Why You Should Stop Worrying About Your Competitors

Last week I had a conference call with another author in the small business space. By all accounts, we are direct competitors. But you know what? Neither of us cares about that. Instead we’ve decided to work together on some projects that can be beneficial to both of us.

I have always believed that there is plenty of business to go around. Not every client is a good fit for every business, and so my competitors may end up working with people who wouldn’t be a good match for me—and vice versa.

We all have competitors and we can view them as the enemy, or embrace them and find mutually beneficial opportunities. In fact, I’m friends with many authors and business owners who play in the same sandbox as I do, and I’ve built many cherished friendships and alliances as a result.

Develop Your Personal Best Instead

Instead of worrying about competing with others, I’d rather compete with myself. I’ve always been my own biggest competitor. When I was a teenager I worked as a cashier at a hardware store. At the end of the day we would tally up the total number of transactions. I noticed other people’s numbers, but was far more interested in my own results—and worked hard to beat my own totals week after week. I did the same thing when I worked in a call center years later. I kept my focus on beating my own numbers each month. And now that I’ve been in business for ten years, I work to achieve bigger and better results in my own business each year.

This is a lesson I recently attempted to teach my 7-year old. We went bowling for the first time and he got frustrated because he couldn’t beat my score (not that my score was impressive by any stretch, but to a kid it was over the moon). I explained to him that instead of worrying about beating me, he should focus on doing the best that he could do. And that the more he practiced, the better he would perform over time. I believe we should all teach our kids the importance of doing our personal best.

What You Can Learn from Competitors

I’m not suggesting that you should ignore competitors, but you can spend a lot less energy worrying about them. You should still keep an eye on what they’re doing because you can learn a lot from them, and paying attention can help you stay on top of your own game.

Imagine what would happen if you stopped worrying about them and instead focused on improving your own performance? Or if you reached out to your competitors and invited them to co-promote something with you? Competitors can be your friends if you let them, and in the end your business can grow even bigger because of this slight shift in attitude.

Stephanie Chandler is the author of LEAP! 101 Ways to Grow Your Business.
She is also CEO of http://AuthorityPublishing.com, a custom publisher of
nonfiction books, and http://BusinessInfoGuide.com, a directory of resources
for entrepreneurs. Also visit http://StephanieChandler.com