“Im too busy working on my own grass to notice if yours is greener”
unknown
I bet you have competition, I know for me there are LOADS of logo designers, graphic designers, brand designers etc.. 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 curious – 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. They might serve a different audience. There will be something (probably many somethings) that makes you different. They may even become someone who you can collaborate with.
I ask my clients to let me know who their competitors are when I design brand visuals 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.
The important thing is to make sure it’s easy for your audience and theirs to differentiate between you and them. You don’t want to be using bright pink if your closest competition is using bright pink. Make it EASY for people to spot the difference.
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?
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.
Put your focus elsewhere (on YOUR business) so your business can grow.
Focus on your customers lawns. What do THEY need? How can you serve them better?