Wednesday, January 27, 2016

When a Competitor has Fallen: Musings of a Mompreneur




Everyone is in business to win. Competition exists and most times its existence only makes us stronger. Both parties do their best to secure a larger market segment. In the end, the consumer is better off.

As a mompreneur, I have managed both my family and personal life in a rather unbalanced way. When I am at home with the kids, I am constantly thinking of what needs to be done for work or employees are calling and interrupting dinner. Perhaps customers need me just when I want to go to lunch. But this chaos is soothing because it is addictive.

What happens when ones primary competitor has fallen? The very same ones who push you, pull you, entice you to keep going. Yeah, yeah, I know that should not be the motivation! Right! We all want to win so competition motivates all of us.

Do I continue to live this highly multi-tasked lifestyle or do I begin to relax? The obvious answer is to keep pushing. But it is not so easy especially when you want to jump up and say I win, time to OOOOSAAAHHHHH!

Instead, here are 5 things you can do:
  1. Don't get comfortable, once a profitable market exists, new competitors are on the horizon.
  2. Learn from the mistakes of your fallen competitor and take that word fallen with a grain of salt because anyone can rise above the ashes and be greater than they were before.
  3. Analyze you current business and place systems in place that will improve your bottom line.
  4. Take a brief sabbatical......just to ooosahhh..a day, a weekend, a month, whatever you need.
  5. Pray for yourself and them. We all need strength as entrepreneurs and we all can benefit from some self reflection and divine intervention.
What about you? What do you do when your competitor has left the market, whether intentionally or not? Share your thoughts below.