Podcast 43: How to compete in an unlevel playing field?
Welcome to a Question of Gamification, a podcast where gamification expert An Coppens answers your questions.
Today's question is
How can we compete in an unlevel playing field?
Today's question was triggered based on a number of conversations, I was having online and offline with different people and also across different sectors. So I don't think it is actually limited to the gamification world.
In fact, I think as side hustlers, unlevel playing fields happen and exist in every walk of life, whether you're a builder and you're coming up against the little man in a van and rogue builders without certification, etc., or whether you're in learning design and you come up against people who just basically talk to video or add their PowerPoint deck into a rapid authoring tool and sell it off as amazingly fantastic courses. You will have all of those.
In gamification, we have quite a lot of Indies, a lot of small design houses, and I think everyone has to start somewhere. So I applaud them for starting their business, its where I started too. But we also have a lot of people who are in day jobs by reputable institutes, reputable organisations, often researchers, professors, or people working for in jobs that they don't like or which they are holding on to, for the security of the wage package.
So it's interesting that we come up against them. It's also interesting to find an approach on how to compete with it. For me as a female founder, for some time, this really annoyed me. It was like, why are they not just sticking to their day job?
I was focusing on the fact that in my eyes they already had a main stream of income so why do they want more? I had to find a way of, I guess, rationalising and finding a strategy on how to deal and compete with or against them. Or make peace in my mind that they are there, and they are there to stay. They're not going to go away.
For every one that then becomes a real business. There are a hundred who will never reappear and should never make it. I knew I had to find a way of dealing with it and it had to be a positive way of dealing with it, instead of getting angry all the time, which with social media in the picture, is not always easy.
Know what you stand for and what you don't stand for
What I will say is that when you were competing against many side hustlers, is that you need to be clear on what you are and what you're not. That needs to be very clear to your target market. I would also encourage you to challenge side hustlers or rogue traders and pull them up on things that they are spreading about your industry that you do not find are so savoury or sustainable in the long run.
For those of you in a side hustle, appreciate that for people that do pay fair wages and don't have unlimited access to free software tools that there are different realities out there. Keep that in mind when you make predictions about pricing and what should, and shouldn't be done. Pricing, when you have access to cheap or free resources is a whole different ball game than when you pay market rates.
As a customer, if you are researching who to do business with, look out for whether they are full time working on this work only, or do they have a day job? And if that's okay with you, then absolutely go for it. B what are their values like? And then when you are shopping around, if you want the cheapest price, the indie will always win the quality and the range and the scalability that they can offer may not be there. You choose and you buy what you choose for as well.
How can you deal with competition in a healthy way?
Value-based positioning
Well, first of all, it's coming up with your values. And for me, I always wanted to make a name for myself and encourage other women too, to join the gamification industry. I mean, for me, the reason to set up Gamification Nation was to bring a female and feminine voice to the industry. When, as I started in 2012,
Today's question is
How can we compete in an unlevel playing field?
Today's question was triggered based on a number of conversations, I was having online and offline with different people and also across different sectors. So I don't think it is actually limited to the gamification world.
In fact, I think as side hustlers, unlevel playing fields happen and exist in every walk of life, whether you're a builder and you're coming up against the little man in a van and rogue builders without certification, etc., or whether you're in learning design and you come up against people who just basically talk to video or add their PowerPoint deck into a rapid authoring tool and sell it off as amazingly fantastic courses. You will have all of those.
In gamification, we have quite a lot of Indies, a lot of small design houses, and I think everyone has to start somewhere. So I applaud them for starting their business, its where I started too. But we also have a lot of people who are in day jobs by reputable institutes, reputable organisations, often researchers, professors, or people working for in jobs that they don't like or which they are holding on to, for the security of the wage package.
So it's interesting that we come up against them. It's also interesting to find an approach on how to compete with it. For me as a female founder, for some time, this really annoyed me. It was like, why are they not just sticking to their day job?
I was focusing on the fact that in my eyes they already had a main stream of income so why do they want more? I had to find a way of, I guess, rationalising and finding a strategy on how to deal and compete with or against them. Or make peace in my mind that they are there, and they are there to stay. They're not going to go away.
For every one that then becomes a real business. There are a hundred who will never reappear and should never make it. I knew I had to find a way of dealing with it and it had to be a positive way of dealing with it, instead of getting angry all the time, which with social media in the picture, is not always easy.
Know what you stand for and what you don't stand for
What I will say is that when you were competing against many side hustlers, is that you need to be clear on what you are and what you're not. That needs to be very clear to your target market. I would also encourage you to challenge side hustlers or rogue traders and pull them up on things that they are spreading about your industry that you do not find are so savoury or sustainable in the long run.
For those of you in a side hustle, appreciate that for people that do pay fair wages and don't have unlimited access to free software tools that there are different realities out there. Keep that in mind when you make predictions about pricing and what should, and shouldn't be done. Pricing, when you have access to cheap or free resources is a whole different ball game than when you pay market rates.
As a customer, if you are researching who to do business with, look out for whether they are full time working on this work only, or do they have a day job? And if that's okay with you, then absolutely go for it. B what are their values like? And then when you are shopping around, if you want the cheapest price, the indie will always win the quality and the range and the scalability that they can offer may not be there. You choose and you buy what you choose for as well.
How can you deal with competition in a healthy way?
Value-based positioning
Well, first of all, it's coming up with your values. And for me, I always wanted to make a name for myself and encourage other women too, to join the gamification industry. I mean, for me, the reason to set up Gamification Nation was to bring a female and feminine voice to the industry. When, as I started in 2012,
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