This is Day 9 of the Advent Calendar for 2015. Open more doors here >>
“Im too busy working on my own grass to notice if yours is greener” – unknown
I knew when I saw it that this was the quote to use today because of the content marketing day I’ve just attended where we were forbidden to look at the competition! Perfect!
I think this is a great quote because I bet you have competition, I know for me there are LOADS of logo designers out there, and yes, if I stumble on someone I’ve not heard of I will of course go and have a look at their website, I’m only human and I’m a nosey parker – but the important thing is to remember that they are not me. Your competition is not you, so it doesn’t matter how amazing they look (or not) they will not do what you do in the way that you do it. They might do the same thing but they will do it their way.
I ask my clients to let me know who their competitors are when I design a logo, brand, website or brochure for them – and mostly they know right away who they are. Knowing who you’re up against seems to be an easy question to answer, and it’s very handy for me because I want to make sure that you don’t look the same as someone else, but really that’s it, you don’t need to be looking at them all the time. I bet your competition are lovely people. I can honestly say I’ve never met a horrible graphic designer – but their business is their business and yours is yours.
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Click to tweet: “Im too busy working on my own grass to notice if yours is greener”
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You should be too busy with your own business to mind about theirs. Yours is the one that matters to you and if you keep looking at the competition, ok, you might end up feeling brilliant, but you might also end up feeling stressed about how you can keep up, or having ideas about how you can do what they’re doing. That wouldn’t be authentic to you would it?
So rather than spending time looking at other peoples lawns, why don’t you fertilise your own? Get busy doing things which will make your grass your favourite shade of green. Learn, read, write, doodle, sketch, brainstorm, generate ideas, discuss, survey, have thoughts and DO things. Your way. For your clients. If you’re moving forward then the grass on either side of you will be left behind anyway. If you keep looking at it then you’re just going to stay put. You need to put your focus elsewhere.
In the comments: What can you do to fertilise your green grass?