The United States Postal Service (USPS) is in deep water. They face falling demand for their core product along with rising costs.

It’s a deadly combination for any organization. So what does it have to do with entrepreneurs?

There are a number of lessons that could be taken away from the USPS. But today we want to focus on one area.

Listen to this post. Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast.


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As we talk with startup entrepreneurs and small business owners, a mistake we often see them make is thinking they have no competition.

It’s a naïve point-of-view. EVERYBODY has competition.

If you think you don’t, you haven’t looked closely enough at the marketplace.

And you have to really think about how you define competition. Competition doesn’t necessarily mean other companies just like you.

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Before BIGG Success, my businesses all focused on serving property owners and managers. For some of our businesses, the biggest competition wasn’t other firms. It was people doing the work themselves.

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Give a more specific example, George.

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Okay, one of them was a carpet cleaning franchise. One group we did a lot of work for was apartment owners. I always kept in mind that they could do the work themselves.

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But to do that, they would have to invest in equipment and people?

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That’s true, but they could do it. So it set a limit on the price we could charge. Even if all other firms like mine charged the same amount as me, the customer could always compete with all of us directly.

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So your customer could be your competition. This is just one example of where to look before you say, “We don’t have any competition.”

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Now you might be saying, “What does this have to do with the USPS?”

It’s another form of competition you have to think about when you’re in business.

The Postal Service is a monopoly by law. Yet they are being hit hard by substitutes:

We can e-mail.

We can text.

We can connect online.

These digital forms of communication are impacting the USPS in a way telephones never did.

You can’t ignore substitutes when you’re thinking about starting your business. And as the Post Office proves, you can’t ignore substitutes as long as you’re in business.

Don’t get tunnel vision when you think about the market for your product or service. Look at it through your customer’s eyes. It leads to BIGG success!

Do you have a business idea but aren’t sure how to determine if it’s a good opportunity? Are you facing competition from substitutes?

Maybe we can help.

Thanks so much for checking in with us. Until next time, here’s to your BIGG success!

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00739-092711.mp3

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We’ve had an abundance of squirrels in our neighborhood this fall. Entrepreneurs can learn a lot from these furry creatures about storing up a hoard for winter and business cycles.

We were on our way to the grocery store not long ago. In the middle of the road, a squirrel had apparently stopped with its nut in his paws.

We don’t know what happened. We just know he didn’t make it.

Shortly thereafter, another squirrel ran across the road in front of us, with a huge nut in its mouth. We hit the brake hard to avoid hitting it.

It made us wonder:

Why did the squirrel cross the road?

Why did his friend give his life for a nut?

We returned home from our shopping excursion and took a break on our patio. Two squirrels scampered through our backyard – one squirrel chasing the other one.

Apparently, the smaller squirrel had wandered into unfriendly territory. He ran back across the street into familiar turf. Fortunately, he made it back home safely.

What can entrepreneurs and small business owners learn from these squirrels?

Risk increases when you cross the street to chase nuts.

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners focus too much on new customers in new territories.

New is exciting.

New gets the juices flowing.

New feels like progress.

But chasing nuts on the other side of the street means going up the learning curve. It requires taking more risk.

The most successful entrepreneurs are excellent risk managers. They know that “new” comes with more risk.

Larger, more established competitors are lurking. They will guard their turf vigorously. They will try to chase you away as soon as they learn about you.

And there are market forces which you may not fully understand at first. These vehicles can run you over, even when you’re feeling elated by finding a huge nut.

The most successful entrepreneurs devote more resources to growing relationships with existing customers. And looking for more customers nearby – customers who are just like the ones they already serve.

Of course, sometimes you do have to cross the road. But most of the time it’s better to focus on the nuts in your own backyard. It leads to BIGG success!

Would you like to make more money, more dependably? Maybe we can help.

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Mia Hamm, the amazing soccer player, said, “Success breeds success.”

With all due respect, we disagree.

Success does not breed success.

At least not directly.

And in some cases, success actually breeds failure.

Success breeds success, but only indirectly

Success breeds affirmation. You’re on the right track. You’re doing the right things.

Success breeds confidence. You did well. You’re going to reach BIGG success.

Success breeds enthusiasm. Achieving a goal is fun. It’s easy to get excited about reaching for even bigger goals.

Success breeds energy. You can’t wait to get started on your next goal. You’re all pumped up, ready to go!

Success breeds all of these factors. You bring them all to your next BIGG thing.

How can you help but win? But sometimes it doesn’t work out that way…

Success breeds failure

Sometimes, success leads to failure. This happens indirectly as well.

We’ve seen it happen many times. We help small business owners start a second business.

We share with them the 15 most common mistakes that people make when starting a second business.

