Should I trust someone who says he wants to be my business mentor but actually follows my ideas and opens businesses of his own?
I am in my 20's. I franchised a pretty well known pharmacy and its doing really well. I'd consider it a source of passive income since I dont need to devote that much time and effort in overseeing operations because my staff are all really good at their jobs.
I still work for a private company because I feel more secure having both active and passive income. One of my colleagues (50+ yrs old), started asking me about my business and giving me advice and motivational quotes, then he suddenly told me that he was planning on opening the same pharmacy but in a different part of the country. At first, I didnt think much of it. I genuinely thought he wasn't going to be a threat since its far from my own pharmacy.
I had another business idea. When i told him about it, he began getting excited and started calling his connections who were in the same industry. He also started telling me to prepare questions i should ask his entrepreneur friends. Then he shared that he's also planning to open the same business in a different region.
I'm starting to get annoyed because I'm the one thinking and brainstorming about things and he's copying my ideas but he has the connections and he's telling me to ask them questions so we can both learn from them. The thing is, i would love to learn from them but i dont like the idea that he's also using my ideas.
Am I being selfish?