Competing is a Losing Strategy

When you compete, you focus on others.
When you focus on others, you react.
When you react, you become a watered-down version of one of your competitors.
Competition tempts businesses to:

• Match prices
• Copy promotions
• Mirror services
• Imitate branding

The result?
You fade into a sea of sameness.

Competing erases your identity.
If you're always trying to beat someone else, you eventually sacrifice: 

• Profit
• Quality
• Culture
• Sustainability

Innovation doesn’t come from watching what others do.
It comes from ignoring them long enough to think differently.
Be yourself. Become a class of one.
The drycleaner who dominates a market doesn’t start by asking:
“How do we beat the competition?”
They start by asking:
“What do customers desperately want that no one is giving them?”

The opposite of competing is not losing. The opposite of competing is creating.
When you stop obsessing over what others offer, you can finally build what only you can offer.
That’s differentiation.
That’s brand power.
That’s pricing power.
That’s loyalty.
No competitor can touch a business that is 100% itself.

The Market Doesn’t Reward the Best Competitor—It Rewards the Most Unique.
Are the most iconic companies the ones who competed best?
Or the ones who created something different? 

• Starbucks didn’t compete with diners.
• Netflix didn’t compete with Blockbuster.
• Tesla didn’t compete with car companies.
• Airbnb didn’t compete with hotels.

They simply built an alternate universe where competition became irrelevant.
That’s the real game, and almost no one plays it.
When you build something distinct: 

• Customers choose you on purpose.
• Price becomes a conversation, not a constraint.
• Marketing becomes easier.
• Competitors become background static.

The Maverick Strategy: Become the Only, Not the Best
You don’t win by being better.
You win by being different.

How can you be totally different than all the other options in your market?
 Make that your primary focus in 2026.
 
Have a great week!
Dave