Startups

3 Ways You Can Make Your Competition Work For You

Published

10 years ago

Feb 25, 2016

In business, it is widely believed that your competitors are to be treated as the enemy. This may be the case for veteran players, battling for dominance in their marketplace, but what are the rules for those just getting their start?

As a newbie in any field, it may not be advantageous to your progress or reputation, to try and go after the top dog. A yellow belt in karate wouldn’t have much luck defeating a black belt in a sparring match, or get very far by taking them on every day. However, that same yellow belt could learn to defeat other yellow belts, increasing themselves in rank, if he chose instead to learn from the black belt.

What is true in martial arts is also the same in business. As a newbie, treating your competition as mentors, can accelerate your growth and success exponentially, and even generate income at the same time. Some of the most enlightening experiences of my lifetime, have been from working for those who were positioned where I had aspired to be. I like to call it, paid training, and you can’t beat that.

Here are 3 reasons why beginners should work with, instead of against, their competitors:

1. Guidance

The reason why is because who they are. Your competitors. What qualifies another as a competitor? The fact that you consider them a challenge to your success and/or business, demonstrates their ability and skill to drive revenue away from you. Otherwise you wouldn’t consider them as competition.

When starting out, recognizing those who have already done it, and are doing it well, is the first step to mastering success. The big competitors have already put in the time, money and effort to get where they are today. Your ability to recognize that and learn from their past mistakes can save you from the wasted time, money and humiliation they once suffered.

When setting your course for success, wouldn’t it make sense to learn from someone who has already made the trip, and charted the map? Accept their guidance. They have uncovered lessons that can save you from making the mistakes that could halt or hinder your success

“You must learn the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself” – Sam Levenson

2. Leverage

The word leverage is derived from the word levier, which means to lift or to advance; to give a minimum input that attains maximum results. It is the ability to gain more with less resources, and it can be used to accelerate your success as well. Imagine trying to remove a flat tire without a tire rod.

The experience would be strenuous, if not grueling. This scenario is not far off from the true difficulty you will face if you are unable to learn how to use competitor leverage to your advantage. Using your competitors prestige and experience alongside your vision and sweat equity, can push your dreams into reality. This is probably one of the most surefire ways to 10X your results in any field.

3. Reciprocity

In any line of work, you should always do and give more than what is expected. This is especially true when developing relationships with those in your marketplace. While you would obviously refrain from giving away or up anything that could be leveraged against you, contributing time and effort to others’ needs, opens you to reciprocation.

Doing big favors for big players can open you up to huge opportunities in the future. And while the main focus here has been on big competitors, the same courtesy should be given to those who are just starting out as well. Helping others will open you up to future partnerships and business relations with those who could one day too make it in your marketplace.

“The truly gifted negotiator, then, is one whose initial position is exaggerated enough to allow for a series of concessions that will yield a desirable final offer from the opponent.” – Robert B. Cialdini

When starting out, you need to be smart about what actions you take. Will you take the difficult path and fight the tide? Or will you learn to swim with the current and use it to take you to your goals?

How will you make your competitors work for you? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

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Robert Glover

Robert Glover is a real estate investor, coach and entrepreneur. He has trained and lead dozens of sales teams across the American East Coast, helping others achieve their goals and dreams.

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Startups

How an LLC Can Help Shield Your Personal Assets

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 1, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

You are a freelance designer, and your client sued you over a trademark mistake. If you believe that your personal savings are safe, then you may be wrong. You are operating as a default sole proprietor. You and your business are the exact same person. As a result, your personal bank account, your car, and even your home are legally up for grabs.

However, if you start an LLC, you can build a legal shield between your business liabilities and your personal life. These days, you can easily form an LLC online.

How Does This Legal Shield Work

When you start an LLC, your business gets a distinct legal identity. Now, your LLC can open its own bank accounts, sign contracts, take out loans, buy equipment, and be held responsible for its own actions. You are not liable. This boundary between you and your business is called the “corporate veil.”

Visualizing the Separation

Inside the Shield (Business Assets)

Everything your company owns is included in this shield. If your business faces a debt collector or a lawsuit, only your business assets are at risk, such as:

Money in the business bank account
Inventory and raw materials
Office equipment, computers, and company vehicles
Business intellectual property

Outside the Shield (Your Personal Assets)

You don’t have to worry about your personal assets, such as:

Your personal checking and savings accounts
Your home and personal real estate
Your family vehicles
Your retirement funds (401k, IRA) and personal investments

What LLC Protection Covers

Business Debts and Contracts

When your LLC signs a commercial lease, hires a contractor, or buys inventory on credit, these are the obligations of the LLC. Your creditors will come after the assets of the LLC if your business can’t pay.

Lawsuits

If your business is sued over a contract dispute, faulty service, or an operational issue, lawsuits will be filed against your business. All your personal assets are safe.

What LLC Protection Does Not Cover

Personal Torts

The term “tort” refers to an act that causes harm or injury to someone else. The LLC shields you from the mistakes of your employees and general business liabilities. However, it never protects you from your own personal actions. For example, if you personally commit fraud, you can be sued personally.

