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What if Your Competitor’s Life Sucks?

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John Morgan has a nice post on why "keeping close tabs" on the competition is often a waste of precious time:

Competition produces copycats. You start copying them, they start copying you and next thing you know the marketplace is bored! Additionally you’re comparing yourself against something unknown. You don’t know what their life is like. It may suck.
I once ran a full page ad in a magazine that cost me a few thousand dollars. The ad didn’t convert at all and was a complete failure. But it did look pretty, and because of that in the next issue not one but TWO of my competitors knocked off my ad. They copied it because I did it. They had no idea the ad didn’t work. :)

Don’t play their game. You lose your initiative and innovation when you’re copying others.

…You can break out of this trap by focusing on yourself and your own initiative. Be so busy you don’t have time to know what the competition is up to. You don’t want to succeed for the sake of beating someone else. You want to succeed for the sake of helping others and your family.  The competition trap robs you of your potential. There is no freedom in placing others above you.

Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of data and analysis on private company transactions, valuations and financials in India. Click Here to learn about Venture Intelligence products that help entrepreneurs Reach Out to Investors, Research Competition, Learn from Experienced Entrepreneurs and Interact with Peers. Includes the Free Deal Digest Weekly Newsletter: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.
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