Starting a small business is hard. You are not only learning how to get a business to work, but you face judgement and a lot of risk should it fail. I enjoy Dragons Den but a big part of me is uncomfortable at the smug way the dragons behave – they succeeded so now they are going to make a newbie feel clueless and ashamed. Could it be that they see a potential rival in the entrepreneurs?
My husband James runs a considerably larger small business than I do. He owns a recording studio with an upstairs area, that was originally for musicians to hang out, but has since become a record shop. The shop alone is now a thriving enterprise and the only record shop in the district. However the road has been bumpy. He started the record side of the business with a friend but after a quite crooked move, his friend became a rival. Although at the time it was difficult to process, my husband chose to rise above it and became inspired to make the shop work alone. He has done amazingly well and had no choice but to pick up certain skills that were daunting to him – such as social media and website design. While he is able to block out any questionable moves from his former business partner, it got me thinking that as long as competition remains healthy, it can actually be a very useful source of inspiration.
There are rivals such as those above, that started out as friends and faced conflict.
There are rivals who remain friends and pretend that rivalry doesn’t exist, but learn from each other to better their own endeavours.
There are rivals who have never met in person but work in the same field and keep close tabs on one another! I often think in this case, they actually have a lot in common and would be great friends under different circumstances.
As long as the rivalry doesn’t become a bigger focus than the thing you are rivalling about, then I think it can be considered a ‘healthy motive’.