Is it smart for a small business to invite its customers to be contacts on its LinkedIn site?

Question From User - Answers in Comments.

I recently accepted an invitation to become a contact to someone else's LinkedIn site and immediately got excited about using it for my own business. I sent an invitation to my customer list to become contacts and almost 50 signed up. Now I'm worried that a potential competitor could use my "customer list" to start a competing business. I've got some pretty impressive looking contacts and don't want to jeopardize my business. Should I take it down or continue to invite others to become contacts?