“The only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition.”
Chan Kim
There I was, minding my own business. I had just walked outside to grab the mail and there it was, sitting right inside my very own mailbox! A shiny, very colorful mailer announcing a great new babysitting service…in my neighborhood! Wait, what!? How did this happen? Cue the “fight or flight” endorphins. Part of me wanted to throw it away and pretend it was not real. The other part of me wanted to do a drive by of this new establishment.
I am sure you have been there. Maybe you did not get a pretty flyer in the mail, but I know you have heard one way or another that there is someone new in town. Since most of us small business owners are competitive people, seeing a new agency in town turns on the competitive juices. Fear hits you and suddenly, you find yourself down a rabbit hole. What should we do, secret shop them? Poll your nannies to see if they have heard of them? Maybe.
But what I have learned in over 20 years in this business is how easy it is to waste precious time worrying about the competition. What a distraction! I cannot begin to tell you how many agencies have popped up in my market over the last two decades. Some have had staying power, many have not. And distraction is the enemy of productivity.
There was an interesting study on Olympic athletes to determine what kind of athlete qualified for the Olympics versus the athlete who actually medaled at the Olympics. Think about sprinters, for example. The difference between WINNING a gold medal and being LAST IN THE OLYMPICS is about 0.35 seconds! As it turns out, those athletes do not do much differently in terms of training. So, what makes the difference? It is actually quite simple. Those that benchmark themselves against themselves (instead of against their competition) are the ones that medal. They try to beat themselves, better themselves, or outperform their personal record (PR) from their last competition. They spend years leading up to the Olympics tracking, planning, strengthening, and inventing their training with their sole purpose to beat their own PR. Those are the ones who stand on the podium. Those that miss the podium are the ones that track themselves against the competition.
Guess what else happens when you focus on the competition? You give control to your competitor. You stop becoming proactive and become reactive, making decisions based on what your competition is doing. This is just a waste of time. Focusing too heavily on the competition will limit your own growth. It will become a distraction and take you away from your work.
The main thing to do is take a good hard look in the mirror and make sure you are sticking to why you started your business – your mission, your WHY. Do a quick strategic review but then stick to what you do. It is always good to evaluate what you are doing. Are you on the front edge of technology or have you fallen behind? Compare yourself to a year ago. If needed, reinvent yourself. It’s OK to keep an eye on other agencies to evaluate your business but do not become obsessed. Our mantra has always been “Keep Doing What We Do” because what we do is tied to our mission. It is what we built our company on. It has served us well for 22 years and we plan to keep it going for decades to come.
Kim Winblood is the Owner of Mom’s Best Friend, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Vail Sitters and College Nannies and Sitters of NW Dallas and Southlake. Kim and her husband, Jim, work together to run their businesses and raise two teenage daughters and two black labs.