Why I don’t compete with my competitors

Alfred Tanuwidjaja
4 min readJan 31, 2024
Photo source — freepik

Recently, I sat down with a Facebook Ads expert and the first question she asked me was, “Who are your competitors?” I think this question came to light because I had no idea how I was going to promote my business and the easiest way out of this hassle was to look at what my competitors are doing. I blank-spaced, searched for the top 3 video production companies in my area and handed the results to her.

I was extremely competitive

In the past, during my days as a guitarist playing in pubs and events, I was extremely competitive. I wanted to be the best out there and I would spend close to 6 hours a day practicing my craft. Whenever I hear a friend of mine rambling about another awesome guitarist in our circle, I sneakily search for them online and study their playing styles or skills. Then, I will head home and start to compare myself to them. In my mind, I was insulting their skills and trying to pick out faults or mistakes they make. This way, I can better myself and beat them. Long story short, this practice of mine transformed me into a petty monster. Don’t get me wrong, it was a highly effective way to improve myself but in the long run, I became very dark and depressed. Instead of having fun and enjoying my journey as a musician, I adopted the revengeful mindset and needed to be better than the others. Turns out, I was hurting…

--

--

Alfred Tanuwidjaja
Alfred Tanuwidjaja

Written by Alfred Tanuwidjaja

I write about life lessons picked up along the way as a filmmaker and photographer.

No responses yet