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  • How you doin? It’s Q & A Tuesday, that’s right.

  • Today for Q & A Tuesday, Sarah from O-My-Raw writes:

  • Q: “I’m launching a new raw-foods business and I only have one main competitor. I can’t

  • seem to get her out of my mind.” Will she think I’m a fraud? Will she hate me? “I

  • know that competition is good for business but how far do I take it? Do I introduce myself?

  • Do I attend the raw potlucks that she hosts in town or do I keep to myself and stay focused

  • on my own client-based?”

  • A: First of all girl, we have all been there. Weve all started something new and then

  • seen someone further ahead than us which all results in what is known as the dreadedComparison

  • Hangover”. The Comparison Hangover is what you get when you go on a bender. You spend

  • way too much time thinking about, obsessing about, and googling your competition and then

  • you wind up feeling like ass.

  • So your first assignment is to spend the majority of your time working on your own business

  • so you can make it as amazing as it can be. If you really want to kick some major butt,

  • you want to stop thinking small. Don’t look at just one competitor, you want to look at

  • what’s happening in your entire industry because the truth is, there are tens of thousands

  • of raw-food coaches out in the world and they are all peddling on the same shiznit. Ask

  • yourself, what objections or frustrations are customers having with hiring raw-food

  • coaches and how can you look outside or if there is something outside of the box to innovate

  • your industry? For example when I first started out, there were couple of key competitors

  • that I too obsessed about, but then I got smart and stopped looking at just competitors

  • and started looking at the whole industry and asked myself how could I do things differently?

  • So when I first got started most people in personal development or in business advice

  • everything was touchy feely, it was very conservative, no one was doing what I like to call in Jersey

  • Real Tawkand no one was keeping it fun and light-hearted and doing things that

  • were edgy so of course I came along and changed that. Another example is many of the conferences

  • that I would go to in either personal development or business conferences where known aspitch

  • festsmeaning that you get there and all it was one pitch after the other to sell you

  • these really expensive programs or just everybody on stage was just a dog and pony show so that

  • really didn’t feel so good to me so I created a conference called JRich Happy and Hot Live

  • which is a pitch-free conference and it’s been selling out year after year one. One

  • of the reasons is because it’s very different that in anything else in the market. You can

  • and should do this too.

  • Make a list of everything that happens in your industry that you think should change

  • and go then ahead and change it. You want to make your business different, a full expression

  • of you. Once you make thatthe foundation of how you are spending your time, it’s going

  • to be a lot easier to get to know thatbigcompetitor and in all honesty, she’s not

  • really a competitor she’s a colleague of yours and itll be great for you to get

  • to know her. And since there are plenty of clients to go around, wouldn’t it be awesome

  • if you guys can send the overflow to each other. So for example you might come across

  • a client that is not really perfect fit for you, maybe you can filter that client off

  • to your colleague and on the flip side, it’s likely that if you start sending her business

  • with someone is not a good fit for her, she’s likely going to send them to you. Bottom line

  • is competitors need not to hate each other. She does not have to be your evil arch nemesis

  • So let’s land this plane, here’s what I want you to do Sarah: put all of your energy

  • and attention into making your business as great as it can be it means youre going

  • to look at the whole industry and seeing how you can make your business different and better.

  • And of course get to know that fine young lady, she’s not a just competitor, she’s

  • a colleague.

  • That’s my A to your Q Sarah, thank you so much for asking it. Now here’s what I want

  • to know from you. How do you deal with competition in your industry? Do you have tips, or stories,

  • or strategies to share? I would love to hear them. Leave a comment below or even better

  • yet, leave me a video response. If you don’t want to know hoe to leave a video response,

  • it’s right here. And of course if you are watching this video on your mobile phone or

  • your iPad and you can’t see nothing right here but you can see a how-to on the link

  • below in the description and just make sure you title your video responseHow To Deal

  • With Competition”. If you like this video, hit the like button and please share it with

  • your friends and if you want more awesome tips for your business and you life, come

  • on over to marieforleo.com and sign up for a newsletter list by putting your name and

  • email on the upper right hand corner of our website. Thank you so much for watching and

  • have a great day and I’ll catch you next time.

How you doin? It’s Q & A Tuesday, that’s right.

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