If you have an idea for a business or a product or service that you want to offer, you should share your idea with everyone. Don’t be afraid of telling people about it for fear that they’re going to steal it. Word gets out and somebody copies you. It’s a pretty common fear I’ve seen among entrepreneurs, but there are a couple of reasons you shouldn’t worry about it.
One, most people are pretty consumed with their own lives and they’re probably not going to be as thrilled with your idea as you are. So they’re not going to bother stealing it. The second one is it’s a lot harder to just take an idea and run with it. There’s a lot that needs to go on with it. It’s just a lot harder to steal an idea than you think it is.
Let’s say you’re going to open a bakery. You’re going to tell people about the cakes, the flavors, the decorations, what they’re going to look like, what you’re going to offer. You’re going to tell them all about it. But what you’re not going to do is you’re not going give them the ingredients. You’re not going to tell them how to bake that cake, how many eggs you’re using, what kind of vanilla, where you’re getting your ingredients from, how hot you bake it, how long you put it in the oven, the techniques. You’re not going to tell them all that.
You’re going to tell them everything that they need to know to want to buy your cakes. That’s what you should be doing with your idea. It’s that exact same thing. Tell them all the benefits, all the features, everything they need to get excited about it. But you don’t tell them the secret sauce, the recipe. You don’t tell them how you’re going to make it. That makes it a lot harder to steal.