The Beauty of Competition
When one thinks of competition, one often times think of winners and losers. Either you succeeded or you failed against your competitor. Even when you watch the Olympics where 2nd and 3rd place medals are handed out, often silver and bronze winners couldn’t look more sullen.
So how does competition work in the float center industry? Is there room for competition? Is there only one winner? If you are in second or third place are you actually losing? These are the questions I would like to cover in today's post.
Is there room for competition?
The Float Shoppe, Float On, Mudra Massage and Everett House all have float tanks within the city of Portland. I think that answers the question of whether or not there is room for more than one center pretty succinctly. But how do we survive and thrive?
Geographical Location
Float On was the first float center in Portlands floating resurgence. This means that any float center coming after them needs to create themselves with them in mind.
Geographical location matters, if someone has a float center within a few miles, they are far more likely to go to that location that one even a few more miles away. When Sandra and I decided to open a float center we knew that we would open in one of the other quadrants of Portland (Float On in in SE, we opened in NW). During our construction phase Mudra Massage opened in the NE quadrant. Everett House (which has been in existence for decades) already existed in SE).
Differentiate
Besides geographical location, why would someone want to visit us rather than the guys who already exist?
I consider Float On to be a scalpel in the world of floating. They are specialized in floating and that is all they attempt to deliver. A Swiss Army Knife they are not. When planning our float center we knew that we wanted to be a complete wellness center and offer more than just float tanks. we also knew that by doing this we would be diversifying ourselves from the competition. If someone thinks about the Float Shoppe, the most immediate obvious benefit is that you can have massage or acupuncture coupled with it. that simply cannot be offered by Float On. And they are happy with only delivering floats, it’s not a weakness to them, it is a strength.
Being different isn’t just about the modalities we offer. The atmosphere of the Float Shoppe is incredibly different from the atmosphere at any of the other float centers in Portland. Our intention was not specifically to be different from them, but instead letting Sandra and I’s personalities shine in every aspect of the business. I don’t think you can help but have your business be different from any other simply because of who you are and how you see the world.
Can We all Win?
This isn’t the Olympics, and we aren’t all competing for 1st place. What is first place? Is it the amount of money earned? Is it happiness of customers? Is it quality of life? The answer is up to you, but no-one else will be keeping you from it. If you deliver a quality product well, you will have customers. If there is competition delivering a quality product well, they will also succeed, but that doesn’t take away from your own success.
