The Competition Blues

When I first started my coaching business, and ran into other coaches who did similar coaching and were doing really well in their business, one emotion or instinct I felt was a desire to compete. In some ways I felt a bit a threatened, because here were these people who were getting lots of clients and I was going to have to compete against them. It wasn’t until I went to a networking event at a local park and heard, “At this networking group, I learned I didn’t have to think about my relationship with similar businesses as competition because there’s enough work to go around,” that I began to think of competition in a different way. I realized focusing on who I had to compete against was taking away my energy and focus on who it should really be focused on: my clients.

As a published writer, I have also sometimes felt competitive about reaching my audience and writing a book on a particular subject before someone else does. Just as with the networking situation, I realized one day that when I focused more on who I was trying to race against in writing a book, I wasn’t writing my book for my audience anymore, or myself. I was writing it to compete against someone else. Worse, I wasn't enjoying my writing nearly as much as I had before. Once I stopped worrying about who was writing what, I started enjoying writing more and I realized that no matter what someone wrote, they wouldn't be writing what I wrote or have my ideas about the topic I was writing on.

As I had these realizations about competition, I began to question what role competition should play in my business and in my writing. I know, realistically, that I do have competition. There’s no doubt that when I focus on a niche market and someone else also focuses on that market, there is some degree of competition. But how much of that feeling of competition is healthy?  How do we know when it becomes unhealthy and overblown?

I realized that my feelings of competitiveness became unhealthy when I was focusing more on trying to outdo someone and less on actually doing something meaningful for the people I wanted to serve. Feeling that level of competition told me something else as well, namely that on some level I felt insecure about the services I was providing people. If I felt I had to compete to outdo someone, I was likely comparing what I had to offer to what that person was offering and finding fault in my own services.

To get past the competition blues, and get back to a place where competition is healthy, but the overall focus is on your clients can take some work. First you have to deal with any insecurity you may have about your business or your role in that business. This means you really need to be honest with yourself about why you feel competitive as well as what it is that feeling is gaining for you. Ask yourself:

How am I choosing to compete with others?

Who benefits from this competitiveness?

Is my focus on the client or my competitor?

Am I missing out on good opportunities by being too competitive?

The last question is an especially good question to ask, because you could actually form a solid strategic alliance with someone you thought was a competitor who could actually help you find clients. In fact, the competition blues can sometimes cause you to miss out on great opportunities that can help you achieve your goals and help a potential business partner as well.

After you’ve answered the questions as honestly as possible, think about your answers for a bit. If you find that competition is the main focus of your business practice, it’s time to make a change in strategies and get focused on your clients again. They’ll thank you and you’ll thank yourself when you realize that you’re not spending so much time or resources on trying to outdo the competition.

But is competition ever healthy?

Competition is healthy when you make yourself aware of what other people are offering to your clients. It’s healthy when you run some of your own specials or deals as a way to attract client interest. And it’s healthy when you can focus most of your effort on your clients, and very little of it on your competitors. Remember your competition isn’t your enemy, but they aren’t your best friend either. They are people trying to make their business work as best as possible for themselves and the clients they get.

The best thing you can do for your business is run it smoothly and focus on the clients you have, as well as the clients you want to get. Create strategic partnerships were you can and don’t worry too much about the competition, because who you’re ultimately competiting with is yourself, and to win that race you really have to be able to prioritize what’s important and let everything else go so you can build a thriving business and a happy client base.