Do You Need to be #1?

There is a fundamental flaw with most people’s thinking nowadays which is sucking the entrepreneurial spirit right out of them.  I think North American culture is probably the most guilty of this, but I have a feeling that the problem is much more widespread than that.

What I’m talking about is this false notion that in order to compete and to make money we have to be #1.  I think it’s this whole obsession with the “Idol” society, with clenching the #1 spot, with being the best of the best.  There is a time and place for that kind of thinking, but when it turns into an obsession and infiltrates the very core of your beliefs, your life will suffer.

Let me explain.  Over the last few years I’ve had the privilidge of talking to quite a few people about becoming “Inspired Money Makers”, about starting a business of their own, about starting Blogs, about building websites etc.  A lot of people have a lot of good ideas out there if you get them in a relaxed environment and you lend them a non-judgemental listening ear.

Without fail, every single one of them ran into the “#1 mentality” snag during our conversations.  Typically the conversation might go something like this:

Me: “So tell me about this idea you had.”
Them: “Well, I had this idea to start a Blog on tarot card decks, and crystals and stuff like that.”
Me: “Oh cool, that sound pretty interesting… so what happened?”
Them: “Oh, I looked on Google and there’s already a bunch of Blogs that talk about that.”
Me: “So?”
Them: “So it’s already been done.  I can’t compete with them.”

Does this sound familiar?  How many great ideas did you let die because of this kind of thinking.

Listen, just because someone else is already doing something similar or even exactly the same as your idea, DOES NOT mean that your idea is dumb, and that it will not work!!!

It’s like we’ve been programmed with this ridiculously stupid notion that the only way to start a business or to follow a dream of our is if we are absolutely sure that we are going to be #1 at it.  If you want to become an Inspired Money Maker and make money doing what you love, you do not have to be #1 at what you do in the world to make money with it!

There is plenty of space in the world for you and your inspired business idea, and you can be very comfortable and even financially well off doing what you love doing even if you’re nowhere near being #1 at what you do.

Let me ask you this.  What is the average salary of a hockey player on the #1, NHL Stanley Cup winning team last year?  Ok, now what is the average salary of a hockey player on just an average NHL team that didn’t win the cup last year?  Do the players on the average or even below average teams still get paid enough to have a comfortable life style?  Of course they do!  We cheer for the #1 teams, but at the end of the day all the players that participate get paid anyways.  Most of them are happy to just play in the NHL.  They get paid to participate in a sport they love to play.

You don’t have to be the #1 Blog in the world in your niche to make money.  You don’t have to implement your business idea the absolute best way in order to succeed.  There are plenty of companies out there who are #87 or #7847 in their field and they’re still making a mint!  Don’t assume that you have to be the absolute best person in the world at what you do in order to make any money with it.

If you have an inspired idea then follow it!

Listen, the Internet is great and it has done a lot to bring the world closer together.  However, I am also seeing a lot of people using the Internet as a dream killer.  What I mean by this is that 15 years ago if a person had an idea to start a little business, they would look around their neighborhood and maybe in the yellow pages to check to see if they have a lot of competition in their local area and then they would start a business.  Let’s say they have an idea to start a company that makes funny T-Shirts.  They drive around the neighborhood, they see no other businesses doing the same thing, so they start the business, and they succeed!

Today, the same person having the same idea doesn’t do that.  Instead they go onto the Internet, and type in “Funny T-Shirts”, click on a link and realize that there is already someone else who runs a company selling funny T-Shirts (Gasp, what a surprise eh?) and so they declare “No point starting a company like that, look there is already a bunch of other companies doing it.”

In my opinion, this is a great tragedy.  The world is a HUGE place.  There is enough people out there (customers) to make it viable for THOUSANDS (if not millions) of funny T-Shirt companies to exist out there.  If you’re using the Internet to kill your ideas like this, stop doing it.  You don’t need to be #1 in the world in order to build a business that pays your bills and offers you a comfortable lifestyle.  If you believe that, it’s a false belief!

Let me ask you this.  What are some of the top 10 movies that came out this year in Hollywood?  Name one… Batman perhaps?  Ok, so Batman made some money.  What about the #475th movie?  You probably never head of it, and I probably never heard of it but it still made a pile of money!  There are people, right now, this second, making millions of dollars offering products and services that are nowhere near #1 in their field.

There are skyscrapers being built by builders who are not #1 in their field.  There are architects who are not #1 in their field who are designing buildings.  There are mechanics who are not #1 in their field who are fixing airplanes right now.  There are Police officers who are not #1 in their field investigating crime.  There are fashion designers who are not #1 in their field designing the fashion trends of tomorrow.  There are Bloggers who are nowhere near the #1 spot (or even the Top 100) that are making money from Blogging.  There a LOT MORE people out there making money (good money) being the #87 or #7646 in their field than being the #1.

If you want fame and glamor and your name on a plaque, then yes you have to strive to be the #1 in your field.  However, if you just want to make money doing what you love, get rid of this stupid idea that if you can’t be #1 in the world at what you want to do, that there is no point even trying.

Don’t believe me?  Next time you go to a music store, ask the store clerk to show you the #1 selling CD in the store.  Then, look around the store and count how many other CD’s are there which don’t hold the #1 spot.  Then, compare the price on the #1 CD to the other CD’s.

The idea that you have to be #1 to survive is an Egotistical facade.  Don’t fall for it.  Your idea is good enough.  Don’t listen to the idiots who tell you “It’s been done man…there’s already someone else doing it.”  Who cares if someone else is already doing it!?  Good for them.  What does that have to do with you?

Follow your dreams.

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