So I am a brand new Home Decor, Home Design, and boutique event space business in my small touristy beach town. I have zero competition in terms of what I do. I also love to network and create good relationships with other businesses owners and I’m known to collaborate and promote other businesses.
Well, this is proven to bite me in the butt. In terms of support, I have TONS of wonderful support within the community. Non-business owners are super supportive and kind with my new business. Business owners love to eat up my kind words towards them and then turn around and copy everything I’m doing marketing wise.
I hosted a Makers and Creators Market and brought local small artists into my store to sell their items for a weekend. I asked one particular artist to sell her items in my store full time. A local florist I invited to sell in my space that weekend overheard me and also asked that same artist to sell in her store too when I wasn’t listening. The florist then announces the collaboration before I could announce this artist would be in my store. It just felt so petty. I talked very well if this florist on my social media page and something about this whole interaction rubbed me wrong.
Another instance, I sell “surprise books” in my shop. These are books that are wrapped so you can’t see what they are and they are a surprise after you buy them. They get a ton of compliments but not many sales. I buy these books from a very small maker out of state. They aren’t easy to find. Last weekend I had a lady come and bought two of those books. She didn’t introduce herself or let me know she owns our local book store. A few days later our local book store advertises on Social Media showing these two books. This lady bought them from my store then turned around and put those same books up for sale in her store about 500ft away. Again, this just rubbed me wrong. I would be happy to let her know where I buy them from if she asked.
This is just a fraction of what’s been going on. In fact, this is just within the last week. I haven’t really had much positivity come from other local businesses towards mine. Everyone seems to want me to shut down even though I’m NO threat at all towards them. Just a lot of bad attitudes and bitterness.
How do new businesses overcome the pettiness??
The things you describe are not unethical, they are normal business. It’s unreasonable to think that people won’t copy the effective things you do. You can succeed by being more innovative, but you have to keep innovating to stay ahead.
You are overvaluing the uniqueness of what you have done, and undervaluing the importance of executing a plan efficiently. Instead of being upset about what your competitors are doing, focus on ways to do things they won’t be able to copy.