5 Big Mistakes: Comparing yourself to the Competition

 Hi agan, I’m Nicole Dean, and I’d like to welcome you back to my series about “Common Mistakes You May be Making when Working from Home and How to Avoid them”. Today, I’d like to talk about something that’s a huge mistake for many many entrepreneurs.

 Mistake #4: Comparing yourself to Others

 Let me preface by saying “There is only ONE you.”

 We can be so cruel to ourselves. We’d never be as cruel to anyone else, usually, as we are to ourselves. It’s so sad.

 Have you ever said these things to yourself…

 “I’ll never be as good as she is.”

“I can’t believe she’s launched another site and I still don’t have this one making money.”

“I suck at this.”

“I obviously am not cut out to do this. She’s so much better than I am.”

OUCH. Those words hurt, whether someone else says them to us, or we say them to ourselves. Either way, they cut like a knife and do serious damage to our work days. They can kill your productivity faster than a hard drive crash or getting a site hacked for sure.

I’ll tell you a secret. It really does not matter what others are doing. The only thing that matters is what YOU are doing. YOU make an impact on your own business. You are responsible for your own success, not for anything else.

Would you like to know what happens when you focus on other people’s successes? You waste your time and prevent yourself from focusing on your own business.

How do I know this? Well, because I’ve done the same thing. Remember? I’ve been in the trenches just like you and I’ve struggled and fought my way to where I am, earning a very nice income online. I’m human and very imperfect and wonderfully flawed… just like every other person on this earth.

I have a few recommendations at this point. But, first, let’s name this “other marketer” so that it’s easier to write the rest of this article. Let’s call her Maxine the Marketer. Ok? Onward.

First of all, how do you even know what Maxine is doing in the first place? If you’re subscribed to her lists … unsubscribe now. I don’t care how good her information is. If your gut twists and you feel less than you are every time you receive an email from her, it’s not worth it. Find someone else to learn from.

Second, take a minute to consider why Maxine is getting more done. Is she outsourcing? Is she recycling and repackaging her content? Is she partnering with others? Is she more focused? Is she networking better? Is she using a tool to help her that you can also use? Whatever it is, consider whether you can learn from her.

Third, stop beating up on yourself, my friend. YOU are learning at your own pace. You’re applying at your own pace. And, I would like you to reach your hand back right now, and give yourself a pat on the back for being here, reading this, and trying to build a better life. You’re working towards a goal of building a profitable online business and hopefully a lifestyle of freedom. That deserves a HUGE congratulations. So many others just think about how nice it would be – but they don’t take ACTION to get there. You are moving ahead. So, be nice to yourself and be proud of that.

Fourth, if you’re learning and applying and aren’t reaching your goals, then it’s time to get a coach to walk you through the process to see where you’re losing money, where you could be more productive, and maybe help you to find some promtional opportunities outside your own circle of friends. Again, Leslie does offer coaching.

I know that I’m moving quickly in these lessons. It’s hard to cover so much in so little time. If you’d like more information you can click on the related links:

1. Productivity: If you are ready and willing to learn how to get more done during the day and earn more money, I highly recommend Homepreneur Habits, a course by my mentor and friend, Jimmy D. Brown.

2. Partnering: I co-created a course with Kelly McCausey about how to work with others to get more accomplished. It’s called Easy Partnerships and it talks about ways you can JV with others on projects to mutually benefit.

3. Outsourcing: I co-created Outsource Weekly with Jimmy D. Brown. However, the course is a misnomer. I got myself in a pickle because my integrity wouldn’t allow me to teach people how to outsource marketing strategies and online business tactics until I first taught what the strategies were and how to use them properly. Otherwise, you could outsource work and not know it was being done properly. I can’t send people out to be swindled or to throw money into the wind. So, Outsource Weekly is almost a complete A-Z intro course to online business, including efficiency tips and how to outsource each task. If you’re interested, you can check it out here: Outsource Weekly.
4. Coaching: As I mentioned, you can check out Leslie’s coaching here: Get Coaching with Leslie.

Thanks again for reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson and I’ll be back with my last guest post for the week tomorrow.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

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