March 28, 2024

“Ann, how can I compete with the big boys?”

The possibility of an overly competitive niche has recently come to my attention.

You need to know I man a couple of mastermind groups, two different Facebook groups and two separate memberships.

I see a lot of activity and I have a way of staying pretty close with my people.

That said just this past week two members of one of my mastermind groups came to me with pretty much the same concern.

“Ann, how can I compete with the big boys?”

and

“Ann, everything is so competitive online do I even stand a chance?”

big guy versus little guy

Great questions. I’m their mentor and they want the straight up on it.

I’ll go a step further. Another student in one of my memberships asked a similar question,

“I’m concerned that I’m putting in all this work into my blog and I’m worried that it won’t pay off.”

Now you need to know for me these kind of questions makes the hair on the back of my neck stand out. I guess you could say this is hitting on a pretty strong emotion for me.

Here is my advice to these members

Consider this if you’re struggling with the same kind of concerns.

1) You determine the outcome.

If you determine in advance that you don’t stand a chance then you don’t.  Through your attitude you’ve already determined the outcome. You’re going to lose.

Yeah, that’s right. Quit. Hang it up. That’s pretty much what I told the one member. But I went on to explain. What about the recent challenges that I hosted through my team?

One challenge winner started a brand new blog last October.  She’s now right up there in the keywords with the very top leaders in MLM blogging. In fact, her very first month she made just a little under $3000 in sales. So what if she had decided in advance she couldn’t compete?

2) Write this into your business plan. 80% of your “competition” will give up in very short order. This is one of the biggest facts you can bank on. They won’t see it through.

Two of my students are in my Team Mini-Launch Webinar System mastermind group. I reminded my student the fact that she is doing a webinar system will automatically put her far out in front.  Furthermore, once again count on the fact that the majority won’t stick with it. How can I say this with such confidence? Because I’ve been teaching and training for a very long time.

Not just here in the online attraction marketing space but in the sports world for fifteen years.  Most people don’t have the stamina to see things through. That’s what you can bank on.

Another fact I pointed out to this member is that I had issued a challenge to this very group and only two members handed in their results. It wasn’t hard to pick a winner.

Why didn’t the rest hand in theirs? Because they flat out didn’t do the work. They didn’t step up to do my challenge.  They just sat out in the bleachers like most people.

home plate

3) Lastly, so what if it’s competitive? Why not allow that to bring out the best in you? Step back, take a look at what people are offering. Look for the gaps.

I can guarantee you the gaps are everywhere. You just need to find them and then shine a huge spotlight on yours. Turn a negative into a positive.

If you press on hard enough you’ll almost always without exception find a way in.

Go ahead and share with me a time in your life when you chose not to give up.  Instead you dug your heels in and you reached your goals. Best of all when there was some fierce competition going on.

At the end of the day most people when they come to me with these kind of concerns not only need encouragement but more so a good kick in the behind, “Get in there and do it!”

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About Ann Sieg


Ann Sieg is the CEO of 80/20 Marketing, Inc. She's the author of The Renegade Network Marketer, The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing & The Attraction Marketer's Manifesto. I'm inviting you to connect with me. I love feedback. All of it. So let's have an intelligent helpful conversation to help you become more profitable in your business. Leave a comment below.

Comments

  1. This is very, very true. Slowly I am learning more and more how to optimize my blog and target a narrower niche. It is happening little by little with all your great coaching and other learning from your team members. Thanks so much. Currently, I need to change my tagline. Working on that!

  2. Great advice, Anne. You said 80% will give up in very short order. Isn’t it about 95% who will eventually give up over time? I think never giving up and disciplining oneself to do something every day, no matter what, brings incredible rewards over time, don’t you?

    • Totally agree Michael. 80% is being very generous. It’s definitely up in the 95% and above range.

      I guess this explains the plethora of motivational training out there. I do ongoing team challenges and this seems to have helped put a fire under people’s backsides.

      They get competitive with each other (in a good way) and mostly they’re competing with themselves. All good stuff!

      And about the daily discipline I couldn’t agree more. People need to move beyond external motivation and into internal and sustainable motivation.

      Thanks for stopping by!

  3. Love this article!

    This is a good way to look at it…and even if lots more people do keep going and don’t drop out, there will always be a gap to fill…because we are all so unique that we each have a gap that is ours to fill, right?

    Crystal

    • Hi Crystal,

      Absolutely! Things are always changing around. The person who sticks with it and more importantly sees the gap to fill (and does it!) can do quite well.

      Thanks for stopping by.

      Ann

  4. Ann, maybe the key is to just be ornery enough to stick around! HA!
    One of my favorite TV shows is Survivor – the shows mantra is “outwit, outplay, outlast”. It’s competition and raw human social dynamics at its core…FIRE IN THE BELLY! But it’s also like that when you’re having to chart new territory and learn something new, like marketing. You just have to determine that you are bigger than the challenge in front of you. Loved this post!

    • You got it, Eryn! Orneriness. Yep, that can be a strong driver.

      “Gonna prove ’em wrong” kind of mindset. There’s a really amazing story about Lou Holtz, famed college football coach.

      He came from a home of low means but his parents were determined to give him a bigger life. So his mom got an extra job to help pay for Lou’s way through college.

      One day overheard two of his mom’s friends talking about him across the aisle in the local grocery store. They mentioned how it was downright silly and a waste of time for Lou’s mom to be helping to see her son get through college.

      This made Lou mad and a mite bit determined to Prove Them Wrong! And he did.

      I have had many situations in my growing up years to do just that. In fact, overall I would say for the person who’s had everything handed to them on a silver platter they lack a distinct advantage over the person who was down but used that as a motivator to Get Up.

      Love your enthusiasm Eryn! Go get ’em! :)

  5. You make some great points Ann, it’s all about making a decision right out of the gate that you’re going to see things through and make it happen. I like number three on your list, competition is always a good thing and it’s all a matter of how you look at it. Great post by the way.

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