Today I want to talk to you about this quote that I love and I think it’s a great quote for entrepreneurs, but also a great quote for everybody. And I don’t remember who said it or where I saw it. I tried looking it up, but I couldn’t quite find who said it or where I saw it. The quote is “Don’t be afraid when people copy you, be afraid when they stop” I think that’s such a powerful quote. Because often times we’re thinking we don’t want anybody to copy us. We get upset when people copy us. We get offended if people copy us. But really, I think and especially after seeing that quote, which kind of changed my mindset is people copying us could be one of the biggest compliments. That means you’re doing something right. That means you’re doing something that they like.
So a great example is Nintendo. I love Nintendo. So when I was a kid, Nintendo was the gold standard of video games. Everybody wanted to copy them so much. So much so when Nintendo created a failure, which was called the Virtual Boy, which had virtual reality goggles. It had red and black graphics for whatever reason. Nobody knows why lol And it was not a great system, but you know what another company ended up copying it. And that device may have been even worse than the Virtual Boy.
So see, that’s how you know you’re doing something right. If people start copying you even your bad ideas. So and then when Nintendo went into like the Nintendo 64 and the Game Cube and they had great games, I loved their games, but people stopped copying them because they stopped innovating. And then the Wii came out and then again everybody wanted a part of that Sony, Microsoft, everybody wanted a part of that motion control thing because the Wii was just so popular.
So that just goes to show that if you have a great idea that other people copying you is really the biggest compliment and it’s not something we should get offended of, sometimes we get offended of and sometimes I’ve done this is when someone copies your inspirational quotes or something you said and doesn’t give you give you credit. It can make you not feel that great because you feel you deserve credit. But when someone is copying you really is such a great compliment. And it’s just something that I really has changed my mindset and think it’s a great one for entrepreneurs and a great one for everybody else, just in case someone ends up copying any one of us, because it means that if somebody liked it and if somebody liked it, that means we’re doing something right.
And it is really it really is a compliment telling you that whatever you’re doing is training. You learn how to innovate by growing, by learning, by learning new stuff, by educating yourself. And when you do that, other people are going to look up to you. People may copy you, but it’s good to change your mindset in that and realize that it’s actually a really, really great compliment.
“Don’t be afraid when people copy you, be afraid when they stop” – Unknown
Short about me: My name is Brent Hosaka and I am a Health, Wellness, and Lifestyle Coach from Hawaii. if you want to read my full story you can click here.