In my workshops, I always emphasize why you should own your blog – you control everything. With control comes responsibility, but there’s no greater reward than ownership. I had two experiences that were counter to my own advice and served as reality checks.
Ownership Lesson #1
I asked the coordinator of a seminar I presented if I could have the emails of the attendees. I was told that he wanted to protect this information, which I understand. I asked if I could send a follow up email. He said he would work with me to create a message to send to the attendees.
As of this writing, no message has been sent. That was months ago.
Had I owned the emails of the attendees, I would have created a follow-up campaign with offers of my Blogging Success for New Bloggers course, consulting services and books.
Lessons:
- Find creative ways to collect email addresses of attendees of events you don’t coordinate
- Coordinate your own events so you’ll have access to attendees before, during and after the event
Ownership Lesson #2
Someone used an old photo of me online and I was livid. Let me explain why.
First, I want to be authentically me online and in person and I want everything I do to reflect that as consistently as possible. If the first impression and introduction you have of me is Marcie Writes, I want it to be the best one.
Second, when people post old photos of themselves, I don’t feel that’s very authentic. I’ve met a few of my online connections in person and they looked waaaaaayyy different than the images posted. And people don’t post photos from a few years ago; some of these photos are decades ago.
Third, a decision was made without my permission. That person should not have used my photo even thought it was in “their” possession. I told that person that I would send a current photo and the old one was posted instead. When I asked that person to swap it out for a different picture, I was reminded that all information that was needed was requested at one time, which it was. But I forgot to send a current photo in my haste to return the most important information.
At that point, I felt that the person should have (1) declined to post the any information since I didn’t comply with the request or (2) send a quick reminder to say, “Hey, you forgot the pic. Please send ASAP.” But an old photo should not have been used without my consent.
Lesson:
- If someone is expecting information from you, send everything they request at the same time
- If you’re expecting information from someone else, don’t post information until you receive everything you need
- Ask permission to post photos before publishing
Those were my two experiences – and reality checks – with intellectual property ownership.
What About You?
Have you had any situations where you didn’t own or control your intellectual property? Let us know what happened in the content box below.
Image credit: Pixabay\3dman_eu