Ten years ago, I had just opened a shoe store.
It was a great business, bootstrapped, and slowly nurtured.
But 6 months in, a new store popped up not too far away. Then a second.
I freaked a bit…
One had more stock straight away, and the other spent $400k just on their fitout, with a state-of-the-art running track inside…
I remember checking their websites and social… even asking the brand sales reps for what the order numbers were like over there.
Eventually, I realised that they were serving a different customer, and I finally focused back on my work.
Competition can seem like a serious threat.
They can steal your ideas, get better brand colours, or even have better skills.
But in the end, they’re only really a threat when you spend all your time focusing on them.
The thing is, for me, that huge detour of attention with the running store was a complete waste of time.
Not only did we serve a different audience, we did things completely differently. In the end the big store over-leveraged and closed down!
I talk to a lot of people who wouldn’t openly “say” they think about the competition, but when you watch their behaviour you see a huge amount of attention going sideways over the shoulder rather than to the customer.
This is what I was doing, for months.
Markets are saturated, so for sure, competition is a “thing.”
But at the same time, for most service businesses it only becomes an issue if you focus on it, because it takes you away from what matters.
When you focus on who you are, the story you’re creating and the people you want to help, you stand alone.
