Stephen most people we interact with offline follow the same progression.
When you first tell them what you do, even in a simplified form, they dont grasp or believe it. They are sure we are wasting our time and nothing will come of it. Even if they dont say it to you they talk amongst themselves about how crazy we are and how in a month or two we will go “back to work” (Like them)
After a while when they see we havent starved or lost our cars, homes or apartments they switch modes, then they want to jump on “the easy money gravy train” they believe we are riding.
Again they have no real idea what it is we do, but they are now sure its terribley simple and even a monkey could do it. They start asking us to “hook them up” so they “Dont have to work” either!! They look at you blankly and assume you can sum it all up in 15 minutes and if you dont you are just being greedy and not wanting to share the Golden Goose with them….
Yep, we all go thru this and there is no easy answer.
In my case I am 6 feet tall and weigh 350lbs. I have a terrible temper and a large gun collection, so luckily my family and “friends” don’t hijack my sites. If they did I would persue them with extreme prejuidice and they know this.
I am not sure what would work best for you to desuade these vultures from trying to steal your sites and secrets, but I would suggest a letter from an attorney as a great way to get their attention.
This was a very good question Stephen. I know we all go thru this so I am eager to see what others recommend too.