Aren’t You Worried About Sara Campbell?

Do you all know Sara Campbell? (no, not the clothing store!) Sara Campbell of Savvy Music Studio!

Well, if you don’t let me tell you – she is a fierce and lovely human who I am lucky to have on my team.

And, she’s a marketing coach, business coach, and online content creator in her own right.

Last week, I had someone ask me,

“Aren’t you worried about Sara Campbell?”

My immediate thought was OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO SARA WE TEXT EVERYDAY IS SHE HURT DID A TREE FALL ON HER? (because there was a storm near her and I have pictures of trees that fell. Had fallen? Were strucken? Whatever) and because of my strong reaction in my nuggets, I asked the person what they meant by that question.

The good news is Sara is fine (we texted about this email this morning).

The other news is that the person asking me about Sara was, ultimately, wondering if I was worried that Sara and I are in competition. Was I afraid that Sara would outdo, outshine, outdate, or take away clients from my business.

It hit me like one of the lightning bolts that hit Sara’s trees… this person is seeped in the scarcity/competition narrative – and they are imposing it upon me and Sara.

UM, NO.

Not in the slightest am I worried about Sara outdoing, outshining, outdating, or taking clients away from me.

The Scarcity / Competition narrative in Business

Let me tell you why:

1. There are a whole helluva lotta of music people who need what Sara offers. There are a whole helluva lotta people who need what I offer. AND GUESS WHAT? THERE ARE A WHOLE HELLUVA LOTTA people who need our PARTNERSHIP.
2. Sara shines in areas that I don’t. Sara shines at marketing tactics and implementation through tech. I do not. And I do not want to try to.
3. I shine in helping others establish solid business organization charts. Sara does not. And she does not want to try.
   1. Actually, Sara has “competition” as one of her top CliftonStrengths, so she probably does want to to try. And I love it, because it’s fun to watch her win a race she’s created to motivate herself!
4. “Competitor” is a shitty marketing term, designed to force fear and scarcity onto you so that you can be more clear about how you are different so that people buy from you. I believe a better term would be “Space Sharers”. Sara and I share the same space. This allows us to inform, empower, and support one another. Knowing each other’s strengths and areas of challenge makes us better for our clients and each other.
5. I ain’t no dummy! Sara is smart as a whip, and so she is on the team here at The SpeakEasy Cooperative – she also adds team value to Molly Mahoney over at The Prepared Performer. She’s a TEAM PLAYER.
6. The fear of someone outshining you in your business is irrational. One candle lighting another candle doesn’t make the first candle more dim – it makes the whole room brighter.
7. Practically speaking, believing in competition is a good way to kill your business and your vibe – it distracts you from what you need to be focusing on – helping YOUR clients, in YOUR way, from YOUR decision.
8. The idea that there is competition assumes a binary in people’s needs. We all know this is silly. The best part about the free market is that we have choices, and that sometimes, more than once choice is necessary.
   1. Chances are, some people will become a client of both Sara AND I (happens a lot!) and that they are well served when they engage with more than one coach. To assume that “someone will only buy from one coach” is silly.
   2. You don’t do that, I don’t do that, nobody does that. If you are interested in something, you look for help, information, etc in MORE THAN ONE PLACE.
9. This is one way in which my core values come out in my company, and in Sara’s. We adamantly believe that a rising tide raises all ships.
10. Awkward things happen and grown ups know how to address them. Like when we released offers at the same time, or when we are marketing things – we ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT IT and ask how our efforts can help bolster up the other person.

Okay, sure, I can see you thinking to yourself “Well, that’s because Sara works for you, and you two are tight, and… and… and…”

Y’all, we weren’t always friends! We weren’t always on a team together.

(If you wanna know our story, I can share that at another time!)

We had to work it out. We had to communicate. We both had to say, “hey, this has the potential to be weird, and I don’t want to be weird, so how do we un-weird?”

Who around you are worried about being your competition?

I encourage you to dig into why – and then use that information to explore partnerships and shared amazingness, or be more articulate about how you are sharing space and add your own unique colors to the landscape.

Life isn’t pie. There’s no fixed amount of resources.

We can do this, together, and therefore, raise all the ships.

All My BeastyBoss,