From the "I wish I had thought of that first" files

Most of the ideas that seem to succeed on the internet come from very simple and yet amazingly clever ideas.

Kind of like a Mondrian, you look at it and say "I could do that! Anyone could do that!" but while anyone can imitate a stunnigly simple and obvious idea, it's often not obvious until you've seen it somewhere first.
Often even the most "obvious" ideas are genius when a person first comes up with them.

If you have an idea, stock of a product or some basic but interesting technology and perhaps an investor or friendly banker you too can become the next hot thing that everybody's talking (writing) about.

This is one idea that I just love.

I've been seeing articles and write-ups of one of the two shops mentioned in that article, "Bag Borrow or Steal", all over the web.

The website is simple, the idea person behind it is obviously media savvy, and they've used the power of knowing their target and knowing how to get media coverage to what would seem to be a wonderful advantage.

The thing about ideas is they're easy to steal.

On the internet, there's very little that's a "black-box", so one of the most important things to do as quickly as possibly is to find your niche and brand-brand-brand yourself before someone else with a web developer and investor comes in and steals your idea, thunder, and market out from under you.

You can have the best idea ever on the internet, but if you don't do the marketing and branding it takes to make sure people know it's your idea, it can often end up being an exercise in frustration.

Is it terrible for me to say that I wish I had either thought of this first or that the site owner wasn't terribly adept at branding the idea but I still magically managed to find it and make it my own?

It is, I'm sure, but I'm not entirely serious.

Mostly, I love when I see an amazing idea, done well and successfully, on the internet.

And no, I'm not a member.

Mostly as punishment to myself for not coming up with the idea first.

No bags for me!!