14 Strategies to Beat Your Competition as an Entrepreneur

• This video is about facing the Goliaths in your life.
• It's not for everyone; it requires courage and hard work.
• Learn from personal experiences and historical figures.
• Understand your strengths and weaknesses when facing off against Goliaths.
• Embrace the process, as it’s filled with challenges and growth opportunities.

[Music]

This video isn't for everybody. Let me tell you who this video is for. This video is for the person that you may be thinking about, a Goliath in your life.

Goliath doesn't necessarily mean the biggest in your industry. If you're playing high school ball, the Goliath may be that kid that's 20 miles outside of the school that everybody's calling "the guy" of your state, California, New York, Illinois. You're going to face this guy. You know he's better than you. You're scared of this guy, right? That's your Goliath.

It may be in business, in a sales office; there's a guy that's killing everybody in sales and you want to beat him, but he's the best in that office and he's much better than you. That could be your Goliath. For somebody else, maybe in your state, maybe in the industry, and as you get bigger, Goliaths get bigger and tougher to beat.

Today, I'm going to share with you 14 things you need to know before facing off a Goliath. And before I tell you the 14 points, let me tell you about what happened to me in 2005 that may give you some insight and clarity on whether or not you want to face the Goliath of your industry.

As I go through this episode, if you have any questions, thoughts, or comments, comment below. If you haven't yet subscribed to the channel, click on the subscribe button right next to me to get updates on future videos.

Okay, so let me get right into it.

First of all, in 2005, let me tell you where I was at. I was already making six figures. I didn't have a lot of money; I just paid off my $49,000 of debt. I get invited into this meeting with a hundred people in the room. All these hundred people that are in the room, 80% of them are ahead of me. I was trying to come up; I'm really trying to compete with these guys, and I'm in the financial industry at this point in my life.

I had already made a decision: I'm going to be in the sales business, period. I'm going to be in the insurance and financial services, period. That means I'm no longer looking; I'm not partying, I'm done chasing squirrels. It doesn't excite me anymore.

I want to figure out a way to get the best out of this guy. I would stay up at night, really thinking to myself, I don't know why, but I can't go to sleep because I think I was put on this planet to do something very special in my life. There's no way in the world I was just meant to be an average guy. I was thinking those thoughts. So, if you’re someone who is having similar thoughts, this is going to make a lot of sense to you.

I walk into this meeting, and the speaker gets up and says, "Today I'm only speaking to one person." I was curious to see what he was going to say. He says, "Today's message is not for everybody, this message is for the person that wants to be the best." I liked that opening line right away.

Then he takes out this magazine called "Newsweek: Tiger's Rules—Five Secrets of His Dominance." I'm already excited because Tiger is killing it at that time. He says, "By the way, I've never opened this magazine ever. It’s crisp; let me show you, it has never been opened up."

He tells the stories about Tiger Woods. He says, "Listen, for the one person in this room that wants to be the best, here’s what the best is, just like Tiger."

Point number one in the magazine says, "Genius is 99% perspiration." This was a message about hard work. He talks for ten minutes—if you don't work hard, there's no way in the world you stand a chance.

He then says, Point number two: "Let the other guy get nervous." I'm sitting there saying, "Let the other guy get nervous." Tiger used to scare people and intimidate them by the way he looked at them. I’m big on studying eyes, and I had a reputation of confronting a guy much bigger than me at that time; I was making $20,000 a month, and this guy was making $200,000 a month.

We were in Phoenix, and after his keynote, I pulled him aside and said, "You won't even get close to the size of the business I'm going to be building." He looked at me, surprised. Some may call it cocky or arrogant, whatever you want to call it, but that was more for me than it was for him.

Then he moves on to Point number three: "Don't just dominate, intimidate." Tiger was famous for intimidating his competition. That was exciting to me right now.

Point number four: "Have a sense of the historic." What I mean is, study history. Tiger knows his history. He knows what it is to break Jack Nicklaus's records.

Point number five: "Never ever be satisfied." That's the thing about Tiger Woods. He says, "Never ever be satisfied." You know what happened with number five? I was stuck. It’s very easy to say, "I will never be satisfied." You have no clue what it means to never be satisfied.

What are you going to do if someone puts a hundred million dollars in your checking account right now? Wake up and go ahead and wake up in the morning with the same fire in your belly. That's something I'm going to take decades to figure out.

So, he says all this, and I step out, thinking, "I don’t know what it is, but I can’t even stop thinking about this." I went home, went on eBay, bought every available copy of that magazine. I kept the best quality one. I made a vision board with quotes and philosophies I admire, reviewing it multiple times every day when I went to work.

This has nothing to do with your Goliath; this is about you. Remember, I told you this message is not for everybody. Some of you are watching and thinking about your Goliath.

Here's what you need to know before you face off against a Goliath:

1. It's not for everyone. Very simple: everybody claims they want to do it, but it's not for everyone.

2. It is scary as hell. Can you imagine telling the guy way ahead of you that you're coming after him? You're putting yourself out there.

3. You'll have anxiety attacks and panic attacks. I can't tell you how many anxiety attacks I've had.

4. You'll be bullied and laughed at. People are going to say you're out of your mind for thinking you can beat this Goliath.

5. You have to be a bit off. You're not normal if you think this is possible.

6. It's ten times more effort. Whatever hard work and dedication you think it takes, it's ten times more.

7. Your family won't be too happy. They won't see you too much.

8. You will be hospitalized for burnout. I've experienced this multiple times.

9. Goliath is much bigger than you. Goliath has more capital, more experienced teams, well-known reputations, better attorneys, and is more comfortable.

Remember, Goliath has everybody telling him he’s amazing, has lost the drive, and may not be in touch with the current market. That’s why David beats Goliath.

When you're facing a Goliath, you need to know:

1. Your weaknesses.
2. Their weaknesses and strengths.
3. Don't try to be Goliath.
4. Specialize in one area.
5. Be a niche player; compete in areas where they are weak.
6. Keep a low profile initially.
7. Move quickly.
8. Don't mimic their new products.
9. Partner up with competitors sharing a common enemy.
10. Study history.
11. Let others wear them down.
12. Remain humble.

No matter how much smack you talk about Goliaths, remember they got to their position for a reason. They didn’t get there by pure luck.

Finally, here are the 14 things you need to know if you want to face off with a Goliath:

1. Know your weaknesses.
2. Know your Goliath's weaknesses.
3. Master three areas where you're stronger.
4. Don't try to be Goliath.
5. Stay specialized.
6. Be a niche player.
7. Present yourself bigger than you are.
8. Keep a low profile.
9. Move quickly.
10. Don't imitate blindly.
11. Create alliances.
12. Study historical successes and failures.
13. Let competitors wear them down.
14. The last point is so powerful I will not share it here.

If you want to find out number 14, tweet me. Also, if you want a PDF summarizing everything I covered today, click on the link below.

Take everyone, bye-bye!