It recently seems that we’ve got people jealous of our success with new businesses we start up. And they take it to the next level by looking for ways to try and through stones into our roads to success. The industry we’re trying to get into is quite small in our province, and I think one of the reason it’s small is that there aren’t enough competitors in this field.
But it’s a double edged sword. There might not be enough competitors because there isn’t a market for it here. I don’t believe that is the case though. I just think the poor people that have previously tried to break into the market got so swept up in all the stones being pushed in their path that they decided to just quit. Well, we’re not going to quit.
We’re passionate about what we’re doing, and we just love doing what we’re doing. That is one of the main reasons we are so successful, people can see we just love it!
This whole situation has made me think about businesses again, and how stupid some South Africans can be. We are the world’s best entrepreneurs, but yet we want everything for ourselves. In our IT business I’m not jealous or treat other IT businesses like competition. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of them. Sure we don’t share client lists and thing like that, but we are civilized towards each other and don’t try and make life difficult for one another. Not all of them are like that, I’m just saying that a small group of us are.
I believe every business and industry needs competition. But not competition in the sense of trying to burn down your competitor’s offices, or trying to find ways to give them up for making mistakes. No, I mean healthy competition. Someone that you look up to and think, “Hey, perhaps I should’ve tried that first!”, whenever they come up with a good idea. This inspires you to do better.
Look at Telkom. For years they’ve had no competition in this country, and what has happened? We have fallen back in terms of technology that is available elsewhere in the world, but lacking here. We ran at Internet speeds about a 100th of the speeds other countries are getting. Would this have happened if Telkom had 3-5 competitors for the last 20 years? I doubt it.
I think when clients feel they have the freedom to chose from various companies, they feel better about their purchase, and might even buy more regularly. That’s my opinion anyways.
So if you’re one of those people that look at your competitors with hate in your eyes, stop it, you might just kill off your industry if you get your wish.