- Wash Weekly
- Posts
- Think your business is too small to compete? 🤔
Think your business is too small to compete? 🤔
Here’s why you’re not the underdog you think you are.
Hi Wash Weekly Family.
Be honest– how many times have you told yourself that your business is too small to compete?
Far too often, I’ve heard people say they believe they don’t stand a chance as a small business.
They may be right that they own a small business, or that it’s in its early stages–but saying that they're too small to compete is like deciding before a match that you’ll lose to your opponent.
That’s why this week, I want to share with you a particular business insight I have gained since moving away from that kind of mentality in my own early days at the Soap Box.
This insight is centered around the well-known story of David and Goliath, where the young, humble underdog ultimately slays the giant. But my question to you is, Are you the David of your own story?
Do you see yourself as the underdog in the market? This question stems from my own understanding of the story of David and Goliath which has evolved since when I was a kid. For many years, I believed that Goliath was the stronger, more powerful one and that David was small and weak– and just got lucky beating Goliath. Why did I have that perception? Because that is the way the story is presented. Incidentally, that’s also how most people, unfortunately, look at everything in life, even in business– it’s the idea that bigger is better. So whenever something bigger comes along, it feels intimidating and as if it will almost surely beat us at our own game. But I started reconsidering the way the story is told….What if David was always the strong one and Goliath was the weak one?
What if David wasn’t really the underdog at all?
After all, that may be the typical impression we get from hearing the story, but that’s not the only way to look at it. I know it might be challenging to see otherwise but bear with me because it’s a powerful idea that’s absolutely worth exploring for the sake of your success.
👇 Here’s why David is actually the stronger of the two:
Goliath may be gigantic and bear heavy armor, but it probably causes him to be slower to move and react than David, who is small, nimble, and wears only very minimal armor in comparison. This allows Davis to be much more agile and quick.
Goliath makes use of a javelin, a spear, and a sizable sword. Impressive at first, sure, but it requires time to swing his weapon. And if he misses on the first swing, it will cost him more time and energy to recover and prepare for the next attack. On the other hand, David has a swift sling, which can be advantageously used from much further away and his stones, though small, can be shot with an immense force needed to bring down the giant.
Are you beginning to see what I’m getting at?
We can apply the David and Goliath analogy to your business in the face of its biggest competitor(s).
So let's talk about how.
Below is a breakdown of your biggest competitor’s traits:
Multiple locations
Many employees
Numerous departments
Though these may seem ideal to you to have, they paradoxically hinder them from:
quickly implementing changes across locations
getting all their personnel up to speed when changes are made
making quick decisions, usually caused by departmental delays
narrowing their approach– they’re too busy being one size fits all
Then there’s your business.. Thanks to your smaller size, you can actually be more efficient than the big brands. Like when it comes to:
making on-site changes at your location(s)
creating one-on-one connections with your team, which leads to not only bringing them up to speed quicker but also effectively getting them to buy in on the changes you implement at your laundromat
hearing input from clients or staff and making changes without getting delayed through department hierarchies
approaching situations with personalization, precision, and accuracy
Now that we’ve discussed the benefits of your David-like business to the Goliath-esque competitors, I hope that at least you can see the advantage you have and that it’s nowhere near as impossible to compete with the biggest competition out there, as you may have previously thought.
It just requires seeing the story differently. The logic still checks out. But now you’re looking from a different vantage point.
That’s all you need to step into your power.
It just took seeing it.
‘Til next week, I’ll be here airing out some not-so-dirty laundry every Sunday!– Waleed 🏴☠️
RESOURCES
INTHE NEWS
EVENTS
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Always challenge the old ways.-Howard Schultz
Reply