How my business was stolen, and why it's not the end of the world

                **I wrote this about a month ago now, when I was feeling very raw and vulnerable about my work.  Some of it may seem immature or hasty, but it’s all honest, and I don’t want to edit what I felt at the time.  I’ve since come to terms with it a little better and am trying not to focus on what is not worth focusing on!**

                The other day I found out that someone had stolen my entire business.  She had taken my ideas, designs, descriptions, and even my story about what sheet music means to me and used them as her own.  My shop’s tagline is “Romantic Sheet Music Jewelry”.  Her’s was “Beautiful Sheet Music Jewelry”.  I use little ♫’s bullet points in my listings.  So does she, with the same exact information following them.   I write about the sheet music I use and what it means to me to work with such a unique part of the past.  She writes the same thing with a slightly different word order.  There was no doubt about it, she had studied my shop, and taken everything she needed and transplanted it into hers and passed it off as her own.  As if this was not enough, she was in my shop, looking at who favorited my items, and was reaching out to them to bring them into her shop.  She set up an identical business, and was luring my customers away to hers.   Really, really low.

                When I first saw one of “her” listings with all my words staring back at me, my heart sank so hard and so fast.  How could someone do this?  WHY would they do this?  Those are my words, my work, and my feelings about my craft.  But without my heart, my experiences, and my hands behind them, they are meaningless.   And yet, she continues to list more and more and make sales. 

 Can't touch this :)

                As creative, small business owners, we do it all.  We are designers, the production, accountant, quality assurance, shipping department, photographer, and everything else that makes up a successful business.  We pour not just our time and money into our work, we pour our hearts, passion, and energy into it.  Our work is material reflections of these things.  Sure, you can take the easy way and short-cut the years of trial and error, research, and hands on experience, but you get what you put in.  You may make some sales, yay!, but can you sustain a business on someone else’s model?  Can you experience the joy and fulfillment of knowing that YOU thought of something and worked tirelessly to make it a reality?  Can you feel good about knowing that what you do is unique and is a product of what makes you special?  I’m guessing no, probably not.  And then so really, what’s the point?

 

                 I work so hard on my business.  Writing doesn’t come easily to me, and I spend a lot of time searching for just the right words to describe a piece, or talk about how a piece makes me feel.  I endlessly research new techniques, take classes, compile lists of trusted suppliers, market, update my social media, network with other artists, photograph my pieces, list them, and haul them back and forth to shows (a whole other set of unique challenges!).   

 At a show, working hard for my money....so hard for my money...

                When you short cut and take someone else’s ideas, passion, and stories, you aren’t just hurting them, you’re hurting the whole business of handmade.  No, it’s not the end of the world.  And I will continue to do brisk business and make sales and hopefully forget that plagiarizers and copy cats even exist.  But here’s the thing:  handmade, to me, is about paying it forward.  I sell what I put my heart into and make enough money to keep doing it and support myself, plus some to reinvest in other handmade businesses.  My love and creativity is passed on through my work, and my dollar is passed on to another artist or craftsperson so that I can experience their love and creativity.  And the cycle continues.  Plagiarizing and stealing disrupts that.  There’s nothing to pay forward.  

But maybe there is one positive from it; I am so determined to stay ahead of my copiers now.  I have so many new designs and ideas I’m working on.  This year you will see a lot of new products and even more creative uses of my extensive sheet music collection.   So, thank you plagiarizers and copy cats, for keeping me on my toes.  You can try to keep up with me, but I think you’ll find without passion and creativity on your side that you won’t have much luck.  

 A happy ending, possibly?