How can entrepreneurs develop a competitive edge?

My thought Why do you need a Competitive Edge If I’m sufficiently good I need to understand the broader vision Develop a competitive edge to that

The beautiful thing of capitalism is there is something for everyone and anyone can compete or start a new vertical. But you can’t be everything to everyone. Amazon has coined themselves as the everything store,“A to Z”, but they cannot satisfy everyone. Thematic branding is important to developing a competitive edge Ask yourself what do you believe in and stand for? And why? You need to figure out why not who. What rituals, images or phrases should people think of regarding your brand The most competitive brands do this For small businesses thematic branding can be centered on the founders. For large brands they can succeed being community advocacy centered; Instagram has done this well #branding #scaling #startups #entrereneurship

This is vital. I was told this before setting out in business, but of course I knew better(!). Why would I eliminate lots of potential clients?! If you try to appeal to everyone, you'll end up appealing to nobody. You'll struggle to have a strong answer to the inevitable "why should I use you?"

It is impossible to be all to everyone. You end up being mediocre to non. Trust me from experience. I work with humans and believe that I can work with any. The thing is many don’t see the value in working with me. So I learnt to work with those that could see the value. From a philosophical perspective I still believe that I could work with anyone, but reality has shown me that I needed to niche down.

I've always been a fan of under promise, over deliver. If you think something will take a week to do, tell the client 2 weeks. That way if you encounter problems you've got some slack, and if all goes well they're super impressed. On occasion this can make you lose out on work to competitors who promise the earth. But their "success" will be shortlived if they fail to deliver.

The value that you bring is the only reason anyone will pay you for your service/product. Nobody has money to waste. The easiest way to increase your value is to truly communicate well with your clients. Understand them and provide a customised service if you can. Attention to detail matters!

This is easy to do at the start. You've got nothing tying you down. Tiny client base, so free to experiment. It gets much trickier once you're established. Legacy systems that work, but may be behind the times. Trying something new involves upheaval, and risk of problems. Can be a tricky balance between striving for continuous improvement and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Under promise, over deliver helps here. You'll build a reputation as someone reliable, that does what they say they will. If something's outside your skillset, be honest about it. People will respect you more for it.

Most small businesses won't do anything close to unique. But this doesn't mean you're exactly the same as your competitors. Work out (behind the scenes) how you compare. Where you're better, and be honest with yourself, where you're worse. Making this public is always dangerous. Slagging off the competition is rarely a good look. But especially if you get one with your competitors, you can end up collaborating with them. Passing clients between you where the other may be a better fit.

The more I build, the more I realize how important jt is for entrepreneurs to build a personal brand that is separate from the business, yet heavily influences the brand. A personal brand wins. Always. Evidenced by all of the celebrities who have build billion dollar brands out of their already present personal brand. Kim K. The Rock. Clooney. Garner. The list goes on and on.

Gary V and Vanyer Media are a perfect example of this! It can’t be two separate brands but a symbiotic relationship between the two.