Don't fear competition
Every day on my way to OxWork I drive down Moreland Avenue in East Atlanta, where a brand-new Krystal just opened. They opened next door to Wendy’s and Cookout, next door but 1 to McDonalds and across the street from Checkers, Oh yeah and there is a Chik-fil-a just around the corner.
I love driving down this street because it reminds me to have an abundance mindset.
What these “fast food” restaurants show is that your customers are out there and there is enough business for everyone, also if there’s already someone doing what you do in the area you likely have a better chance of success.
“IF THERE IS SOMEONE DOING WHAT YOU DO IN THE ARE YOU MAY HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF SUCCESS”
I opened my first CrossFit gym in 2015. When I opened I was told there was 4,000 CrossFit Affiliates in Atlanta and that is was a saturated market. Here is the map of the CrossFit Gyms in Atlanta. Yes, that’s just the CrossFit gyms. There’s also a Snap Fitness, Planet Fitness, LA Fitness in every neighborhood as well as multiple Orange Theory’s, F45, 9 Rounds and Spin Studios. Let’s not even get into how many Yoga Studios are in ATL.
I opened in a neighborhood with 8 CrossFit gyms less than 5 miles away and 2 CrossFit gyms less that 2 miles away. Before opening I talked to a lot of people who also wanted to start a gym, but they were worried the fitness industry, especially for CrossFit gyms was just “too saturated”.
Instead of seeing this as a negative, what if it is actually a positive. Rumor has it that when Orange Theory Fitness (which is a fast-growing chain of high-intensity interval training workouts) are deciding on where to put their next location, they look for where their competition is doing well and they move in next door.
What I believe Orange Theory understand is that going into a market where people are already doing fitness provides them with an opportunity to try and do it better.
When a market is “Saturated”, that doesn’t mean there are no opportunities it simply means it is more competitive and you have to be better than the competition.
In order to compete, especially with big brands, you cannot make the mistake of trying to beat them on price. This makes your product or service a commodity and in a race to the bottom everyone loses.
What you need to do:
1. Define what makes you different from the competition
2. Understand how many customers you need to be successful
3. Learn the segment of the market you serve and learn who your customers are
4. Constantly work to improve your products and services to serve these customers
5. Price your service to be able to provide the highest level of service to these customers
At OxWork we understand that in order to be successful other businesses and people around us don’t need to fail. We are constantly working to build an abundance mindset and share our knowledge and resources. When our competition improve this is an opportunity for us to improve and this constant improvement will provide more demand for everyone.