If your best friend came to you and said that she wanted to start her own business doing either the same thing or something similar to what you were doing, how would you act? Would you be mad and hope that she fails? Or would you embrace her, tell her how excited you were for her on taking this next step, and help her?
And before you choose the being mad option, consider how you’d want your best friend to treat you if the roles were reversed?
This idea was one that changed my perspective. It was especially hard thinking of people online as friends, but you have to remember that there are real people on the other side of the screen. So treat those online or in person as a friend, not only may you end up gaining a friendship, but they may end up embracing you too.
2 | Take a trip to your closet
One of the biggest challenges with embracing community over competition is the idea that you won’t have enough work and that you want people to only ever buy from you. However, take a trip into your closet. I’m certain you have clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc from different brands. These different brands are technically considered each other competitors. Yet, you still chose different options and there is still enough to go around. Just like there will still be enough to go around if someone else joins the club.
3 | Remember you can’t do it all
This goes a little with taking a trip to your closet. But again, it’s one of the biggest challenges so it’s important to bring it home. There are billions of people in the world. All with their own sets of needs, wants, goals, etc. Would it be awesome if all of the billions of people bought from you? Yes! But that’s not the reality we live in. Just like your ‘competitors’ can’t serve everyone, you can’t either.
4 | Be a little selfish
Your business is your business. It’s a reflection of yourself, your goals, your visions and your ideal customer. If you are being selfish, then you know exactly what you want for your business. That can be entirely different than what your ‘competitor’ may want. So it’s okay to embrace them as part of a community. And even if you share similar goals or similar customers, there will not only be enough customers, but if you truly embrace and want the best for each other, you’ll be happy to help each other out when possible.
Now it’s your turn! What helped you embrace the idea of community over competition?
