Hey, what's up, nation?
I don't really know how to make this video!
I'll be quite honest.
I've been thinking about making this video
for probably about six months.
And that's just on the topic of people stealing your work.
And I've had people stealing my work for a very long time.
I think we can all learn from my experiences.
And I think it's a good discussion that we can have.
The thing that I just want you to know,
is that if you're a maker, if you create anything
and you put it online,
there gonna be people who are gonna steal your work.
I guarantee it.
If it's any good, people are gonna steal your work.
Even if it's not good, people are gonna steal it.
And so there have been times where
I've seen people steal my work.
And it's, you know, it's kind of like crappy.
But it makes me feel good.
I'm like "oh, that sucks". But like somebody stole it.
So it must be okay.
And then there been other times where I've written articles.
And somebody has stolen that an entire article.
Word-for-word, all the images and everything
and claimed as their own.
And then most recently and I think really
what has gotten to me within this past six months,
is that people stealing YouTube content that I've done.
And that's not like stealing verbatim.
But it's like I post a video of an idea,
and then like a couple days later I see the same video.
And like once or twice, like it's a coincidence.
But then you see that trend.
Or in a particular case, I've seen, you know,
one of my most popular videos.
I saw on somebody's channel.
That I was like really inspired by what they were doing.
I saw thumbnail that looked really familiar.
It wasn't my exact thumbnail.
But it was like the same exact format, style.
The same way the text was written, on the same topic.
And so it's not like copyright infringement.
But it's basically like yeah, so I saw this video
that you have is doing well.
I'm gonna make the exact same video.
And because it's doing so,
I'm not going to try to change it up too much.
I'm just gonna actually,
just like change the thumbnail a little bit
so that I actually made it.
But use the same thing.
Like seeing that.
There's like what?
And the thing that really like gets under my skin,
and it may get under your skin too
if you notice that someone stole your work.
Is like if that person has a bigger following,
or is growing faster.
And in the case that I've seen,
this particular person that I'm thinking of,
their channel isn't necessarily bigger
than the Designer Hacks YouTube channel.
But it's growing faster.
And their video has a lot of views.
And so like it's just like the
first time that this happens to you,
and maybe some of you can relate.
You're gonna get so mad.
And like the first thing that you might think, is like
"I want to hire a lawyer to like sue them!".
Or like, depending on you as a person,
maybe it makes you want to quit.
Because you think "Wow!"
Like "Why am I posting anything online, why am I creating?",
like if people are just gonna steal it and not give me credit.
Or maybe like it makes you think like stealing is how you succeed.
Like this person has a bigger following, because they steal stuff.
Because it's faster.
But like I'm just here to sort of tell you like
"Don't stoop to their level!".
And I know that sounds like really cliche,
but like the past six months I've struggled with this,
with our YouTube channel.
Is like how do I keep up with somebody,
who's doing videos every day of the week.
And they're stealing content,
and their channel is growing.
How do I keep creating original content
when they just steal all theirs?
And so what I came to from this like six month deliberation,
is like: "JUST BE BETTER!"
Create your best work,
and bury the people stealing your content.
With content that's so good, they can't replicate it.
And that's been working out for us.
I hired a video editor.
Because I was spending time making videos,
and then editing them.
And I can find my way around a video editor.
But I'm not like good at it.
And so like Colton, thank you so much, man :)
You're awesome at what you do.
And thank you for your gifts,
and for sharing them with designer hacks.
I really appreciate that.
But like that's how we win!
We win by being better!
And the thing that you really need to realize,
is that if someone is stealing your work,
to stay relevant, they're dying!
People see through that stuff.
This probably isn't like a good analogy,
but like the game "Follow 76" was a repurpose of "Fallout 4".
They just used all the same assets,
people hate that game!
People like discover this!
People were so hype for that game!
And then, and I'm one of them too!
I like, I've never even played it before!
But like I get in there, I'm like
"This is garbage!"
From like a beloved company.
Listen, people are gonna see that!
So keep creating and keep producing work,
that makes you proud!
That's how we win!
Thank you guys so much for watching
Hopefully you like this video.
Let me know what you guys think about this topic
in the comment section down below.
Like would you hire a lawyer if somebody stole your work?
Is that worth it?
And if you know anybody who had their work stolen recently?
Feel free to share this with them.
So don't spend the next six months sulking like I did.
And as always, happy hacking!