When I was 18 years old, my whole life changed…
Online gaming came to the Playstation platform!
Now I know that sounds silly, but just stick with me for a moment.
When I was younger, I played video games a lot. This continued through my teen years and into college. Then life happened…
I now go through intermittent periods where I’l still game it up (you laugh, yet you watch Game of Thrones…).
So what’s the big deal about online gaming?
Well, up until that point, you simply had to entertain yourself by playing by yourself, against the computer AI.
When online gaming came out, you could literally play against other people around the world 24/7
(I still have old Madden NFL soundtracks imprinted in my mind from those years).
And what did this allow me to do…?
Get better!
See, by constantly playing against better competition, I naturally became a better player.
Just like in biz-ness.
In business, many people look at competition as a BAD thing. They think if someone is already doing something (or doing it better), than they’ve already lost.
But if you shift your focus a bit, and look at this competition as a CHALLENGE, suddenly you have something to shoot for.
Now this isn’t a license to see people making millions and go crazy, working 18 hour days, and stopping at nothing to do the same. That’s not the point.
Actually, competing against yourself is a good thing, because ultimately only YOU can determine what “success” looks like in your world.
BUT…
See someone crushing it with Facebook ads or eCommerce? Don’t fret — LEARN from them. What are they doing? How are they doing it? Maybe you can start competing at that level in the near future.
In fact, let me give you an example of what you DON’T wanna do.
(Back to online gaming.)
In the online gaming world, many people QUIT when they’re losing.
Like they will literally shut off their gaming system if they’re getting beat.
But when I used to play, when someone was beating me pretty bad in Madden or another sports game, I started paying attention to what they were doing.
What plays were they running? What “exploits” were they taking advantage of? How did they shut me down when I was on offense?
And by doing this, I picked up new strategies for the next time I played. Then I could use those strategies against other players, and become an overall better gamer.
Just like in biz-ness :).
When I see someone else crushing it, I don’t let my pride get the best of me. I don’t try and talk about how well I’m doing or the cool things happening in my business.
Instead, I study them…
How are they using videos? What’s their ad copy like? What kind of specials are they running? What can I emulate to improve my own business?
Or…I just PAY them to work with me and teach me things they know, that I don’t.
So next time you’re getting frustrated because your business isn’t growing fast enough (…or seeing others doing better than you), think about online gamers!
First of all, you’ll laugh to yourself and lighten up the mood, because it’s such a funny comparison.
But secondly, you can remind yourself to look at competition as a GOOD thing.
If someone can do BIG things, so can you. Take time to study what they’re doing, and implement pieces of it into your business.
<Game Over>
Even though we’ve gotten pretty good at this eCommerce stuff, we are ALWAYS studying and improving our game.
Then we turn around and teach those strategies to our students, so THEY can grow their businesses as well.
Sound interesting? Then click here and let’s talk.