My content was stolen last weekend. An Instagram post I’d shared on February 6, 2021, was almost verbatim copied… by another midlife health coach, who after using my post as if it were her own in which I shared a client conversation she took and used as if it were her client, and then also used the copy below the graphic almost word-for-word. There's More But it gets better. Just after using the copy she plagiarized, she pitched her program declaring that her goal was to help someone reach their full potential… by coaching with honesty. I don’t quite know what to think about it still. I wanted to believe it was an honest mistake. But how could word-for-word be an honest mistake. Someone would have to be so naïve to think that stealing someone else’s words is ethical. I found it hard to believe a midlife woman, who wants to be coaching midlife women, doesn’t know the foundational core values of no lying, stealing, or cheating. Here’s What Makes This Potentially Very Risky In using my client testimonial as her own, and the copy I wrote, she was promoting her own program. Profiting from this type of behavior makes it a worse offense. So, when you have content that others admire, or think works, or wish they’d said, you too will have this happen to you. It will happen. In this episode is what to do. My choices were to… Ignore it Message her privately Post about it publicly Let the platform (s) where she’s used my content know that she is spamming me. I chose 2 and 3. I have yet to do #4, and I don’t have time to focus on being a watchdog. That kind of negative energy doesn’t serve you. But sometimes you have to choose to make an example. This is one of those times. The Message: My Content Was Stolen I messaged her in Instagram. I posted on my Facebook page and shared it to my personal page. I used it to both gather feedback and to share with my community that this likely happens all the time. To someone, not to me. There are a lot of copycats out there. By the way it’s a new teaching for our mastermind masterclass about how to create copy without being a copycat. It is perfectly okay to curate – that is share, repost, and credit – but it is not okay to copy and steal. If you know your customer better than anyone you should never need to or want to copy. Fitness pros and health coaches, do your homework, it’s easy, enjoyable and fun to really connect to your clients. To her credit she responded to my message. She accepted responsibility. And asked me to remove the post I’d made about her stealing the content. At the same time, she didn’t offer to remove the one she’d posted using my content. I have a proposal for her so we can discuss it, use it as a way to identify ethical practices, honest mistakes, and truly unethical ways of “collecting” marketing copy. Other posts of this copycat have begun to be “suspiciously similar” to other experts. She doesn’t herself seem to have a voice. If your website or other content was stolen you have some options. First, though for many of us will be in this spot I was initially. And that is, a desire to understand it and how it could happen. Will We Ever Know Why? The thieving coaches and trainers (if they are, and aren’t bots) either: Don’t know any better Don’t have their own content or client testimonials Know full well it’s not right but do it anyway And last unfortunately, know enough to know your copy is good and that they need good copy. So, it will happen, friend. If you’re here, I think it will happen to you. I’d like to make this one thing clear before I point out what other options there are if you’re content was stolen, or you find that true in the future. There is Room for Every Authentic Voice I created a Flipping 50 Fitness Specialist course and host a mastermind and masterclasses in order to help trainers and health coaches’ market themselves better. I want my students to be successful. And I can do that because there’s no way that one of us can serve all the people who need h