Updated August 2021

If we want to elevate our business above the competition, there are a couple of broad routes available to us.

Here they are.

Destroy our competition

We can choose to take every opportunity to denigrate, belittle and diminish our competitors. We can bad-mouth them. Maybe even spread nasty stories about them or call them out when they screw up. In short, we can try to ruin their reputation.

The idea here, is that if we make our competitors look bad, our business should look better in comparison. Of course, it’s really difficult to do this without looking like a jerk. And that’s a really bad look for us and our business, which will eventually spread around the marketplace. Before we know it, it’s our own business that we’ve damaged with our actions. Seriously, it’s an approach that’s doomed to fail before we even start.

There’s a far better approach.

Build our own business

Alternatively, we can choose to constantly seek out ways to improve what we do. We can dedicate ourselves to out-caring our competitors, and set increasingly high standards of service excellence. We can make promises and deliver on them, earning the trust of our clients. We may even choose to become a respected innovator. Or strive to become a leader in our industry.

The potential pay-off here is huge. Because if we focus on building our own business correctly, we’ll never have to worry about the competition again. And all the while, we’re proactively increasing the value of the services we provide and the value of our business.

For serious business owners, there’s only one choice. My friend, we need to focus on the things we can control. And do everything we can, with everything we have, to create a profitable business that we can rightly be proud of. This is the proven route to success.