Creative business owners are all professionals, collegial and supportive of each other. That is, until as Marcy Blum put so aptly at Engage!10: The Breakers, there is a potential client [for her, a bride], then we are like lions fighting over a carcass. Hilarious and, unfortunately, oh so true.
I loathe the idea of earning business at the expense of others (which, to Marcy’s extraordinary credit, she never does). Whether that means your competition pays any kind of fee you do not (read commission, referral, preferred vendor, advertising, etc.) or if you get your business by besmirching the reputation of your peers to your own aggrandizement. It is such a myopic and small view of the world. You might win in the short term and even be able to sustain your business that way. But in the end you will always be questioning your own self-worth. Are you getting the business because you are good or because you are willing to cheat?
Call me naïve, overly-optimistic or even a Pollyanna, but business integrity with a kick-ass business model that is an intrinsic reflection of what you are all about will carry the day. Do what you do and never, ever apologize for it.
What does this have to do with community? If you view your competition as someone you need to beat, you miss the opportunity to turn them into your clients. And that is my mantra: wherever possible, turn your competition into clients.
Rather than pay money to be on a preferred vendor list, why not offer your expertise as to what they can do to improve their business. Think about their business. Understand what drives them and also what should be driving them. Then fill the void. If you undertake the task of figuring out how to put multiples of any fee you pay into your vendors pocket by improving their business, how much business do you think will come your way? That you would do a great job for them and represent them extraordinarily well is a given.
For those that are direct competitors, why not look at what they are doing with the same mindset as vendors you would like business from? Nobody has the expertise you do even if they are in the same business. Figuring out what you can do to help their business can lead to an entirely new business for you. It can also lead to new and interesting partnerships that you would never have thought of had you looked to chew their leg off, lest they beat you to the carcass.
Is it a radical way to be? Sure. But community need not go out the window when the pie shrinks or if competition grows. Quite the opposite. There is always a better mouse-trap and a way to improve on convention. Jonathan Fields wrote a great post today on how we all fall into convention and just assume this is the way it has to be done (I put my silverware in face-down). Evolution and progress is all about community questioning convention and being willing to go another way. You do not have to be a maverick to effect change. You just have to be willing to see the world from eyes other than yours and ask why.
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I love this post, Sean. You get to the heart of what I see troubling the wedding community. It’s a sad to see people so unsure of their own creative and business abilities that colleagues look like a threat. I’m committed to helping the community become more collaborative in spirit and deeds, and it sounds like you are too. Thanks
I bet you can imagine my delight reading this after our recent emails! Thank you so much for what you so graciously sent me to share with those ladies and for this incredible post, well written as always and brilliant. I too went the same direction, i referred to my community as my village, following after the concept that it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to run a successful company, and competition is part of that village, it should be a positive part, rather then negative, you hit the nail right on the head thanks!
Twice now your take on community (village) has passed through me this weekend. Audrey graciously shared your conversations and like-minded view on community and compassionate networking. She taught me so much new and again reading this post, I learned even more. Thanks.