What if a peer takes my idea and launches it before I do?

Common concern is about sharing our ideas with colleagues, with peers before we launch them is, okay, what if I share my idea? Maybe it's through a market research conversation, or just we're connecting with a peer and we're discussing what we're working on, and I'm working on this potential program launch or book launch or whatever. And then we're concerned that now that they have the idea, they're like, oh, that's a really good idea. And then they take it and run with it. So first of all, I have heard of this happening multiple times over the years. People have come to me and says, I shared an idea with a colleague, an acquaintance, sometimes even a friend, and they launched the thing before I did. And I get. Doesn't feel great. And there probably needs to be a conversation. Especially if you had shared the idea with them and they, when you shared the idea with them, they weren't saying, oh my gosh, I'm thinking of the exact same thing. I was about to launch it too. There probably needs to be a convert. I mean, for the sake of the friendship or the connection, you could say, hey, you know what? You know, Bob, I, you know, I. Congrats on your, your, your launch. I just saw that you launched it. It's interesting because I remember that we, we just had that conversation a month ago, and I had mentioned that I was thinking of launching it. So I just wanted to kind of clear the air because now I'm not sure if I launch it. It would look like I'm copying you. I certainly don't have that intention. And so this is really important. There are launches like yours happening all the time because we have very little understand, I mean, just because we have limited amount of time, we only see very, very tiny percent on social media, on email lists of what's happening in our industry. Okay? So chances are somebody, and probably multiple somebody is out there is launching something that's very similar to yours before you, before you launch it, or even after you launch it. And you just never even aware of it. And it's okay, right? Because up to now, in this way, ignorance is bliss. You haven't known anything. So you've just gone along your happy self and you launched it. And so the reality is that the same thing is happening with your audience. Your audience is not privy to even you talk to your friend Bob, and you have a lot of people in your audience that are not in Bob's audience. So if Bob launches the thing that you were thinking launching, and you launch it too, your audience will Go, wow, that's cool. They will not even know that someone else had launched it. I've done the same thing, okay, many times. So the reality is that it actually is a smarter move, marketing wise, to launch things that competitors or niche mates are also launching. Because the fact that someone else is launching it means that they have a market instinct that is probably going to have some uptake. People are probably going to buy it. And so it's okay to borrow other people's marketing instinct. I mean, that's part of what market research is. It's okay to borrow other people's marketing instinct and launch your own version of it. Because your own version, of course you're not going to copy and paste their sales page. Of course you're not going. Of course it's going to come from your own voice. So that's an important point, is that it's okay for multiple people to launch the same thing. It really is both from the audience point of view, because they don't know, most of them don't know. And even if some of them know that it's being launched, the fact that they are in your audience, if you have a better relationship with your audience, they're more likely going to buy yours. Your version of it, very important. Okay, but still the greater. There's more of a concern about the relationship you have with that person, the connection you have with that person. And it's worth clearing the air to have that conversation. Hey, I noticed, you know, we had that conversation, you launched it. I was going to launch it, and I probably still will, but I just want to make. So that's how I would take it. It's kind of like read between the lines, like, I'm still going to launch it. I hope you don't mind because I've already been thinking about it. I hope yours is successful because also, last thing I'll say is this. Your best collaborators, your best partners, marketing partners, are the niche mates who have the same audience as you and the same offerings as you. Like, in a universe where you found somebody who's like, they have your same name, they have your same audience and have your same offerings, that is literally your best JV partner, your best joint venture partner. Because they have done the hard work of building an audience very similar to yours, and so have you. And you too should collaborate. You should sell their thing sometimes, they should sell your thing sometimes. And you both win, you both. Or share each other's content or interview each other, because you both grow audiences that way. So I hope this is helpful. And just. Just know that doesn't matter what others are doing, you can still launch your thing, even if there's quite similar to yours.