661. Getting Over the Fear of Competition

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If you know your numbers, you will likely discover that you need the tiniest slice of the market to hit your goals.

Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of the Bliss Project. Three time fitness world champion, fitness expert and cover model turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author. Each week I'll bring you a guest or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul and get focused and clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves. Get ready to earn, own and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go.

And we're back.

Hi.

Hi.

Hi.

I just wanted to mix it up.

Hey, I like it. I'm sure they are very appreciative of you.

You're welcome.

Adding in that flavor a little bit. So what are we talking about today?

We are talking about.

Let's talk about competition.

Competition.

Let's talk about competition.

I love that. Do you know why? Because competition is what makes most people not start.

Yeah. It literally.

She's already doing this. He's already doing this. She's doing it so great. What if they think I'm copying them? Oh, my God, I'd be devastated.

My idea's already been taken, etc. By the way, let's take a quick moment for you to let the dog out, because he's scratching it.

Wonderful. This moment is brought to you by Bananas out of the door.

I'll actually chat a little bit as you're letting bananas out the door right there. So the other day on a walk, Lori and I, you know, we take a walk every single day. She said to me, she said, listen, there's no business worth starting that doesn't already have good competition. And I thought, whoa, that is so freaking right. And where this stems from is two things. One, as you know, she is the founder of Light Pink, which is in the alcohol space, which is the single most, you know, competitive space ever. Wake up and say, oh, I want to start a business there. And two, what really spurred this was I came home with a new business idea that I want to do locally here in Scottsdale, and I was so freaking excited about it, and she is totally on board and super excited about it. And I started looking around at who my competition would be, and I got a little bit intimidated, but I was like, whoa, look at this building. He put 10 million bucks in it, and they're doing it exactly the way I want. Like, that's the ultimate dream right there. And I found another one like, whoa, look at this one. This one has, like, you know, this, this, and this. And that's not even in my business plan. I could never even go there. And then I saw another one like, whoa, look at these. I don't have the skill set to do this, this, and this. And that's when you're like, listen, last night you were excited about the idea. Why has that changed today? Just because there's some competition? There's nothing worth doing that doesn't have competition. And that is really what I, you know, I thought would empower everybody.

Yeah, it's crazy. There are so many barriers of entry to your dream. And you have to remember, the one thing that you guys all need to know is that if you don't Follow one of those things where your heart just leaps out of your chest and you're so excited you're never gonna live a complete, fulfilled life. I think they were. There will always be something lacking because you are here to do those things that make your heart leap out of your chest. And there's going to be a million barriers of entry. I can't tell you how many nights, Chris, how many nights right now am I going to bed? And I wake up in the morning and I'm, like, excited. But at night, when I'm tired or if we've had a couple drinks or I'm overwhelmed, it's kind of like as you. As you get tired and you weaken yourself, you almost have to know what's coming. You almost have to know that these barriers of entry and these blocks and these hurdles are gonna come your way. And you're gonna feel this way in the beginning, especially when you don't have the answers and you're not in action. And everything is a question mark and everything is a fear that you're gonna feel this way 90% of the time. And you just have to remember that it's because you don't have all the answers yet, and you don't know what your direction looks like yet. And I think one of the biggest things, you know, for you, for me, for all the people who are listening, is, yes, you've seen some competition out there, and now there's also the question of, what is this person who's doing this gonna think of me? And it's like, oh, my God, are they go, I'm trying to compete with them. Are they going to think I'm taking business from them? Because that's not what I. You know, I just want to start this in my own way, in my own authentic way. And I believe there's enough for everybody. But what if they don't believe that? Those are all the things that you can't even. You can't even go there. Like, yes, go there and have a conversation with a close friend, with a spouse, with another business person, somebody safe, who's not going to be like, well, I don't know, maybe they won't like you. Maybe they'll, you know, try to take you under. You can't even entertain that thought. If your intention. I believe if your intention is good and you even have the intention of, hey, I would love to send business this person's way, or I'd love to collaborate with them, or I'm always going to talk so highly of my competitor that is what is going to pull you through.

