Hasty resolutions are futile. The mind must be fortified to endure. Immediately resolution to walk a higher path is made, temptation and trial begin. Men have found that no sooner have they decided to lead a truer and nobler life than they have been overwhelmed with such a torrent of new temptations and difficulties as make their position almost unendurable, and many men, because of this, relinquish their resolution.

He whose life is not in harmony with his conscience and who is anxious to remedy his mind and conduct in a particular direction, let him first mature his purpose by earnest thought and self- examination, and having arrived at a final conclusion, let him frame his resolution, and having done so let him not swerve from it, let him remain true to his decision under all circumstances, and he cannot fail to achieve his good purpose; for Great Law ever shields and protects him who, no matter how deep his sins, or how great and many his failures and mistakes, has, deep in his heart, resolved upon finding of a better way, and every obstacle must at last give way before a matured and unshaken resolution.

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•Your competitors will frequently teach you new ways to reach your business goals. You will want to execute very profitable programs that follow similar, if not identical, programs previously instituted successfully by competitors. Does term "re-engineering" sound familiar? Japanese automakers dissected American and European cars then took best features and combined them into very desirable products that filled many needs other automakers failed to provide.

•Your competitors will frequently supply some of your greatest business opportunities. They may choose to ignore your potential customers or interact offensively with them, or they may be incapable of providing benefits that your customers want.

•Competitors will frequently open up markets that did not exist before, allowing you and your business to move in and prosper. Sound silly? Look how fast food restaurants feed off of each other by congregating in certain areas, making it very easy for customers to pick from a number of choices. Phase 3: Position your business to provide a desirable comparison. Establish your business so that it will be much more desirable to your target customers, when they compare you to your competitors. Use knowledge gained in above steps to create a comparative edge in as many ways as possible. Encourage your customers to compare, especially in areas where you have favorable edge. This allows them to make a confident decision to buy from your business because you appear to be better for them than your competitors. There are examples all around you of business owners thriving because of their competition. One couple, for example, started a cleaning business in face of an overabundance of competitors and greatly prospered, even with higher prices. They succeeded because they were only business to quickly answer phone with a live friendly person to immediately tend to customer requests. Their competition actually drove excellent customers to them.

In another case, a development group created an extremely profitable new ski resort by concentrating on providing warm, courteous and ever-increasing benefits to their skiers. The existing ski areas considered themselves "only game in town" and were more focused on treating their directors as semi-royalty, while they virtually ignored their paying customers. The developers of new resort feasted on monopoly others thought they had.

By using your competition and what you learn from them, you too can prosper because of your competition.

Provided as an educational service by Bill Dueease of The Coach Connection, where “connecting great people with great coaches” is their goal. You may receive a free copy of the article “10 Insider Secrets Most Business Owners Never Learn” by contacting The Coach Connection at 800-887-7214 or 239-415-1777 or coaches@findyourcoach.com, or at www.findyourcoach.com/0o-business-coach.htm