Don't Be Too Smart To ‘Borrow’ What Works

Here’s a common trap smart people fall into: they see something that works, but avoid “borrowing” it to use it themselves. Instead, they try to come up with something uniquely their own that could work even better.

Don’t be one of those people. Don’t be too proud to take an execution you see working, and make it your own. Don’t be too smart to borrow what works.

Use A Winning Strategy When You See One.

I wrote about Ramon van Meer last week and how he built and sold a Soap Opera blog for nearly $9 million.

When he was trying to grow the site, he talked about looking at competitors to see what they did well and what they did not do well. Then, he “borrowed” what was working for them to use with his site. This is just good, common sense!

I do this on X (formerly Twitter) all the time. I see what formats / content ideas / long-form articles / threads are working for other people and I try out a version for myself. It’s not stealing because I'm never copying them. I’m just using their format as inspiration for my writing. And guess what… it usually works!

I’ve done the same for plot devices and problem-solving in my screenwriting. I read a lot of screenplays and if I see something that works well to solve a problem we’re having, my wife and I will adapt it into our work. It saves us a lot of time because there are almost always people out there who have encountered - and solved - the problem we have.

So don’t get so stuck in your ways (or be too lazy) to try an approach you see working.

Here’s Felix Dennis - the late founder of Maxim magazine - talking about this in his book, How To Get Rich:

“There is another side to the subject of ideas in commerce. Stealing them. Or to put it more pleasantly, emulating them.

The error of failing to emulate a winning idea pervades every industry at all levels.

Mainly this is due either to indolence or to folly. Of indolence, no more need be said.

The folly, on the other hand, often takes the shape of a peculiar affliction, known colloquially as the ‘it wasn’t invented here’ syndrome. I would place this affliction very high on the list of reasons preventing individuals and companies from achieving major success…

If you want to be rich, then watch your rivals closely and never be ashamed to emulate a winning strategy. They may josh you a little for doing it, but that’s a price well worth paying.”

Laziness is one thing, but being too proud of your own ideas is another…

Your Need To Be “Right” Should Not Overwhelm Your Need To Make Money.

I’m either blessed with or have inactively cultivated a relatively small ego. I don’t really care about being right or taking credit for ideas. I care far more about improving and finding things that work. Full stop.

If something works, and I own equity in it, who cares if it was my idea, another equity owner’s idea, or something we found out in the world that worked for someone else?

If it works, it works. Don’t let pride in your ideas being right get in the way of what could make you money.

Here’s Dennis again talking about this:

“I have seen so many people attempting to create a start-up company become obsessed with proving that their idea is ‘right’ rather than obsessed with making money. And I have watched them wasting years doing it. Nobody really cares if an idea is ‘right,’ except the person who came up with it.”

Just find stuff that works. And get obsessive about executing it.

Execution Is Everything.

You can’t copyright an idea. You can only copyright your execution of an idea. Disney doesn’t own the image of a talking mouse - they own Mickie Mouse and Minnie Mouse. Lionsgate doesn’t own the idea of a maniacal killer who tortures his victims with crazy physical and psychological games - they own the SAW franchise.

Great ideas are everywhere. It’s the execution of a great idea that will set you apart. Here’s Dennis one more time:

“If you never have a single great idea in your life, but become skilled in executing the great ideas of others, you can succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Seek them out and make them work. They do not have to be your ideas. Execution is all in this regard.”

When my wife and I come up with movie ideas, we write an outline (about 10 pages) to protect our execution of the idea. We can’t protect the logline (one or two sentences that give the character, problem, and transformation), only a longer document that flushes it out.

You can’t protect an idea to solve a problem - only the product or service you’ve built (your execution) to solve the problem.

My wife and I are not the first people to write romantic comedies: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. This template has been around since Aristotle. It’s our execution of this basic structure that becomes unique - especially when it’s infused with our taste, sensibility, sense of humor, and point of view.

We’ve read and watched every modern romantic comedy made (and many that haven’t been made) - and we’ve borrowed from all of them! If something works, it works.

So make it your own, execute, execute, execute, and remember: it’s not the idea that counts. It’s how you pull it off.

Start now.

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Dennis, Felix. How to Get Rich: One of the World's Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.