Totally. And so this actually spurred. It was. It was just such a simple but profound shift when you said this. Right. That it actually spurred my Instagram post this morning. And in the post I had, I wrote down three reasons you should get started anyways in this business idea. You know, write the book, start the podcast, build the store, whatever it is. I wrote down three reasons that would empower people to get started anyways, if.

They haven't even paralyzed yet.

I know you haven't should tell me. Hey, I got some. I made the gram that you don't know about. By the way, go follow me on Instagram at Chris W. Harder. And go follow Lori at Lori Harder. L O R I, by the way. But here's what I posted. Larry, Larry Harder. Here's what I posted. Matter of fact, I'll give you one at a time then, once you comment on them.

Okay, sounds good. All right, I'm good at commenting on.

First reason people need to get started anyways, you have to know your numbers. Because if you know your numbers, like how much you. How much you need to be successful, what your goal is, how many sales, if you know your numbers, you will likely discover that you need the tiniest slice of the market to hit your goals.

That is so important. And this was huge for me. And I'll tell you why. Because I had to look at the market and see who my competitors were. And you guys, if you don't know of these little competitors, you know, in the seltzer industry that you've probably had in your hands or seen everywhere, you can know that they have crazy amount amounts of cans going out and, you know, billion dollar companies. And I'm like, over here without that marketing money. You know, Bud Light Seltzer launched with $22 million. I believe it was in their. Just their marketing campaign. And I'm over here like, hey, how are you? I'm going to, you know, launch this company. And so I really want you to think of that like, that was a day where I could have completely been taken down by my thoughts, but instead, what we did, and Chris helped me with this because he's such a numbers guy, is he said even if your company sold like 1% of what they're selling, you would still have a company that is like hundreds of millions of dollars. So I might have those numbers wrong. But we just looked at it and it was like, wow, even if my company was like 1% of this seltzer industry sales, I would still have a company that would just kill it. And that made me feel so empowered, actually.

So the exact number was if you only sold 1% of what? Just not truly. Who's the other one?

White Claw.

White Claw is selling, Then you'd have a company worth, you know, half a billion dollars. Isn't that wild?

It's insane.

Yeah, exactly. So you got to know, number one is know your numbers, because you realize that you only need the tiniest slice of the pie. Number two, even if you have a similar product as one's already out there crushing it, it's proof of demand. And that should actually excite you. Mm.

Yeah, that's really big. Is you're not launching something that you're like, I have no idea if people will even like this. And you launch it, you know, to your audience or wherever you're launching it, and it's like, well, there's a reason why that, you know, that T that you've added X, Y and Z to maybe isn't working, is because people have tried it. Like, definitely look that up. Who's tried it before? And then also, don't get down if your idea has been tried and it hasn't worked. If you've asked your audience and your people if it's something they would want and it's like a resounding yes, it might be that it just hasn't been launched correctly yet. I've also seen that. So there's been reasons why some brands have started certain things and it hasn't worked is because it's maybe missing the heartbeat, or it's missing the mission, or it's missing the flavor. That's something you have to look at, too, whatever that is. Or whether you have a product, maybe it's missing a bit of style. So look at what's launched before. Look at what's missing. Ask your audience, like, and if you don't have an audience, go ask the audience that you think it's going to be marketed to. So ask a friend if they have a big Facebook group. Ask somebody if they have a large community if they would ever be willing to ask their community if this particular product could work. And if for some reason it does, you could also go into talks about maybe partnering in some way with that person or seeing if they want a piece of equity in your company or if there's any way that you can, you know, help them or have them become a part of this product so that you can also share with their audience. Like, there's so many things that that can lead into with the holidays and.

