Mentor your competitors

Competition makes you stronger

This is controversial to say, but I take great delight in helping out people starting up companies that may be future competitors. What I often find is that they become allies.

We can put in joint bids to take on larger jobs.

You may even combine companies later.

You learn from each other too – everyone has a different way of looking at the world and work.

You are all learning about regulations, IT systems, tax laws, hiring people, firing people, marketing, sales, policy development, and so on. You can share some of your experiences – and maybe save some expenses.

Of course talking about pricing is forbidden.

You can talk about what client’s need and how they view the service providers they deal with.

If your competition is interstate or overseas then you should be fine in terms of losing your own customers.

Even better, you can make good friends for life.

Embrace your competitors.