Are You A Trendsetter Or Do You Just Follow The Trend

A friend of mine posted this via his Facebook profile (it is verbatim):

We are all free to run our businesses as we see fit, but I see many small business owners running away from competition instead of using competitive forces to push us to do better. Of the last 17 NASCAR Champions, TWO of them share 9 championships and are often in the top 10 standings for, it seems like, forever. That is Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson. These guys trade paint every Sunday, trying to be number one. But Monday through Friday, they work together to have the top two teams on the track. 

Whether you are a hairstylist, photographer, model or any other business, find a driving force to help you get better. Jordan had the Pistons, the Lakers have the Celtics, The Thunder have the Heat. The best competitive drive often come from the friends who want you to do better so THEY can do better. © 2013 Leighton DaCosta

When I read this, it really made me think I began to ask myself if I was being competitive enough in all the business ventures.  One of the problems I run into is with my direct sale business I began to allow myself to believe that the market that I live in is too saturated. Often times it, feels to me that the goals that are required are too hard to meet with such a large population where 1 in every 10 women are direct sales representatives for this particular company. Especially a company that kind of makes you wants to have loyal customers so it is not really frowned upon but it is one of those unwritten rules that you do not try to bribe a customer from another consultant.  However once I really thought about his post I began to realize that I did not need to feel that the population ratio was uneven or even the worry about stealing a customer all I had to do was be different and make buying from me more rewarding and therefore I have a few strong loyal customers.

I say all of that to say this be a driving force in your profession do not let someone else set the trend you should be a trendsetter.

Preparation is based on one driving force for me and that is to be relaxed enough to be able to listen to what the candidates are saying and react appropriately. ~Jim Lehrer

Trends don’t interest me. ~Manolo Blahnik