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Well, two more quick points related to number two is a rising tide lifts all ships. So that's a good thing if there's already proof of demand and that if the market's on fire. And then the other point that I wanted to make to this was if you have a similar product as one's already out there crushing its proof of demand and this should excite you, is the worst thing you can do sometimes is try and invent a market. And so you actually want proof that your product or a similar version of it is already out there doing it. Because where I see businesses go wrong is they think they're going to invent a new market and be the only standout one in it. And that's impossible to do. Number three, the last one, the number three reason you should go unapologetically anyways to starting your business is because you're unique. And every single one of you will naturally do it a little bit differently with a little different spin, making your product special and unique and speak to consumers that only your style would reach.

Yeah, I love that. I didn't even know that one. And that's really what I was talking about on that last commentary as well, is just you're gonna do it your own way. There is a part of you that is meant to push this thing out in the world. And sometimes that's what's missing. I was just talking about this yesterday at dinner. I was at dinner with some girls and I had read Jamie Kern Lima's book and she was talking about how she had created this product that like her whole company was known for. It was based on this product. I believe it was Bye bye under eye and under eye concealer. And another company had gotten her formulation somehow from her the people who for like her co packer or something like that. And they ended up ripping off the product and putting it out into the world. They had way more money to put it out. It was this huge company. She was super freaked out about it. And when it launched, it didn't go over well. Even Though it was the number one selling product for her. And so much of that, that says, you know, the heartbeat behind this product, the way it's packaged, the way it looks, the way that it's shown, the way that she was taking everyday women and using them as models and showing, like, what this really looks like on women who are not photoshopped, who are not models, like, this is like your everyday woman and chose that as the model. And so you have to remember that the spin that you're gonna put on it and the authenticity and the reason why you started that because it changed your life or you're so excited about it, that is gonna be worth more than you can ever possibly imagine, even in funds and raising money. All of. Because that is what is going to propel you and also make you run through a wall when times get tough. But that's what your audience feels that, like, I cannot get on this microphone. We even discuss topics before we get on here. And if it's not authentic to where I'm at right now, I'm kind of like, man, I can't even talk about that because I. I can't relate. So your authenticity and your story is going to push that thing forward.

Yeah, totally. So just put a bow on this thing. There's no business worth doing in this world that doesn't already have competition. Move forward anyways. Three things that'll empower you. Know your numbers. You'll realize you need the tiniest slice of the pie in order to hit your goals. Number two, even if you have a similar product as one's already out there crushing it, it's proof of demand, and a rising tide lifts all ships. And number three, because of your unique, no one is going to do it quite like you. And you're going to speak to that customer who's not going to be reached unless it's somebody with your exact style and swag. This is exactly the kind of stuff, by the way, that we teach in the Elite Level Mastermind. And by the time this episode comes out, there's probably going to be three spots, maybe two left. And remember, to qualify for the Elite Level Mastermind, all you have to do is be making over $500,000 a year in your business in order to fill out the application and get in with this gang. And so if you think that, you know, you want this kind of guidance and this kind of support and these kind of lessons, along with locking arms with, you know, 20 other super talented entrepreneurs, a lot of them, in some cases already playing a larger faster game than you, so it lifts you up quicker and lifts your business up quicker. Then you can do one of two things. Text me. Just text me the word elite to 310-421-0416. Again, text the word elite to 310-421-04160 or just go to forthelovemoney.com mastermind. Check out all the deets there. Fill out the app and you and I will jump on a zoom to talk about it. I'm telling you, it will literally change your business, which therefore it'll literally change your life. Any parting words? Lori?

Yeah, just. You know, we had a friend that waited like seven years trying to figure out what the unique thing that she wanted to do that nobody else was doing in the world. And that's why it took like seven years only to discover that she realized that everybody was doing something and you had to take your unique spin on it. Don't waste seven years. That's my final words.

I love it. All right, guys, thanks for listening so much and we hope as always, that you got a lot of value out of the show. Please share it with your friends and we appreciate sitting down with you every single week.

We'll see you next week. Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought and honest comment. Tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear more of. It would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again, guys. Bye Bye.

Sam.