My business partner is feeling competitive towards me - here's what to do
dollhouse: baby boutique
Fun fact: Tops are the most commonly purchased baby clothing items, with parents typically buying more onesies and shirts than pants.
The issue:
Your business partner, Camilla, is feeling competitive towards you. In other words, you feel like your teammate has become a competitor.
Let's say you and Camilla own a baby clothing store together.
An example:
You and Camilla, as mothers, are the face of your baby boutique. People in your community look to you as "aesthetic motherhood role models." You each earn your own commission on sales.
You naturally start to get more attention and praise from your community, as your mothering style is more commercially palatable. Camilla's motherhood identity is given less recognition.
People start to turn to you as the face or leader of your business.
You notice that Camilla now is feeling competitive with you, though she's not saying it outright. She doesn't seem as happy for you when people compliment you as a mother. She's no longer sharing as much information with you, in order to start giving herself the advantage. She's starting to seek out clients by and for herself behind your back.
Two hidden costs:
- You are forced to be constantly vigilant, and vigilance can create paranoia and trust erosion.
- Your own pipeline (of clients, work, etc.) is slowly being starved.
The reasons:
Here are the reasons why Camilla is feeling competitive towards you (and/or):
- Her identity or sense of self feels threatened by your success.
- She feels that someone else's individual win means that something is taken away from her.
Your quick fix (honoring autonomy):
Your goal is to ensure that you both draw the line between "scarcity mindset" and "abundance mindset" similarly.
When we perceive opportunities and wins as a pie with limited slices, we start to compete for our share rather than collaborate. When we perceive abundance as unlimited, other people's success doesn't feel like a threat to our own.
- Is there an open conversation that you both are willing to have about this topic? (It's hard to admit feeling competitive with other people).
- Can you agree on the line between friendly competition and uncomfortable rivalry?
- Can you agree to split opportunities as fairly as possible, while accepting factors outside of your control (ie: how others perceive you individually)?
If YES, you can make compromises.
If NO, you have a fundamental incompatibility - you each have a different innate sense of abundance.
Mending your partnership:
Book a consultation with Valerie.
Vetting for the future:
If you are searching for a business partner in the future, first figure out how they define abundance and scarcity. See if you both draw the line between the two at a similar place.
That will ensure that your partner will feel abundant enough to not turn you into competition.