For years, I successfully distracted myself from thinking about who is my competition.
But I have to admit that it’s a “dark playground” (see picture)- I know I can’t be the only one, so my mind can’t escape the feeling that they are out there, doing who knows what.
Once I decided I had to know, the rest was…uh… varied. Here are some ways I’ve tried to peek outside the comfortable ignorance, and what I looked for:
– Google search, LinkedIn, YouTube – similar profiles, content sharing and keyword combinations
– Hashtags – start searching for obvious ones, like #pricing for me. They span multiple platforms, and will reliably get you some good results.
– Industry events, conferences, webinars, and closed online groups – once you find some competitors, looking for groups where they left a trail as speakers or guests will often net your clusters.
– Media, blogs, and newsletters – If you are not sure if someone is a competitor, let them tell you. Read or subscribe to their content trail, and they will tell on themselves sooner or later.
Once you find them, remember: they are not threats to you. If you haven’t looked for them, you would probably never have crossed paths with most of them – the chance of them ever taking away a job that could have realistically been yours is remote at best.
Consider them to be a distorted mirror, that allows you to better understand how the world sees you.