I help entrepreneurs leapfrog over the typical potholes that derail most small businesses with inspiration, motivation, education, and support across a wide range of business topics drawn from over a decade of running my own business, teaching entrepreneurship for the City of New York, and coaching and consulting privately with dozens of women and minority small business owners. Honestly, why go it alone when help is an email away?
No Competition
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If you're wondering whether I'm still experiencing Games On Olympics fever, you bet I am! In high school, I was selected as the captain of the girl's swim team. Why did my teammates select me? It's not because I was the fastest swimmer on the team. It's not because I won or placed more than my teammates in our competitions. It's not even because I was the only member who could swim the butterfly, making me essential to our competitive standing. It's because I put my all into our practice sessions and focused on continually beating my own time and performance. This inspired my teammates and motivated them to do their best even though we were often swimming against better teams, loaded with Junior Olympians, which, to be honest, was kind of demoralizing. The truth is, I never really enjoyed the competitive meets, but, man-o-man, I loved our practice sessions. So, when I got voted team captain I was shocked. In part, because I had no idea that what I was doing was meaningful to my teammates. Even in business today, the competition is something I give very little thought to, and it's something I advise my clients and students to do as well. Often, in the early days of business, we base a lot of our decisions on what our perceived competition is doing: What they're offering, what they're charging, how they're marketing and selling. But, this only serves to limit our thinking and our impact. The truth is, we're not just competing with the folks who do what we do. We're competing with all the possible options out there for our audience's attention and investment. Is it important to do competitive analysis? 100%. You should know what's going on and what is and isn't working and why. But, for many small businesses, our clients aren't choosing us based on a one-to-one comparison with our competitors. They're choosing us because of the emotional connection, trust, and gut-level resonance we're able to establish. In other words, it's because of how we make them feel. At their core, buying decisions are emotional. While it's common for people to say they base their decisions on 'the facts,' research says otherwise. Many consumers don't even realize that by the time they're drawing up their pros and cons list, they're already predisposed toward a specific choice. So, the question isn't how you stack up to the competition but how you establish yourself in customers' hearts and minds as the one to beat from the get-go. Let me know if you need some help figuring this out. Until next time, Your success is our strategy!No longer want to receive my newsletter but don't want to miss my special offers and announcements? Click here. |
Easily Said & Done
I help entrepreneurs leapfrog over the typical potholes that derail most small businesses with inspiration, motivation, education, and support across a wide range of business topics drawn from over a decade of running my own business, teaching entrepreneurship for the City of New York, and coaching and consulting privately with dozens of women and minority small business owners. Honestly, why go it alone when help is an email away?
Hi Reader, Last week we had the first tornado warning in Manhattan and the second in New York City that I can recall. There was horrible air quality from the Canadian wildfires as well as torrential rains with their accompanying flood warnings the week before. Right now, Spain and France are suffering devastating wildfires and heat waves. I've written before about disaster preparedness, but I really want to drive home the need to think about and plan for the potential impact of natural or...
I promised I'd share some AI wins after bashing on it for the last couple of months, so here goes. An old client of mine runs a wine shop in Brooklyn. She's got some help but she's largely a one-woman show. She's been using Monday's AI features to help her analyze and manage her inventory and understand seasonal sales trends to purchase more smartly. She had to level up her investment and hire someone to help her set up the AI agents she needs but feels it's been money well-spent. Another one...
There are lots of thoughts spinning around in my brain at any given moment. Maybe you can relate. We're kind of living in whirlwind times where information is coming at us incessantly; it's like being caught up in a tornado. There's just no way to catch your breath and really marinate on anything for too long. So here are a few things I'm trying to give a little bit more thought and attention to these days: What impact will Pope Leo's AI encyclical have on governments, tech leaders, and...