Undoubtedly, you realize you have competition in your business. There is always someone else trying to out do you and take your customers away. It’s important to know what they are doing with their businesses, but you shouldn’t structure your business around them. A lot of businesses battle each other and are constantly reacting to the competition. When one business offers a special the other runs out and tries to beat it with a better offer. When one company offers a new product or service, another runs out, throws on a new coat of paint, and puts their version out there too. The problem with this is that you start focusing solely on the competition and responding to them rather than doing what matters. Instead of innovating, you start imitating. Real growth and incredible change doesn’t occur when you are constantly responding to the competition. You’ll never do anything revolutionary by creating the the same or a little better than everyone else. Copying leads to mediocre results. Innovation can lead to big wins. When you don’t do things different, there isn’t anything that stands out about you amongst the herd out there. You just blend in with everyone else. Stand above the herd and create something something new. Do something different.
“Innovate faster than they can copy.” Ray Kroc
The other day, I attended a seminar where the speaker, multimillionaire Blake Mallen, said: 
If you want to get where you want to go, you have to Dump Your Duds. Your duds are clients, people and friends that are going to hinder your success or keep you from moving forward. They might be close friends, family members or even your old fraternity or sorority members. It’s anyone that does not encourage you to become more. This was something I have had to learn the hard way. I held on to for a long time to my duds thinking they were my friends. Truth be told they really weren’t. They were encouraging me not to do something worthwhile and it took me along time to realize it. 
People do things based on their hierarchy of their values. You never have time/money for things lowest on your values, but you always have them for the things highest on your values. It’s interesting to me that some people will say they want something, but won’t do what it takes to get there. Recently, I spoke with a lady that told me that she wanted to get started in a business for herself to make more money. She was excited about starting, but didn’t have the startup money yet. Week after week she told me she was almost ready but it just kept dragging out longer and longer. It was always something new going on. Every week she would say she would have it by next Saturday, then when Saturday would come, it was back to next Saturday. Before long a few months had passed and she was no better off than she was before. The business really wasn’t on her list of priorities. It wasn’t high on her hierarchy of values. A few days ago she came back to me said, “I’m sorry I really want to get started, but I just don’t have time or the money.” She always seemed to have money to go out on the town, see great movies, buy cool stuff and spend time partying, but never had the time/money to actually do something worthwhile for her future like building a business for herself. Her priorities were screwed up. Here she was telling me how much she needed a change in her life, but she wasn’t willing to do what it took to get there. If you want to do something great, it has to be high on your hierarchy of values and become a priority. Otherwise, you’ll never get there. Found the audio clip below on this subject and thought you might find it interesting. Enjoy!
If you want to achieve something great, it is going to take a whole lot more than just a dream. It takes hard work. It takes an unshakable determination to succeed. I believe you must start with a dream, but most importantly, you must have action to move towards your dream. You cannot wait around for your dreams to somehow materialize. Hate to break it to you, but they never will without action from you. Without it, they are simply thoughts and pipe dreams. You must be willing to step up and put in the work that it is going to take to actually get there. I think that is why so few actually get where they want to go. They wait around for something to happen to them as if someone is just going to one day pop out of nowhere by and say: “Here you go!” then hand them their dream on a silver platter. It doesn’t work that way, yet that is the plan of so many. Average people dream of great accomplishments. Extraordinary people stay awake and do them. Dreams of bettering your world are just the beginning to your adventure. You have to learn to make progress and TAKE ACTION to accomplish your dreams. 
I read a great quote today by Hugh Macloed, my favorite artist on 
I think there is a desire inside all of us to be accepted. We try to look, talk and think like everyone else. What happens? We become like everyone else. We hide who we are inside, in order to fit in with the herd. We lose what makes us great. Our personality, ambitions and style. We give up our originality so that we can become a carbon copy of what “we are supposed to be” in everyone else’s eyes. Frankly, we do this because we fear others will think we’re nuts. We worry that others will call us crazy. 
I want to remind you entrepreneurs who you are. We live in world today that does not appreciate us despite our great and important work. Instead of being praised for the value we bring, they choose to demonize and label us. Remember: you shouldn’t feel guilty for your strength. You should be proud of your creations and the value you bring to our world. You have done what many could not. Those that demonize us do so because they cannot accomplish what we can. They do not have our great strength so they attempt to save face by demonization. What you are doing is extremely worthwhile. It is people like you that move and push our world forward, not them. We may never get a thank you from them for providing them with great products, services and jobs. Its alright becuase we don’t need it. We don’t need their approval, we only need our own. Remember, it is you who is making a difference in our world. No matter what they say about us, just remember who you are and that you are doing great work. 