Seven of them are related to this attitude of success breeding success. Specifically, they get too confident.

They make poor decisions or execute poorly because of this over-confidence. It leads to failure.

It’s tougher to fail after an initial success than before. Generally, there’s more at risk financially.

And it’s especially difficult emotionally. You start to question whether the first time was just luck.

So success can breed success indirectly. But be on the alert for over-confidence so your success breeds BIGG success!

Thanks so much for checking in with us today. Until next time, we wish you BIGG success!

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Crazytown, June 10, 2011. In a special session held last night at City Hall, Crazytown council members outlawed breathing.

The move was a response to a complaint from a Crazytown resident. This resident got a cold after his wife breathed on him.

He contacted his councilperson demanding the city of Crazytown take action. After much heated debate, the Council voted 5 – 4 to make it illegal to breathe.

No residents of Crazytown could be reached today for comment.

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Imagine checking the news one day and seeing this story. Far fetched? Of course. But haven’t you ever found yourself trying to understand the logic behind some new law?

BIGG success is life on your own terms. As a citizen, you must zealously guard your right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Entrepreneurs, small business owners and other BIGG goal-getters must add political engagement to their to-do list. Make time to share your views with your elected officials.

Otherwise, you may wake up one morning to find out your town outlawed success. Unfortunately, we’ve experienced this firsthand. Not in our town, but from our state.

We’re based in Illinois. Our state just became the fourth state to tax internet sales. It instantly shut down a portion of our business.

For example, we are not affiliates of Amazon any longer. When we discuss books or other products, we will still link you to Amazon for your convenience.

That’s the main reason we did it anyway. The few pennies on the dollar we received were a nice tip.

We understand the arguments on the other side. However, most of the people who voted on the bill don’t understand affiliate sales. We will continue trying to help them grasp the concept.

You must do the same for your business, your career and your life. It’s simply not an option anymore.

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There are two ways to do almost anything: the hard way and the easy way.

We’re overselling that a little bit – BIGG success does not come easily. However, it can come easier.

BIGG success is life on your own terms. It’s about entrepreneuring your life – taking control to design and build the life of your dreams.

Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss this post on The BIGG Success Show podcast. Click the player to listen.

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Feeling lonely, overwhelmed and strapped

Entrepreneurs and small business owners know that going it alone is hard.

You may feel overwhelmed at times.

There’s so much to do. And you have to make it all happen. You’re the driver, the only driver.

You may feel strapped on occasion: strapped for time as we just said or strapped for money. Money and time are two of the five elements of BIGG success.

They are your two resources and entrepreneurs know they have to make the most of the resources at their disposal.

So let’s talk about how to do that; let’s chat about an easier path to BIGG success.

Collaborate for success

Collaboration is one of the buzz words in business these days. Everyone is striving to get more done with the same resources (or even fewer). Entrepreneurs have always done it. Now big companies are doing it. Even government, at all levels, is struggling to learn how to do it.

Merriam-Webster’s definition for collaboration is “to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor.”

Stated simply, it’s working together to achieve a common goal. For example, you may work with someone on a specific project for a specific customer.

Collaborating with someone else brings resources to the table for both you and the party you collaborate with. You can focus on your strengths while they focus on theirs. You can work through a project more quickly and more cost-effectively.

So collaboration has a lot of advantages. But collaboration is often thought of as temporary. Like a project, it has a beginning and an end. Sure, you may collaborate on another project in the future. But it’s sort of an in-and-out kind of thing.

Which is perfect for today’s business environment. You can ramp up organizational capacity by bringing in your collaborators. When the need is no longer there, you each go your own separate ways until another project comes along.

So collaboration is an easier way to reach success. We suggest that you go beyond collaboration for BIGG success.

Coalitions lead to BIGG success

Think coalitions! Merriam-Webster says that a coalition is “the act of coalescing.” So what does it mean to coalesce? We love their definition: “to grow together.”

BIGG success is life on your own terms. While everyone else is looking to collaborate, we suggest you also think about a different term: coalition.

A coalition is a long-term strategic partnership with many participants. It’s collaboration on steroids without a due date.

For example, we talk with a lot of will-be entrepreneurs, small business owners, community banks and Chambers of Commerce every week. If we know what you offer, we may find customers for you.

In essence, we can be part of your sales force. And maybe you can do the same for us.

This is just one small part of a coalition that can be created to grow together. Maybe we can’t help each other but it never hurts to ask. Coalitions lead to BIGG success!

We’re looking to form a coalition. Would you like to join us? Let’s talk about how we might grow together. Send us an e-mail at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com or leave a voice message at 888.455.2444.

Thanks so much for reading our post today. Until next time, here’s to your BIGG success!

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00707-060911.mp3

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