Competition makes you better (ouch)
You love your tribe, your fans and followers. You’ve worked crazy hard for eons to stand out from the rest and build relationships with clients that go beyond a contract and a cheque. You know their kids names, their favourite sushi restaurant, their life or business goals…
And then a competitor (a real competitor – someone who pitches the exact same niche and product/service line) swoops in and you see a few of your favourites defect or at least embrace the new guy whose sole purpose is to crush their competition – which they’ve identified as you.
How could they?!, you ask yourself. I thought they loved me!, you whine. Even though common sense should prevail (because let’s face it, you’ve been around this particular block a few times), it still feels like you’re in the middle of a hostile takeover.
And immediately you hit the drawing board. You brainstorm. You collaborate. You dust off ideas you never had the time or resources to make happen. You plot what you could do with another 40 hours in each week, what you can afford to invest in, how you can create an even bigger wow factor. You even kick yourself (hard) for letting things slide that you shouldn’t have.
You become better. Overnight. You know you’ll overcome and dim the competition’s self-powered (with oodles of new money and energy) spotlight. Why? Because what you offer is better, it’s unique, and you’ve spent years fine-tuning it. AND because you’re about to step it up again.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t feel like you just got kicked in the gut. It’s okay to take business personally. Your clients will always win as the result – which is what they, and you, both want. And so, in the words of immunization nurses everywhere; this will only hurt a bit.
