The fantastic Rebecca Grinnals tweeted a few quotes from last year’s Trendwatching.com: “Just copying competitors is a race to the bottom” and “If you’re obsessed with what your direct competition is doing, you will always end up copying new concepts in your industry.”
If you are interested in copying or stealing from your competition, you should not be a creative business owner. Whether a creative business takes an image of another’s work without credit or uses the exact same model as her competition, the practice is counter to everything a creative business should be about.
You do not sell wire hangers for a living. You create art. By definition, creative business is idiosyncratic and perpetually changing. If your focus is on your competition, your art will be tainted and so will your business. There is just no “one size fits all”. Running on the wrong platform, no matter how fantastic the art, is ultimately limiting and self-defeating. If you are a planner who is really a designer, a graphic designer who is really a stationer, an interior designer who is really a stylist, or a photographer who is really a journalist, you literally lie to yourself and your clients every day by acting like the other. Not only will you not be able to sustain the lie, you will miss all of the opportunities that would have come your way if you had the courage to be true to yourself and your art.
That being said, it is really hard to ignore the competition when your way would be counter to what is accepted by both the industry and clients alike. Being idiosyncratic makes you incomparable at the moment clients and vendors want to compare. And the risk is, if they can’t compare you to your competition, you will lose out to those creative businesses that fit in the box. To which I say your job as a creative business owner is to think about the health of your business in the long term. If your art and business model is not an honest depiction of your vision, you will lose integrity very quickly and start competing on all the wrong metrics – price and volume. Your investment in finding the right client that most desires your art and then supporting that client with a business model that provides both you and the client the most value is really your only long-term choice.
The point is no matter how gifted an artist Han van Meegeren, one of the greatest art forgers of all time, was, he wasn’t Vermeer. All he did was inspire more forgeries – of his own work, no less. Go figure, the forgeries ultimately devalued HIS art. Not a legacy you want to leave.
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Great post, Sean. Just the other day I told someone, “don’t worry about the competition. Just be you, no one can do it better. There’s enough success to go around.”
I really believe that our ‘competition’ can be our best allies in many ways – we can help each other, inspire each other and accomplish more with positive and helpful attitudes in every situation! Plus, I find those that are most generous with their information, are often the most successful. 🙂
this is great, thank you! in particular this is good b/c you explain your ideas and concepts about small business development more and more, so this is really helpful to put into perspective what you’ve said before. you know my feelings on competition…http://juliannesmith.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/competition-really/
thanks for sharing!
Execellent!!!
This blog hits the nail right on the head. I have always strived to be me and to work with my clients to bring out Who THEY are. I have a rule which I stick by at all costs (even turned down some orders because of it which one must be willing to do) that rule is – Any custom order that I created MUST be based on one of the my samples that are shown on MY website… never based on anyone elses work. Because of this policy I have – I have always had the confidence and great feeling inside that I know I’ve been true to myself and to my clients.
Thanks so much for all your wisdom you have shared with us today!
Love this line Sean: “You do not sell wire hangers for a living”
Great post and a great reminder to all. A while back I was mildly-obsessed with what everyone else was doing. When I realised it was the same stuff over and over and … over, I weeded out some places of inspiration and re focused. I re focused on my finding my own voice and finding what truly makes me happy.
I caught Rebecca’s tweet too and replied on her FB page something along the lines of “I don’t have any competition, I’m unique!”.
You do raise a very important point though, and that is the difficulty of fitting yourself “in the box” if you do provide a unique service. I just spent several days in Scotland around a fantastic conference (GlobalScot.. business diaspora), and my elevator pitch refined down to that I provide “strategic creative insights”. Hmm.. how to fit THAT in a box !?
You and I are both business advisers and consultants, but with very different skills and insights we can provide to our clients. The trouble is, it makes no sense to either the consultant or the clients to put everyone in the same box… so where what we do is not a ‘commodity product’, it does indeed, as you point out, require investment in getting the RIGHT clients…
I do love your thoughtful posts…right, back to my own creative business 🙂
Great article, I have had countless people buy from me and then put the items on their site or ebay. Also have had people ask me to make something they saw on another site, to which I reply, they should buy it from them as I won’t copy another persons work.
Another great post, Sean… you are just killing it!
I’ve seen the effects of this “competition obsession” firsthand, and how negative it can be for a business owner who is only focused on their competitors. Other business owners can spot this from a mile away, and it’s hard to respect an entrepeneur who is more focused on someone else’s business than his (or her) own.
That’s not to say that competition isn’t good and that you can totally ignore your competitors’ existence. I feel motivated by my competition every day – not by the things they are doing, but just in the sense that it pushes me to keep innovating. In my mind, if you’re only copying someone else’s ideas, you might as well find something else to do with your time. Your clients can spot a fraud in an instant, and you won’t be nearly as excited about your business because it’s not really yours.
Thanks for another thought-provoking post, Sean!
~Evan
This is AWESOME stuff. I think you just gained a new subscriber! 🙂
Sean,
Awesome post. As someone who just quit their “corporate” career to pursue their own creative business, this post takes on a whole new truth. When I made the switch, analyzing the competition remained an active and viral part of my day-to-day, because it was what I knew from the “corporate” world. But I’ve noticed that all-in, it was really just detrimental to my creativity- and distracting to my goals and vision.
Think on the positive- follow the fire in your belly – and forget about what everyone else is up to. Only you know how to do what you do best! 🙂
Thanks for a great post.
-Jacqueline at Merci New York
Great post!
Very poignant as I have been struggling with balancing my business with what is acceptable and what is important to me. So, I sat down the other night and created a list of what I wanted my business to represent and I realized that my personal compass is all I need.
As always, thank you for your valuable insight and your ability to share with the rest of us.
Best,
Heather at La Dolce Vita Weddings
I have been reading through posts since Friday night when I discovered your blog (Via Liene @ Splendid Thoughts). Thank you, thank you for sharing. Starting off in such a competitive industry and forging your own way is a challenge. Not being like the competition has always been my M.O.
I am in love with all the great and inspirational information you are laying out for us!
I am so happy SOMEONE finally said all this! By worrying about our competition we are by very definition being completely unoriginal. Be brave people!
p.s. I heart your blog
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