Sippin’ Sunday: When Something Looks Eerily Like Your Product…

You know that moment when you’re scrolling through social media or walking through a market and suddenly you stop.

Wait a minute.

That looks…familiar. 👀😂

Well, I had that moment recently. Twice.

At another market, I saw someone selling Blind Dates with a Book. No big deal—lots of people sell them. But the card they were using to describe the book looked very similar to the cards I created for mine.

Then I came across another shop online with merchandise curated and presented in a way that also felt awfully familiar.

And I’m not going to pretend my first reaction was:

What a wonderful compliment! 😂

There was a little frustration.

Because when you run a creative business, you know how much time goes into the things customers never see.

You experiment. You change packaging. You move things around. You create something, decide you hate it, and start over. You listen to customers. You figure out what works at markets. You tweak the little details until something finally feels like yours.

So when you see something that looks a whole lot like what you’ve built, it can sting a little.

But after my initial hmmmm… moment, I thought about it differently.

Similar Doesn’t Always Mean Stolen

Blind Date with a Book isn’t an idea that belongs to me. Neither are gift boxes, bookmarks, totes or curated gifts.

Trends spread. Makers shop from some of the same suppliers. We see similar things online. Sometimes two creative people simply land in the same place.

And sometimes?

Maybe something you created did inspire somebody.

I can be frustrated by that—or I can recognize that creating something worth noticing isn’t exactly a bad thing.

More importantly, I know where my ideas came from.

I know the work I’ve put into developing my products and creating an experience that feels like Rise Up Designs.

And nobody can take that part away.

So What Do You Do?

For me, the answer isn’t to spend my energy watching what everyone else is doing.

It’s to keep evolving.

How can I make the experience better?

What can I add?

What can I simplify?

What are my customers telling me?

What would make someone see one of my products and immediately think, That’s Rise Up Designs?

Because that’s the part I actually control.

And maybe that’s one of the challenges—and fun parts—of owning a creative business.

You don’t get to create something once and protect it inside a little bubble forever.

You have to keep creating.

☕ Sippin’ Sunday Takeaway

If you’ve ever seen something that looked suspiciously familiar, you’re allowed to have your moment.

Seriously.

Have the “Wellllll…that’s interesting.” moment. 😂

Then get back to work.

Keep creating. Keep improving. Keep listening to your customers. Keep finding those little details that make the experience uniquely yours.

Because someone may be able to create something that looks like your product.

But your business isn’t just a product.

It’s your ideas, your evolution, your customer experience, your relationships and everything you’ve built around it.

And if something I created happened to inspire somebody else?

Well…

I guess that means I better keep giving them something new to look at. 😉☕️