12 people says things!

1. I have a new site and so I see my competition as something that I can learn from. I look at how my competition works. From the frequency of their posting to the variety of their content, it all helps me establish norms for my site (as a starting-point at least).

   To be quite honest, I wasn’t very involved in my niche before I started my site. My feed reader was filled with many getting things done, web development, and business related websites.

   I love 9rules, but one thing I noticed was the apparent lack of traveling websites. I thought: hey, I like to travel! I want to have a website. And so, for the first time, I got serious with BBEdit and Transmit.

   Starting with the other 9rules travel sites, I found out that there is a huge travesphere out there! I also noticed the quality varies a lot. I starting building a list of my favorite travesphere sites. They’re also my competition, but I love my competition. I link to them. I learn from them. Without them, I probably would have difficulty starting.

   By Timen on February 19, 2007 7:37 am

2. There’s me thinking that you were running a competition. :(

   But on topic, I always laugh at my competition. I laugh at them when I realise how much better they are than me. Hmmm… something is going wrong.

   By Ryan Humphreys on February 19, 2007 7:44 am

3. Starbucks? Excelling? Really?
   You obviously don’t know what decent coffee tastes like

   By Mark on February 19, 2007 7:57 am

4. Working as a webby if I was caught up in the competition too much my brain would probably explode. All I feel I can do is beaware of the current things going on, do the best I can using the tools I have and keep my skills up to date. I don’t worry about people doing things - I love the way the net evolves and rejoice in people just giving things a go above the usual water line. It’s one thing to be aware of the competition and another to get caught up so much that you take the eye off your ball.

   I’ve always done my own route in my own business. Of course, I learn better ways or ways I may want to use as I go on. Someone may recommend something or something comes up. That is great and bolsters my business. If I worried about all the other people designing and developing on the web I would probably get nothing done. I just see it as bars raised and acknowledge that. My own company is always going to do things my wa - one thing I will never change is my core beliefs. These beliefs come from so many different things that they develop of time.

   Yes, we all wish we had money and were doing better. I’m hitting 32 this year and there are ‘kids’ at early 20s / even earlier, who are far more successful than me. Do I worry about it? Nope, I think they deserve credit for getting off their spotty behinds and not doing what a vast majority of their age group are doing. I have lived my life and done the choices I did as it was my life - to regret and bemoan this and that is only a poinltess activity for me.

   I think those that excel are those that are tredding their own path. Of course these paths have often had one foot on before in the past. They are doing things for themselves and that is where you will succeed if you get the right market / angle.

   I still think the greatest competition I face are my own expectations. Therefore it would be the performance of my company yesterday.

   By karmatosed on February 19, 2007 12:16 pm

5. I gotta disagree on Pixar, Dreamworks animation has outshined them of late. But that’s neither here nor there. I think all those companies dominated because they did what they did first; being first always pays off.

   By Montoya on February 19, 2007 12:29 pm

6. Mark and Montoya: You guys are mistaking the quality of the product with the companies ability to outshine their competition. McDonald’s better than Outback Steakhouse? Not really, but who brings in more revenue and has more restaraunts on the corner?

   By Scrivs on February 19, 2007 1:14 pm

7. I have to agree with Mark about Starbucks. I mean, I am not referring to the taste of the coffee, but the company itself. I guess it has to do with where you come from. If you live anywhere near Boston, you will not find many Starbucks, but Dunkin Donuts instead. In fact, Starbucks’ image is so, well… full of itself. Actually, Dunkin Donuts sells more coffee by the cup and strange coffee snacks (including not so strange donuts) than Starbucks does (http://money.aol.com/fastco/general/canvas3/_a/dunkin-donuts-reinventing-americas-cup/20061102180009990001)
   So, your article is thought provoking, but perhaps Starbucks is not so good at outshining all of its competition. Sorry to get hung up on that…

   By J David on February 20, 2007 1:45 am

8. Fair enough. Remove them from the list and everything else still stands, agreed?

   By Scrivs on February 20, 2007 2:18 am

9. You forgot the first rule, you admire so much:
   (First) You ignore them :)

   By Ivan on February 20, 2007 3:32 am

10. As I’m currently mostly involved in the business of journalism, I look at established sites as my competition. I know in what areas I cannot beat them (sheer volume of content, something that comes with big budgets and more people), but I also know in what areas I can beat them, and I’m already doing it. The thing is, the big boys simply cannot devote their time to details as much as I can. I guess in the business world this relates to being able to cater to a very specific niche: startups can do it, while the big companies can’t.

    By franticindustries on February 20, 2007 4:27 am

11. > Do you look at your competition and:
    I look at my competition and try to see what they do badly and also try to see what they do well, or the ones that do it bad and the ones that do it well.

    > How many companies out there really outshine their competition?
    I’d say 37 Signals do have competition in their space, they do great stuff and to their credit I think they have encourage a lot of companies / people to develop some really interesting ideas.

    > What makes the above companies excel over all others?
    Not being focused only on the money to be made, being efficient and not being focused on growth for the sake of it. Although the growth aspect maybe doesn’t apply to Starbucks! (I much prefer Tim Hortons when I’m in Canada!)

    > what is the greatest competition that you face?
    Some of the greatest competition is from within, dealing with your own fears and feelings. Finance and cashflow is a great challenge, I’m all for bootstrapped agile development processes but it can be hard trying to develop ideas without a steady wage. The challenge of growth in my company is something I’m facing at the moment.

    By Rick Curran on February 20, 2007 4:47 pm

12. I think you’ve already lost when you are focusing on your competition. The main theme should be the original goal and most goals start out noble.

    By Causalien on February 21, 2007 10:56 am

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