It’s very easy for anyone in any industry to think that competition is a bad thing. After all, there’s somebody else out there offering a similar product or service and making money on it. Money that could be going to you. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Competition is actually a very good thing.
You see, with a competing service out there, it inspires you to try harder to make your own business succeed. You’re forced to up your game. To improve. The end result? Better products and services for your clients, both present and future. There are scores of examples of this throughout the years.
Coke and Pepsi, for example. The Pepsi Challenge was a brilliant bit of advertising (although the results are somewhat questionable) that played on the real life competition between the two brands. So brilliant, in fact, that Pepsi has recently resurrected it in a new series of ads.
Microsoft and Apple, or more specifically, Windows and Apple’s OS X. Since Apple’s return to the forefront of consumer electronics, the two companies have been engaged in a heated battle of one-upsmanship, with each iteration of their respective operating system provided more and more new and interesting features improving the user experience.
Every cell phone manufacturer ever. With practically every new phone coming out on the market locked to one of four major operating systems (Google’s Android, Windows Phone, or Apple’s iOS) and therefore somewhat limiting what can be done with software improvements, hardware manufacturers the world over have been forced to step up their side of things in a bid to outdo the others (and hopefully topple the mighty iPhone).
There are many, many more examples of good competition forcing companies to improve. And in many cases the improvements lead to increased sales and more business for everyone. In your case, that means higher Personal Independent Earnings for you. And that my friends, is what it’s all about.
It’s easy to think being the only game in town is the way to go. But that way lies complacency. Canadian internet service providers, and cell phone providers, are an excellent example of this. With a very small group of companies owning the vast majority of the product, service improvements have dwindled. Canadian customers in these industries pay far more than their neighbors to the south, and for a drastically inferior service. Unlimited plans in either category are the exception, not the rule, and are far more expensive than in the neighboring United States. Why is this? Because they don’t need to do better. There’s no one else. All of the other companies are either too small to actually provide any sort of real competition, or worse, are forced to lease equipment and infrastructure from one of the larger companies, and as a result are beholden to regulations designed to keep them from providing any real competition.
Facebook would be another example. With no other similar social networking site (what’s a Myspace?) providing any real competition anymore, Facebook has been free to increase ad presence, and mess around with other features (such as their much maligned Timeline), causing endless amounts of frustration and anger amongst their user base. But where can they go? There really isn’t anywhere else.
So you see, competition really is a good thing. Everyone involved is forced to up their game. To be the best they possibly can be. And the result? More happy clients, and more income for you. There are billions of people in the world, and plenty of PIE to go around. Sharing a little with a competitor can ultimately lead to a bigger slice for everyone, and that’s a good thing.
