How to deal with competition in your business
Hey hey hey!
How are you? I am doing pretty well, thanks for asking!
I want to have with my aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners out there.
It was sparked by a conversation I had last week with one of my clients.
She has been in business for a while. She has a committed clientele who values her work and she now is in a position where she is able to offer better quality to her customers, due to all the support she has been receiving!
As I am listening to her share her story, I am like, “Okay. What is the problem?”
She stated that she is now noticing that other people want to start their own business.
The same business that she has spent years developing.
Not only do they want to start their own business but, many people are coming to her for advice and she doesn’t feel comfortable sharing the information that she had to learn on her own.
Being as though she is from a small city, she does not know how to treat the competition when they come to her for advice on how to start their business.
Hearing her story made me think back and see if I ever had this feeling in me.
And yup. I sure did!
I remember when I first opened up my mobile food cart.
I was the only Black owned mobile food cart owner in the City of Wilmington.
The day I put my cart out I had so many people coming to me asking me for advice and I would give it out freely because I knew I was inspiring people.
I also knew how much work it takes to run a LEGIT mobile food cart business and I am sad to say that most people who were asking me the questions did not have the money or the tenacity to start and run a LEGIT mobile food cart business.
When I shared the investment cost for the cart people would automatically get discouraged, so I knew that I wouldn’t have any competitors any time soon. Or that is what I thought.
Well year 2 came. One day I was outside working my cart and my customers said, “Antinette, you know it’s a man down the street selling hot dogs from a cart!”
Y’all I tried to play it cool, but I was HOT! I took it all the way personal. I said to myself, “How the hell this man gon’ come outside in my community and sell hot dogs, hot sausage and burgers.”
I couldn’t let my customers know my blood was boiling but I honestly was mad.
When I think back. The nerve of me. LOL. I don’t own Wilmington, De, people can set up where they want.
If you read my last post, year 2 I wasn’t even outside like that because of my job so he really wasn’t my competition it was my EGO getting in the way and also me working from a place of LACK not ABUNDANCE!
As time went by and on the days I would come out and set up, I noticed my customers saying,
“Antinette, where you been? We missed you!”
“That guy down the street he does not have the same quality as you”
“Antinette, I don’t even think that guy cleans his grill, we ain’t going to him”
It was year 2 in my business when I learned a major lesson.
I learned 2 things that summer,
- I should NOT be threatened by a little competition
- They can’t compete where they don’t compare
And these are the lessons that I share with my client when she shared her “problem” with me.
When you are a business owner, you have to know that
- There will always be competition. Competition is good! It shows that you are in a lucrative industry and there is money to be made!
- People will be “inspired” by your business idea and even start that business, but they don’t have your passion, skill, or other qualities that make you special in your industry!
- They can’t compete where they don’t compare.
- A little competition is good for business.
- If you find people are coming to you and asking you questions about the business you spent time and money learning, think about starting a coaching business or offering a workshop where you teach people how to do what you do for a price.
That is it. That is all!
Thank you for reading. I appreciate you so much!
If you have any questions about starting a business, a non profit, or need advice in your personal life, please feel free to leave it in the comments!
Email me tgn@antinettedevelops.com if you would like to work together in any capacity!
Talk to you soon!
