by Eric Goudie

Created on: October 04, 2010

Nice guys finish last – especially in business.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and if you’re not ready to play the game of entrepreneurship then you won’t last long at it. Bigger, meaner players will quickly swoop in and snatch up your customers, staff and marketing opportunities. In order to keep this from happening you have to remain competitive.

A competitive strategy is not an excuse to mercilessly drive your employees or do under-handed things to your competitors – business ethics and the law must still be respected, or any gains you make will be limited. But you have to be willing and able to go above and beyond your comfort level and that of those around you if you want to be successful.

A competitive strategy for a fry truck at the county fair might include setting up in a prime location – next to the Ferris wheel or away from other food vendors. Achieving this might be as simple as arriving an hour earlier than everyone else and grabbing the prized location first. It might mean striking a deal with the Ferris wheel operator to give him free food all day long in return for setting up shop next to him. It might mean an entire year in negotiations with the fair board to secure the rights to a specific space, requiring months of lobbying, legalities and travelling to meetings.

The point is not what specific steps you have to take to reach your goal – the point is that you have to be ready to do whatever it takes if you want to be successful. Maybe what it takes is inviting the fair’s Director of Food Services into your truck for some “Wine and Dine” to convince him you’re the vendor who has what it takes to serve the Ferris wheel crowd properly. Maybe he shows up late for your meeting, makes a mess of your washroom and spends most of his time distracted by the low-cut top your new fry-girl is wearing. At the end of the meeting he suggests in no uncertain terms that it may take a couple more “visits” from him before a final decision can be made.

How far you are willing to go is dictated by how being competitive means to you. If you can’t take any more rubbish then you’ll have to settle for being allowed to set up shop next to the cotton candy and hope you make enough to survive another year. But if your business is on the line and you’re desperate enough to make ends meet you might be amazed just how far you’re willing to go to be competitive.

You might get

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