now, how that affects your business and your bottom line, yeah, it may. And so that may mean that we need to do some things, and we need to do some things to try to fix maybe what's happened in the past, and then, you know, set ourselves up for success going to the future. But being in the right mindset and especially protecting your your thoughts about this and nurturing those thoughts and turning those towards useful thoughts. I think it's a really, really important skill for creatives and content creators and creative entrepreneurs to, to work on and to develop, and for us to be better ambassadors in the community for, for the best practices of respecting copyright, for respecting work, for respecting fair licensing, for respecting fair use, for respecting that if you quote or you sample from somebody that's fine. It happens. Just cite it, you know, ask permission and cite. I saw something the other day that was talking about, you know, in the music industry, people are really okay with this. They understand that sampling goes on a lot, and, you know, people will usually give credit and it's okay. And yeah, I totally sampled and was influenced by this. And yet in the literary world, people are so loath to acknowledge that they have any other influences in their work, which is just ridiculous because because like we said, it's really hard to have a completely 100% unique, original, never-been-done idea. So there are influences all around, and that's okay, you know, just to acknowledge. It doesn't take away anything from you, again, because no one can do it like you, and probably no one can sell it like you at this moment in time. I'm a total believer in that. It's, uh, there's a theory called the multiple discovery or simultaneous invention. That's kind of a hypothesis that, you know, when something is ready for it to happen, then it'll kind of come up in multiple places. And they've seen this play out in science. You know, when they award the Nobel laureates every year, they usually will see that there are multiple people who've kind of discovered or done similar things all at the exact same time in different parts of the world, you know, working independently on different research projects. They saw this with the invention of calculus. It happened in different places like exactly the same time. So there's something to be said for, you know, when the community, when the world and the environment are all right, you know, for something to happen. You sometimes you kind of just have that spontaneous combustion, that creativity that happens, and it can happen in multiple places at the same time. So it's just good to, you know, have proper perspective and give grace for what you have, but also recognize that it's what you do with it. And no one, again, no one can do it like you, okay? No one can sell it like you. And so I hope that's a pep talk to you if you want to do something, if you're feeling called to do something and you feel that like it's a little bit of a me too, or it's already been done, or I don't know, there's already a lot of people in this market great, good news, that means that there's money in it. And if there's no one in that market, great, good news, that might mean that you're a disruptor and you're an innovator and you're the one who's gonna, you know, pave the way. It's, it's all about the energy that you're bringing to it. And if you are in the right place and being humble and teachable and asking good questions and doing good research of finding, you know, that minimal viable product and that offering, then you're gonna be okay. I really think you're gonna be okay. You're gonna learn a lot and you're gonna fail like we all do, but you're really going to be okay. All right, so that's the pump up at the end of the episode, guys. So thanks, thanks so much for listening, for being here. I want to remind you that if you haven't left a podcast review, that is the best, best way to say a thank you to me. I know those things shouldn't matter, but they do, because if someone wanders on and they hear this podcast, um, or they're just searching for some of these terms of the things that I talk about, the, uh, you know, the algorithms, the search algorithms are not going to serve this up or think this is going to be as relevant if there aren't people leaving reviews. Okay, they just, you know, we need that social proof. I need it, you need it. The creative entrepreneurs who desperately need to hear this stuff and have it out there, they need that. They need to hear from you and your words on if anything that I've talked about on law, what has helped you in your business and with your creative business. So you can take a minute and leave a review. I'd really, really appreciate that. Keep listening, keep subscribing. If you're not on my newsletter list, get on it. Get that free legal checklist in your hands, in your inbox, people. Okay. Brittanyrotell.com/newsletter. If you're not connected with me on Instagram, what are you even doing with your life? I mean, I mean, you're looking at cat videos, you're looking at how to do fancy French braids, you're looking at, you know, chocolate chip sprinkle cookies. What I— you know, I don't offer any of those things on my Instagram, but it, but it doesn't mean that it's not useful and humorous and a boost to your day and to your creative life, whatever that looks like. So make sure you're connecting with me. I'm @BrittanyRotell on Instagram. And I also do my legal lives on Instagram and I announce them on Tuesday night. So if you're not tuned in there, then you're gonna miss it and miss your chance to get some free legal tips. Okay guys, keep going and keep chugging along in your business and remember that you are a real business owner, okay? So you should own your business in every sense of the word, okay? Own those highs and lows, own that uniqueness, that creativity, And own that it's a big, big pie and world out there, okay? And, and there's room for all of us at the table. Thanks. We'll see you next week.