Personal Guarantees

Vendors often hesitate to lend money to new, growing businesses. Such businesses don’t have long credit histories. Lenders often require you to sign a personal guarantee.

How Owners Accidentally Destroy Their Protection

The legal shield provided by forming an LLC only works when you run your business properly. The corporate veil can be pierced when a court decides that your LLC is not legitimate and strips away your protection in a lawsuit. This usually happens when you make one of the following three mistakes.

Commingling Funds

Many small business owners often mix their personal money with their business money. You are commingling funds when you use your business debit card to buy your personal groceries or you deposit a client’s payment directly into your personal checking account. The legal wall crumbles when you don’t treat your business and personal finances as completely separate.

Missing an Operating Agreement

An operating agreement is the legal document that outlines:

How your LLC is run
Who owns what percentage
How profits are handled

If the creditor’s lawyer finds out that an operating agreement is missing, they may argue that your LLC is just a shell.

Falling Out of “Good Standing”

When you start an LLC, you must file annual reports and pay franchise taxes to keep it active. The state will place your business in “Administrative Dissolution” or bad standing if you miss any of these deadlines. You could lose your limited liability protection if you operate a business under an inactive or dissolved LLC.

Startups

Move Fast without Breaking People: Product Safety Lessons for Ambitious Startups

Published

1 month ago

Jul 15, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

Fast growth can hide product risks until customers get hurt, especially when safety comes late in development. A software bug can be patched, but a chair, charger, or smart device can cause a burn, fall, cut, or crash.

For founders moving from a prototype to mass sales, the cases handled by Michael Kelly Injury Lawyers in Boston show why launch goals should not push testing, warnings, and foreseeable risks aside. A product claim can involve the design, how a unit was made, user instructions, or several firms in the supply chain.

Why Minimum Viable Should Never Mean Minimally Safe

A minimum viable product should test whether people want an idea, not how much danger they will accept. Teams can delay colors or premium finishes, but not guards, safe heat limits, sound wiring, or clear instructions.

Set Safety Rules Before the Build

The product brief should define who will use the item, where, and what could happen during setup, cleaning, storage, wear, or mistakes. It should also consider what a child, guest, tired worker, or first-time buyer might do.

Shared rules help teams move faster. Designers know which guards must remain. Engineers know which parts cannot fail. Suppliers know what cannot change without review.

Test How People Really Use It

A neat demo is not the real world. Users place products on wet counters, soft rugs, or rough ground. They skip a guide, use the wrong cable, or handle an item in unexpected ways.

Testing should cover misuse without predicting every extreme act. When a risk can be reduced through a guard, lock, stop switch, or clear signal, that design change is often greater than a warning alone.

How Design and Manufacturing Risks Differ

Some risks are built into the design. Others arise when production fails to match the approved plan. Teams need to identify the source before choosing a correction.

Design Problems Start with the Plan

A design problem can affect every unit. A base may tip, a blade may sit too close to a hand, a control may activate too easily, or a battery space may trap heat.

Final inspection cannot repair a flawed plan. The team may need a new shape, shield, limit, material, or control, followed by testing before more units ship.

Manufacturing Problems Break the Plan

A manufacturing problem occurs when a unit or batch does not match the approved design. A fastener may be missing, a weld may be weak, a wire may be damaged, or the wrong component may enter production.

Good records help define the scope. The team should know who made each part, which batch used it, what checks occurred, and where units went. Fast trace work can keep one fault from becoming a wider crisis.

When Customer Feedback Signals More Than Dissatisfaction

Support teams hear about delays, difficult setups, strange sounds, and refunds. Most reports are routine. Yet heat, smoke, sparks, breakage, sharp edges, sudden movement, falls, or failed guards require review.

Treat Complaints as Safety Data

One report may lack key facts, but similar reports can reveal a pattern. Staff should record the model, batch, date, use, photographs, and outcome, then alert someone who can pause sales or order testing.

Teams should not blame unusual use before asking whether another reasonable buyer could make the same choice. A support ticket can be the first sign of a hazard that lab testing missed.

Preserve the Product and the Record

After an injury, the product can help explain what failed. A repair, disposal, or undocumented test can remove evidence. The same applies to old labels, manuals, test files, customer messages, and design notes.

Startups should keep relevant items safely, record who examines them, and preserve earlier versions of instructions and warnings. This history can show what changed and why.

Why Warnings Must Reflect Real Use

A warning works only when a user notices it at the right time. Dense text at the back of a manual may not help during setup. The message should name the hazard, explain the harm, and state what reduces the risk.

Placement matters too. A charging risk belongs near the port. A weight limit belongs where weight is added. Even so, warnings should not replace a safer design when the hazard can reasonably be removed.

How Founders Can Preserve Speed without Cutting Safeguards

A delayed launch, redesign, or recall can feel like defeat. In practice, early action can prevent harm, protect trust, and give the team better facts for the next version. The strongest startups move quickly because their systems protect people.

When a product injures someone, legal guidance can help preserve the item, collect design and manufacturing records, identify responsible companies, and examine whether a defect or unsafe choice caused the harm.