Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

"While mushing a dog sled across an Alaskan glacier, I learned firsthand that if you’re not the lead dog, the view from the rear never changes. And the rear is exactly where you’ll be if you compete only with others. Innovate--don’t imitate."

It`s easy to get tunnel vision when all you do is mimic others.  Force yourself to try a new path (congruent with your core concept).

hostclick... that is a good comment, but remember... until you imitate with skill, you can hardly expect to achieve more than those you cannot imitate.

If you are a musician or businessman, you must be able to do what all musicians or businessmen can do. Therefore, you can imitate their actions to learn and understand WHY it is done like that. Once you have mastered the imitation, you are ready to strike out on your own.

I would laugh if someone told me they wanted to be a professional musician, but didn’t know what the basic beat to a Waltz or Rumba is without hearing the rhythm first. Even the cutting edge musicians in Rock N Roll know such classical tempos and rhythms.

Practice makes perfect. It also makes prepared.


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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Vin,

I completely agree, Wal-mart copied, Norstrom copied, Microsoft copied, Apple copied etc and all of these companies relieved it is cheaper and faster to copy great ideas...

Motorola said several years ago that their company had a "not invented here" problem....dont let this happen to you!


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Erik
www.usspin.com
www.unitedbusinessalliance.com

But for everyone who has copied someone else, there had to be someone there for them to copy. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? One begat the other, and no matter how you look at it, there had to be an originator. Though copying something that works is a good idea, there`s something to be said for being an originator.

I get what your saying because although I am going down a path already heavily treaded, I find that the ways in which these business started their business or sought clients is fine but I am sooooooo not them and I have struggled with their methods. So, I started to figure things out for myself. market the way I market, attract clients the way I attract clients and lead my own way!!!

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www.EllayWestConcepts.net Ellay West Concepts (Freelance Commercial Writer)

Vincent makes a strong argument that before you can truly break away from the pack you have to be able to run with them.  What I took from the quote was that once you get to the point where you are successfully running with the pack don`t be content with that.  And also make sure your imitation doesn`t get in the way of you actually doing something great.  Who knows maybe there is a better way...

"Kroger Co. -- a grocery chain -- bumped along as a totally average performer for 80 years and then somehow broke free of its mediocrity to beat the stock market by 4.16 times over the next 15 years. And it didn`t stop there. From 1973 to 1998, Kroger outperformed the market by 10 times."

What caused the change?  Krogers CEO at the time had the vision that the concept of the traditional grocery store (think mom and pop store) was going to be a thing of the past.  In it`s place Kroger built the super markets / super centers that you see now (ie you have a grocery store, pharmacy, clothing store in one single location).

Also let`s not forget; Typically the originator of "ahead of it`s time" ideas are left out of the loop. Take a look at the originator of velcro. It`s everywhere, but the guy got next to nothing for his contribution.

That`s just one example but the truth is... Typically a person cannot effectively be the originator, marketer, producer, and store manager. The originator often gets the short end of the stick. The others up the chain cut into the profit margin pie with a bigger knife.

At least that`s my experience.

That`s why I am always looking for help. My problem is that help often costs money. That`s something I have little of. Right now I am trying to find writers... Hell. In reality, every position in my business is open. It`s just not a high paying position. Unless good results come from a "volunteers" action. Then I am happy to share the wealth.


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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words