Okay, let’s clarify: It’s NOT okay to steal stuff…or even copyrighted content. You should never plagiarize or rip off someone’s words, trademarks, or take their goods. But it IS okay to steal ideas. Henry Ford didn’t invent the car, but he did come up with a way for more people to afford them, making car ownership common all over the world.

Many – if not most – of the products and services you enjoy today were “stolen” and improved on by others. From cereal to toothpaste to roofing materials, and even YouTube channels, you don’t have to be original to strike it rich. In fact, YouTube is one place that makes it easy to steal in an ethical way.

By using software that “plays nice” with YouTube, a guitar instructor can look at other guitar instructors’ channels to find out how to structure their headlines, course descriptions, links, and thumbnails to optimize clicks. You may have a different way of teaching (Rock vs. classical), but you can steal ideas that ignite YouTube’s algorithm to help drive traffic to your channel.

This article looks at “stealable” ideas. See anything here that you could improve upon? Anything from far away that you could start in your own backyard? You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just be like Harvey Firestone, and find a way to improve on existing wheels…then find a Henry Ford to sell them to!

Feel like “stealing” an idea? Contact us at Sequoyah Fund to discuss the ethics – and the potential – of the idea.