Handling Competition in Business: 5 Mindset Shifts You Need To Make
I still remember the sudden flood of texts and emails.
It was November 2013 and Google had just announced “Helpouts”.
My friends, advisors, and investors all thought it was the death knell to my company, Clarity.fm… and thought it to be their duty to let me know.
Fresh off TWO successful exits, I was no stranger to competition and had become resilient in focusing on “me” while tuning out the noise.
But when a 100 billion dollar giant comes thumping into your backyard, you tighten up and take notice.
I had a choice.
I could wave the white flag (no thanks).
I could fight back with all I had (not my style)
Or I could lean into the 5 mindset shifts that I cover in this week’s episode.
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At a high level, here are the 5 mindset shifts you need to make to deal with competition:
- Work backward
- Learn, don’t distract
- You do you
- Life supports those who support life
- Attract what you put into the world
It took all 5 shifts to successfully overcome the Google threat.
But 2.5 years later after the announcement was made — Google abandoned the project and Clarity.fm, the undisputed leader in the space, was sold to startups.co
I didn’t “win” by outcompeting Google.
I won by “being 100% me” and staying true to my customer and their biggest needs.
And I invite you to do the same.
If you’re feeling the sting of competition, give this episode a watch, and then let me know in the comments what you plan to do to stay focused on you and your customer.
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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Originally published at www.danmartell.com on September 24, 2018.
