Money, It's A Gas...

The following article I had prepared and I was in the process of finalising for posting last week when news of the passing of the late Graham McCallum came to me via the TrafficSwirl chatroom. Delayed as a mark of respect to a fellow internet entrepreneur and his loved ones, here is that finalised article.

Eliana Gomes @elianaicgome posted the following article on CTPtalk today (i.e., eight days ago on November 14): https://www.ctptalk.com/dtube/@elianaicgomes/lqcil6sbucq

In that article, she explained - via a video she uploaded on to dTube - how to setup lead capture pages aka LCPs. So I left a comment on Eliana’s article, as I usually do. My concern was about the need to protect all of our work, an issue I advised to a client 10 years ago when working as, inter alia, a social media consultant to a family owned and operated advertising company in Brisbane, Australia.

Here are my relevant comments on Eliana's article:
“To retain some ownership of your hard work, consider using the print-screen function on your keyboard and save your work as images in your own computer, and email to yourself these images every few months as a back-up and so you can access them anywhere in the world simply by opening your email.
“If you want to, you can print off in color the ones that have the best click-through-ratio, and file these somewhere safe so that they can become part of your legacy portfolio of intellectual property rights. Just remember to include a date on the back and the link to where the electronic copy is located, as proof of copyright ownership.”
Intellectual property takes many forms, and we who create or possess these (usually) intangible assets often forget that such property has real value and can be bought or sold like an asset.

Before reading her article, I had chatted with Eliana on the CTP Telegram group, a place where CTPtalk tribe members often hang out. I noticed that she had changed her avatar on one of her LCPs being touted on the CTP Gauntlet webpage.

Here's that thread:
me: "I love that new avatar of you and your boy on Gauntlet. hope you'll use that one more. suggests family and builds trust."
Eliana: "aw thank you lol"...
me again: "be careful with that image, someone will steal it!" then, "see if you can protect somehow, should be software you can imprint."
Eliana again: "noted"
my close: "also applies to your appics images, too easy to save onto phones. I commented on Blain's awesome post earlier re intellectual property rights in relation to logos, and that aspect also applies to your photos and other images. I don't mind too much about my ones as I'm using an old cellphone. if you're using a smartphone or digital camera or graphic design software, please protect your images."

What would be really useful right now is for one of the programmers on the Steem platform to write a script that would allow people - both internal and external to Steem - to view images or logos or other forms of intellectual property uploaded on to the Steem platform, and not be able to save or capture those items for their own use or mis-use.

Earlier I had read and commented on an article by @blainjones. He and @jongolson co-own the ClickTrackProfit.com website.

In his article, Blain explained the need to get websites designed properly. He said that when he builds websites, he gets the logo designed first. In case you missed his awesome article, here is the link: https://www.ctptalk.com/ctp/@blainjones/building-a-better-business-episode-1-website-design

Great article, and full of really useful information. Even if you have no intention of ever setting up a website, have a read so you can understand the complexities involved. Mind you, websites are so much easier to set up now than they were 10 years ago!

Here’s my relevant comments on his article, taking a slightly different slant:
“Of course, owning the logo means you will keep the intellectual property rights. If your website does well and you put on the open market, the logos and other IPRs could be worth a lot.
“That's why using your suggestion of hiring a designer to do the design graft is the best approach.”

Here on Steem we create a lot of interesting thingies. Now these thingies are owned by someone. Usually that someone will be you; however, you may need to prove ownership.

What I do is this: I draft up my thingie - at the moment just written articles until I get myself a smartphone so I can utilize the innovative @Appics app, although I do insert my own photographs taken from an old cellphone - and save a copy on my PC before I post on to the Steem platform. I back-up regularly the saved files to Gmail. In time, I will have my own legacy portfolio of intellectual property that can be willed or gifted to my estate or elsewhere, and emailed to the executor of my will with the instructions on how to access that property. I retain control of that destiny. Simple steps to help ensure a future benefit to my beneficiaries.

Money, it's a gas...

Ian Ballantine
Wellington, New Zealand
November 14, 2019 edited and published November 22, 2019.

Lyrics: https://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/pink+floyd/money_20108700.html

Playlist:

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser or legal adviser, so the comments written by myself and that are contained in this article are meant only for general interest purposes. If you need advice on intellectual property and your rights pertaining to that property, then seek advise from an appropriate professional such as a financial adviser or a patent attorney registered in your own jurisdiction.