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5 Reasons to Love Your Competition

Written on May 9, 2011 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Business

You may think it would be nice to be the only operator in your industry. You may be right. But you may find that there are reasons to love your competition. Here are five:

Competition makes the pie larger

Think about this…if you were the only competitor in your industry, you alone have to educate your customers and promote your industry to the marketplace.

Competitors pile on. They help make ore people aware of the need your product or service fills.

Sure, they may get a piece of the pie, but if the pie becomes much larger, who cares?

Competition keeps you on your toes

With no competition, you get sloppy. Unnecessary costs creep in. Mission creep may result.

Competition keeps you on your toes. You operate more efficiently when you have competition. You’re sharper. You may make just as much money with competition as you could without.

Competition ramps up your creativity

Your competitors aren’t standing still. You’ll be much more likely to keep pushing forward with competition than you would without it.

Competitors force you to keep thinking creatively. You must come up with new ideas. You must find new and better ways to serve customers. You must innovate.

Competition may motivate you

Most humans perform better when facing a deadline. Similarly, most humans are more productive when competition is present.

You pick up the pace. You work harder and longer and smarter. You’re more motivated than you would be if you didn’t have any competitors.

Competition may make you more money

Collaboration is the real opportunity today for entrepreneurs and small business owners. You may be able to work with your competitors to save money. You may be able to combine forces to reduce certain costs. You may be able to open new markets together that you couldn’t on your own.

You may actually make more money by working with your competition. The love of money may be the root of all evil. Finding reasons to love your competition just makes good business sense today.

What do you love about your competition?

Image in this post from dimitri c

Tags: bigg success, business owners, competition, competitive advantage, competitors, george krueger, mary-lynn foster, opportunity, small business, small business owners

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Do Women Fail to Take Advantage of Their Advantages?

Written on March 14, 2011 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Networking

A friend of ours was going through a career change. We had an interesting conversation with her in the midst of it.

She had applied for a job. She had a connection who knew the CEO at the company, personally and professionally.

Her connection was a former supervisor, who thought highly of her. He had already written her a glowing letter of recommendation. But he said that he was willing to personally call the CEO on her behalf.

Our friend declined. She said she felt like she would be taking advantage of her relationship with her supervisor. She also said that she wanted to get the job on her own, without playing to her advantages.

We said playing to your advantages helps you get ahead in your career and your life. What good is an advantage if you don’t use it?

This story has a happy ending. She did get the job so maybe she was right. It’s a great example of life on your own terms.

But we think she took a BIGG risk that could have been avoided. What do you think? Is this a male/female thing? Would a man have responded differently to the supervisor? Do women fail to capitalize on their advantages?

Image in this post from katagaci