How do you feel when a Facebook ad for another player in your industry pops up in your feed?
The natural reaction is irritation. In capitalist societies, we’re taught that there must always be a winner and a loser. Every other business in your industry is “competition” to be bested. But as industries mature, this mindset hurts small businesses. And that time has come for transformation companies.
We need a change. Leaders in the transformation business who embrace the abundance mindset will survive. So stop worrying about every new entrant to your market. And stop viewing other Luminaries as competition. Open your mind to collaboration.
Why the old way of doing business isn’t working
In every industry, the market ultimately matures. Other entrepreneurs see the success, and move in. Big business shows up in pursuit of profits. Consumers want more than what a singularly-focused practice can provide.
And that’s where we are right now in the transformation industry. But the problem isn’t the market—or the customers. The problem is the competition between businesses whose ultimate goal is to make the world a better place.
The problem with competition
Competition means escalation. There’s no end. Because when most Business Owners feel threatened, they up the ante. They focus on standing out in a traditional (read: old fashioned) way.
Increasing the marketing budget trying to go toe-to-toe with multi-million-dollar companies. Rolling out promotional pricing and new services you might not even enjoy just to get customers in the door. But in the end, competing does nothing except drive up the cost of doing business.
Maybe a few more customers sign on with that ad spend, maybe not. Meanwhile the increased costs are weigh on the business, and there’s less time to actually do the work.
And no one wins in this scenario. Not the business, not the consumer and certainly not the community. The traditional competition-focused business model is built for the largest businesses to succeed. Regardless of whether they have the best message, they can shout the loudest. So to win, heart-based businesses need to be willing to change the game.
Collaboration is the way forward
There is one bright spot. Big businesses are slow moving. Layers of management and risk averse leadership makes pivoting quickly difficult. And limits the number of valuable voices at the table.
So to succeed in mature markets, take advantage of the unique opportunities available to solopreneurs. But that requires giving up seeing peers as competition. Instead, start looking for ways to work together.
How do we do it?
By collaborating instead of competing. By moving beyond networking to collaborating on product ideas, aligning messages and combining promotion budgets. By sharing resources to reduce costs. And by creating an infrastructure of business services that numerous Luminaries can lean on.
Collaborating with other Luminaries means moving from the local market to a global impact. From being one voice to an amplifier of a broader message. Together, you’ll change more lives. Because when united, we can drive positive global change.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the guest author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of MindShift.money.
image credit: Bigstock/projectio
Chelsea Brennan is a former Wall Street financial analyst and investment manager who changed gears in her career to chase her passion of improving financial literacy and independence. She is now a personal finance writer and content marketer. Chelsea shares her obsession with budgeting, investing, and raising financially smart kids at MamaFishSaves.com.