Giving The Gift of Giving Credit

I have a big list of “unpopular opinion” posts running through my head. Posts where I’d love to tell you how tired I am of strangers calling me “sweet friend.” Or why it is I don’t think “your story matters” (because it’s ultimately God’s story and when we forget that we make it about US and our pride). Or maybe an instructional post about how you don’t have to type the word “follow” on a Facebook post if you want to be notified when someone comments – you can just click the drop-down arrow and choose “turn on notifications for this post.”

Except that took all of one sentence and wouldn’t make a particularly compelling blog post. One of the others might just end up in a chapter in Holy Hustle though. Teaser.

When it comes to hustling well though I do have one thing I want to write about because I keep seeing it happen over and over again. Or, rather, not happening. It’s this idea that when we find a quote, a beautiful graphic, or some creative image online, it’s ok to not give direct credit to the author, creator, or original designer.

I see it on Facebook lately, posts with great quotes from someone else but either no direct link to them or their name is hidden WAY down in a comment. Or on Instagram, an image reshared but the original watermark removed, covered up, cropped out, and no tag to indicate where it came from or who created it.

Maybe it’s because I spend a lot of my day creating and I’ve had images, ideas, and words stolen by others with no credit given back to me, so I’m a bit sensitive. I’ve also seen amazing women who run businesses have their ideas and products ripped off because people are too lazy to come up with something original on their own.

We have got to stop this. When it comes to holy hustle I believe that we are called to do what Romans calls “outdoing one another in honor.” And that means giving the gift of credit where it’s due.

• Did you find an image on Pinterest or save it to your phone from someone else’s account? It’s not yours – give them credit. Tag them, link to their page, add the little camera emoji with their name beside it so your community recognizes that it is not your design.
• Did you find a quote in a book that you love and want to share? Tag the author so your community can connect with the writer of the words that meant so much to your heart – not in the comments or only when someone asks, but right there beside the quote.
• Use apps like Repost on Instagram to easily share posts by others with proper credit already attached to the image.
• Use the native Instagram cropping tool to make sure you don’t lose the carefully placed watermark on the image you’re using, or use Canva to create a properly sized image to include the entire graphic.

When you take the time to recognize the work and creativity of someone else, you hustle well – with honor.