Episode 31 | When It Doesn’t Help to Compare

Episode 31 | When It Doesn't Help to Compare - powered by Happy Scribe

Well, Hi there. Welcome to in the Clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman, and I am a licensed nutritionist and registered herbalist. In this podcast, I share little tips and tidbits that may be of interest to other practitioners. So today I want to talk about something that comes up really frequently in the mentoring work that I do.

And that is this idea that many of us have that if somebody else is already doing something really well, that's similar to what we want to do, that there's not a need for our services. A lot of us have had this thought, but like, if somebody else has already got a service or a class or a program, that is basically what I want to do. And that person is doing it really well. Why wouldn't people just go to them? Nobody needs what I'm doing because so and so is already doing it perfectly.

This comes up a lot with some of the bigger names that this person is the go to person for whatever thing, and that everyone just wants to go to that person. And so why would you do something similar, little old you, and that person has a beautiful website and 18 years of experience and a less expensive price or a more expensive price or whatever else. You start to get into this comparison game and you realize, like, oh, I'm basically nothing compared to this other person who's doing this so well.

So I should try to think of something else I could do. And there's a couple of things I want to say to you about this.

Number one, and this is something I repeat over and over again to folks who are working with me on Monday Mentoring or some of the other courses and programs that I'm doing. Yes, there are a lot of people who are doing similar things in any field. Doesn't matter what you do. There's probably someone else who's doing something similar, and you could probably look at what they're doing and think of 18 ways that what they're doing is better than what you could possibly do. But here is the deal.

People need to hear things in different ways. People need to see things packaged in different ways. Sometimes it makes sense when one person explains it and not when another person explains it. Sometimes one person's style really resonates with somebody. It lands differently versus another person's style.

Sometimes there are bits of the program that don't resonate that aren't helpful, that push people away and that other programs are going to be a better fit. So please keep that in mind that there are people who are going to do better when they hear it from you in the specific way that you are going to teach it or work with them or do whatever it is that you do. That your particular way is really important. What you bring to the conversation, to the experience, to the class or workshop or program or service that no one else can bring is you, your own experiences, the way that you talk, the way that you explain things, the way that you are when you're with people.

Nobody else has that particular way of being. Yes, there may be somebody out there that has an absolute corner on the market for the class or whatever that you're developing, and that person may have thousands of people enrolled, and there may be people who don't want that, who don't need that, who don't like that, who don't resonate with that, who are looking for something a little bit different. There may be people who've been following your work or who understand you and your experience and want to hear it from you.

They trust you.

They understand you. They work with you in a different way than they work with other people. So please don't see that somebody else is already doing this and therefore I shouldn't. The fact that somebody else is already doing it successfully, and I'll say, apparently successfully because we don't always know the inside story behind everybody else's work.

But the fact that somebody else is already doing it and seeming to have a lot of success with it probably just indicates that there's a lot of need for it. There's a lot of people who are interested in this topic, and there are billions of people in the world, so it doesn't mean that they are sucking up all the people, and no one is left for you to work with that's absolutely 100% not true. That is a story that you have in your head. You can let go of that and let go of the comparison piece.

So let me tell you. Speaking of stories, let me tell you a little story about how this came up in my own work. Last year, I was thinking about developing a course, and I talked to some people and they're like, oh, I really love to have a course on this topic, and I was like, oh, yeah, I think I could have a lot to offer here. I do have sort of a different perspective. This is for my Grow course, which is all about how to find new clients. And I was doing some research looking around to see what else is out there and so forth.

And I found another program that was very similar to what I was thinking about offering. That seemed amazing. I was like, Well, this would be great. I love everything about it. It was way more than I could do as an individual.

This is within the framework of an organization. They had multiple different coaches and people and things that I could never offer as a single person just doing my own thing. And I was like, you know what? Why would I not just send people to that program because it looks really good. I trust the people who are doing it, and it's less expensive.

Than I would need to charge to do what I want to do. So why would I even develop my own course? Because I could just tell people, hey, why don't you go take this course? It looks really good, and I even promoted it in my newsletter, not like as an affiliate, but just because I thought it was a good course, and I would highly recommend that other course. I did wind up developing my own because I had the same conversation in my head that I'm telling you right now, which is that there are people who don't want to take it in that context.

There are people who don't like that whole version, people who don't resonate with that approach. And there are people who would like to hear it from me in the way that I'm going to organize it, the way that I'm going to present it. And I did offer it, and, of course, went really well. And I think people got a lot out of it. I loved teaching it in that way and so forth.

The reason I'm telling you this story is because this other program that I thought was amazing and probably meant that I didn't really need to create one. They're not offering it anymore. That whole ecosystem is no longer. They decided to go in a different direction, and it's not an option.

You just don't know what's going on out there in the world. So essentially, the message I'm hoping that you will take away from this little short podcast episode is do not worry too much about what other people are doing. It's great to know about it. It can sometimes tell you that there's a bunch of people who are interested in this work, and it is totally okay to do your own thing, even if it's very similar to what other people are doing. Do not let that hold you back, because your approach and your take on things is important.

There are people who will resonate with that over anything else. So be yourself. Bring your own self into the work that you're doing, and don't hold back because of what other people are doing. Don't let yourself get caught up in that story, okay? I hope that was a helpful message.

Have a lovely week, and I will talk to you again really soon.