Forget About the Competition to Succeed as a Creator

It has nothing to do with you.

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

I was talking to my sister yesterday — a struggling freelance designer — when she told me:

There are so many designers out there…What’s the point of me becoming another one?

And yes — she’s right. There are a lot of designers out there.

But that has nothing to do with her. If she wants to become a designer, she should go on and become one.

The Competition Is Irrelevant

Most startup founders overrate the role that competition plays in startup success. I’ve studied at the top entrepreneurship programs in the U.S., and everywhere most first-time founders would get discouraged when they learn that somebody else has done something similar.

Yes — it’s better to be unique. Peter Thiel teaches that you need to become a monopoly — a big fish in a small pond (as opposed to being a small fish in a big pond).

But being the only one might also be an indicator that there’s no market.

You’re running on a circle track. Does it matter if somebody else started running next to you? Not if you’re running faster. Or if you’re simply having fun, and don’t care about the race.

The same with business and life.

What matters is whether you’re good at what you do — or having fun.

If you want to become a designer, go be one. The general condition of the market is irrelevant.

Macroeconomics Don’t Matter

People spend too much time looking at statistics, figuring out unemployment rates, or checking coronavirus stats. I know this because I refresh the COVID-19 case number at least three times per day. I should probably stop.

But statistics have nothing to do with you or me.

The rising % of people sick from coronavirus won’t make me more likely to get sick, whether I stay self-isolated or not will.

The rising unemployment rate won’t make a decision regarding my job. Whether I do my work well, or my company has enough cash to pay my salary will.

If 10% of people are entrepreneurs, it doesn’t mean that among your ten friends, one is an entrepreneur.

Statistics are not indicators of the future. It’s simply illustrating what the world looks like today.

On the contrary, your decisions can shape the future.

How To Be The Best In The World

In the world where all information is free and abundant, to win, you’ve got to be the best.

Nobody spends time working with a freelancer on page 34 on Fiverr. We all sort by ratings and reviews. And we pick the best.

What’s holding you back?

When I tell people that, the most common reaction is:

That’s cool, but if everybody is the best, then nobody is the best.

That’s one way to look at it. We can’t all be “the best entrepreneurs” in town.

But “being the best” is an option, it’s a necessity. The good news: you don’t have to be the best at everything, you don’t have to be huge, and you don’t have to kill all of your competition.

You can specialize. Go niche. Become a “meaningful specific” rather than a “wandering generality.”

Not become “the best entrepreneur,” but become “the best entrepreneur who creates military sci-fi paperback covers for Amazon sellers.” That’s pretty doable.

You don’t even have to be huge. It used to be that to succeed; you had to build the biggest shopping mall in town. Today, because we’re all so connected, it’s enough to build a small store around your passion(figuratively speaking) — and source clients from different parts of the world.

Become the best at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until that’s true. — Naval Ravikant

You’re Not Late

The conventional thinking is that when too many people know about any new opportunity, it’s already too late. There’s part truth to that.

Amazon has made more millionaires than any platform in human history.

I recently interviewed a millionaire, who started multiple businesses on Amazon and is currently running a large agency in the Amazon FBA space.

I asked him, “Is it too late to get into Amazon FBA in 2020?”

He replied, “Not if you’re taking it seriously, and not waiting to make a quick buck.”

This can be applied to anything in life. When people say it’s too late, what they’re really saying is “It’s too late to do nothing and succeed” — which might be true for 0.1% lucky ones who discover an opportunity before anybody else.

But whether you want to become an Amazon entrepreneur, a graphic designer, or a Medium writer: you’re not late. If you think you’re, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Just treat your work diligently, focus on the long-term, and stay in the game long enough to succeed.

Lower Your Expectations

The reason why people have “blocks” (as in “writer’s block,” “artistic block,” etc.) is that their expectations are crushing them.

It’s impossible to start doing anything when you have an internal expectation of becoming the best in the world.

The key to starting anything is to let go. Forget about being the best. It will take care of itself once you gain momentum and find your voice.

Don’t write like Hemingway. Don’t write literature. And don’t even write “blog posts.” Just write like you. Write as you talk, and say what you want to say.

Dickens wrote more than forty novels during his lifetime while keeping a full-time day job throughout his life. How did he do that?

He didn’t write like somebody else. He was himself, and he enjoyed the process.

It’s Not a Race

Life is not a race, where you only choose to do something because nobody else is doing it. You’re doing something because you love to or want to. As a result, you get better, and you get rewarded more.

If my sister wants to become a graphic designer, she should become one — and forget about the competition, statistics, or where the world is going.

She’ll be rewarded to the extent that she:

a) loves what she’s doing;

b) becomes good at it;

c) goes niche and finds her voice.

The big world — whatever is happening on the outside — has nothing to do with her.