Nov 24, 2008

Meet the Meanie

Entrepreneurs are often afraid of their competition. They go out of their way to stay away from each other; but I go to the other extreme. I think you should get to know your competitors really well and find ways to work together. I think the synergies you get from one other, the power to grow the entire pie instead of just your slice and the camaraderie you get from it far out weigh the risks associated with it.


Artists do this better than anyone I think. This past Sunday I was part of the NGB Studio Open House (I've including some pictures if you missed it). The artists that have their studios there invited outside artists to share their space for the day and sell their products as well. In our studio (Jane Thelwell's pottery studio) had 4 great women (OK I'm a little biased as one of those four was me, but there was also Annie Clifford, Marie-Claude Delcourt and Jane Thelwell). We worked really well together. We crossed our products over into each others areas, sold for each other while we took art walks ourselves, shared food, helped set up and tear down and were each other's cheerleaders. We also found that selling it each other was easy than selling ourselves so it was a great way work together.

So next time you're wondering if you should meet your competition - go for it - meet the meanie!