Who Wants a Piece of Me?

Hey, want a piece of me?

Go right ahead, just steal my content…

In case anyone noticed the comments between a couple of readers and me over the past few days, you might be wondering why I’d ask anyone to steal my content.

But first, how can today’s rant affect job seekers? As a job seeker you publish content also. Maybe it’s just your resume, but hopefully you’re getting other ideas from this blog and others. Hopefully, you’ve got content on your personal web page, LinkedIN, Facebook, MySpace, Interview on Demand, on an online portfolio, or your ResuBlog. Maybe you have video or audio on YouTube, pictures on Flickr, or bookmarks on Del.icio.us. Or you’ve shared your thoughts and commented on other blogs, forums, and groups.

Sharing expands your web presence and helps you promote and expand your subject matter expertise. As for me - I’m a “give before I get” kind of guy. For example, at networking events, I ask people how I can help them…and it usually has nothing to do with career search. In the same light, I want the content of this blog to be shared widely, and to benefit as many job seekers and career changers as possible. It’s my form of “Business Karma”.

This blog is about sharing, and hopefully making the job search market a little less dysfunctional. Fortunately, enough people appreciate my advice and want more. This allows me to pay my bills, and have time to give back to the job market through my blog and the 30 minute evaluations I offer free of charge.

What greater compliment can someone give me than republishing my work? It makes my day when I get a heartfelt email or comment of thanks. But there’s no greater validation that the hours I devote to this blog are worthy, when someone else uses my work.

I ask you to steal my content for the same reason Robert Scoble asks in Steal My Content, Please! Scoble, one of the brighter bulbs in the Blogosphere, writes “I WANT YOU to steal my content. In fact, next year I’m going to do stuff to make all my content available via Creative Commons license so you can use it whereever and whenever, including my video shows. I’d like a credit, yes, but don’t demand it. I’d rather just add to the human experience and if that means that other people make money off of my work, so be it. I’ve found that the more I give away my content, the more magical stuff happens to me anyway and if that means my photos or writings or videos get used in some way that I don’t really like, well, that’s a risk I’m willing to take.” You’re welcome Robert…I’ve stolen your content.
So now that I’ve asked you if you want a piece of me, I’m releasing any copyrights on material in my blog. Use my content anyway you like. If you can find a way to make money on it…good for you! You don’t even have to email me asking for permission to republish, if you don’t feel like it (Of course, I’d appreciate it if you did email me, so I can properly thank you for stealing my content, and just maybe make a new friend). It would be nice if you cited me, and linked back to this blog, but you don’t even have to do that.

Why would I release copyrights? For starters, copyright laws are designed to protect large corporations, not entrepreneurs. If one of the big boys wanted to steal my content, they could anyways…so I’m inviting you to. Besides, do you have any concept how expensive and time consuming it would be to protect a copyright? I’d rather spend my time helping career changers.

And how could sharing my content hurt me? I don’t take advertisers on my site, so it’s not like someone else is getting ad revenue from my content. And if you can make ad revenue from my writing…Do it! WAY TO GO!

The worst thing that could happen is that my Google page rank could go down just a bit, because Google penalizes exact duplicate pages published elsewhere. No worries, I’ve already republished many places already. Page ranking is nice, but helping more people is much better.

This is one of the really beautiful things about blogging. It’s altruistic. Blogging is about helping and reaching as many people as possible. Bloggers, even competitors in the same market, are collaborators who help each other. It’s a phenomenon I’ve never seen before in 25 years of business experience. Thank you for listening, and for your readership.

If you’d like to say thanks back, join the discussion.

Comment, email, or give me the greatest compliment you could…by stealing my content, please.

If you’d like more information, a free 30 minute resume consultation, or some advice about your career transition, just email your resume to reCareered at phil.rainmakers@gmail.com, and we'll schedule a time to talk.