I emailed a fellow freelancer awhile back and she mentioned avoiding her competition.

Not in the–I need to differentiate myself–way,

But in a–I can’t promote my competitor’s platforms–way.

This struck me.

I wasn’t sure why. Businesses have competition, that’s nothing new.

But it struck me.

 

Another time, I met with the owner of a local content agency and learned that they never hire freelancers…

Because they’re considered the competition.

Struck again.

That hadn’t even occurred to me.

 

I had to wonder…

Why was I so taken aback by this competition thing?

I had never really considered this polarizing idea of competition.

And I don’t like competition.

I tend to have more of an inclusive, mutually-beneficial “let’s build each other up” sense of non-competition.

So this sense of competition always gets to me.

 

Which had me thinking about why?

And what’s the alternative?

 

To me, this polarizing type of competition suggests you must be evaluated side-by-side with others in the same profession.

• You need to protect your followers and your work from the competition.
• You need to always do one better than your competition.
• You need to separate yourself from your competition.

And that just feels yucky to me. Except that last one.

It feels energetically contractive and self-serving, to be blunt.

So, I don’t compete. I differentiate.

 

 

{I talk a lot about mindset and energy in the Freelance Mindset Mini Course and in my articles. A fine-tuned mindset is paramount for business success.}

 

I like to help people.

In my own unique way.

I like to build on other people’s successes

And connect.

 

I have a problem with the idea of competition for several reasons:

1. You, as a person, have no competition. No one can compete with who you are, at your core.
2. Competition suggests you’re just one amongst many. You’re not. You’re singular.
3. Competition means your underlying motivations are more about money and prestige than helping people. Hopefully that’s not true!
4. Competition suggests there’s not enough work to go around, that there might not be enough room for you. If you want room, you have to fight for it. Nope!

 

One of my missions for this freelance page is to be inclusive and also not to think of any of it as competition.

I’m just not even available for that.

Heck, I feature and give credit to my assumed “competition” in my posts all the time!

 

If you want to freelance like there’s no competition:

It’s time to rewire your thinking around the idea of competition.

 

 

So, how can you freelance like there’s no competition?

1. Differentiate yourself. You don’t want to sound like and do the same things as others in your industry. You want to do it differently. Don’t copy. Give your work your own spin. Make it so that you can’t be evaluated side-by-side. You just can’t be compared.
2. Create a signature system. No one else has a Sales Page CPR system, except Courtney Johnston. (see that, hey Courtney!) I love how Courtney Johnston created a signature program, probably not much different from other freelancer’s systems, but totally different. Incomparable. Her own spice. Do the same with your business. Coronate yourself the “king or queen of internal communication copy.” Invent a new copywriting system. Make up your own copywriting packages that can’t be compared.
3. Think of yourself as an ally with other freelancers, helping build others up, reaching as many people as possible. We all have the same end game, right? We’re not working against each other, we’re working for the benefit of others who want to freelance too. In my own freelance group and the freelance groups I belong to, I never think of other writers as competition. I think of them as mutually valuable sources of information, comrades who I identify with, fellow business owners who deserve everything that I do.
4. Stop being driven by money and ego. If money and the desire to “win” are your driving forces, then you see competition all over the place (dontcha?) and you’re constantly driven to beat them and steal their followers. If, on the other hand, helping people and the greater good are your driving forces, then you see no competition. You see people trying to make the world a better place together. You see a place with space for all of you with no dividing lines. Your followers and their followers can overlap.
5. Live in the headspace of “there’s more than enough to go around.” Because there is. There are more content needs in this world than we’ll ever be able to meet in our lifetimes. Every business, school, organization, and club just in your community has more content needs than they could probably fill. Multiply that by the entire world, and you’d pass out. It’s up to you to find the clients that need you. The second you forget that there’s more than enough to go around, the more desperate you”ll feel. Choose to live in a world of abundance rather than lack.
6. Remember, you’re one of a kind. Okay, your momma’s been telling you this since you were freshly en-wombed, but you really are one-of-a-kind. Your value is a completely separate thing than your work. You’re infinitely valuable. You’re completely unique. Therefore, you–you unique person you–have no competition.

Let’s be more like that, okay?

 

Cue the Taylor Swift, “I’m the only one like me-eeeeee-eeee-eee!”

 

If you can master this mindset of, I’m not compete-able, you’ll have a much easier time in this freelance world.

What do you think?

 

In our Freelance Freedom Facebook group, we’re not competition. We’re fellow freelancers who want the best for and can learn from each other. If you feel the same, come join us!