For some women, competition is uncomfortable. We’ve been raised to be collaborative, helpful and of service to friends and family. Yet other women thrive on competition against all comers.
In moderate doses, both character traits are admirable. But at their extremes, both can be detrimental to business. Adopt a healthy view of competition as you start and grow your business, then continue dealing with it constructively. This is especially true when people begin to compete with you.
I’ve heard many variations on the following story while talking with successful women entrepreneurs. They tell of a trusted female friend or employee who has learned everything she needs to know from her mentor. Without warning, she then goes on to start a competing business right under her mentor’s nose.
In one case, a close friend who’d been part of the family for many years went on to start practically an exact copy of the mentor’s specialty-food business. In another, a trusted girlfriend opened a competing retail store on the same city block. In each case, the mentor—feeling hurt, used, and betrayed—didn’t know how to deal with her emotions.
I had a similar experience. And while my business partner (my husband) and I were both upset about it, I noticed an interesting difference between us: He got angry, driven to win, and got over it, while I ruminated about it for days.
In my husband’s mind, it was all part of business. In my world, it spilled into the personal—how could this person betray me after I had offered my help so freely?
