How A Visit From A 149 Year Old Author Taught Me How to Compete In Business…Without Competing.

I woke up suddenly and looked at the clock. It was 2:45 in the morning and I had just experienced the strangest dream. I turned on the lamp, grabbed the notebook that I keep by my bed and started writing it down before I forgot because I knew this dream held important information… not only for myself but for the entire world.

I guess the dream wasn’t so strange, considering I was reading The Science of Getting Rich before bed, but I never expected to have a one-on-one lesson from the author, Wallace Wattles, in my dreams!

So there I was camping in the wilderness  when a tall, lanky man opened my tent and walked inside. “Hello” he said. I recognized his picture from The Science of Getting Rich so, with a bit of surprise, I said, “Hello, Mr. Wattles. What are you doing out here?” He smiled and said, “Jason, I came to teach you something that will absolutely change your life. Are you willing to learn?” “Absolutely!” I replied. “Please, have a seat.”

Mr. Wattles sat down and thought for a second before beginning. “What I want to teach you will change how you view and do business…if you can accept the ideas presented. You see, the standard view of the world is centered around scarcity. You have been lead to believe that there is not enough of what you want and so you have to fight with everyone else to get your fair share. This is a competition mind set and it has been the foundation of traditional business for centuries. But there is another way to look at the world; a way that changes everything.”

“You can choose to see the world as abundantly filled with everything you could need. With this perspective there is no reason to fight with anyone because everybody has enough of whatever they need or want.” He paused for a moment and I sheepishly replied, “That is a principle I’ve been studying and practicing for a few years now, Mr. Wattles, but when it comes to business, it sounds a bit unreasonable. I mean, any given market is only so big and the more people there are doing business in that market, the fewer customers are available.”  He smiled and nodded, replying, “What you just said perfectly represents both a scarcity mind set and a competition mind set and this is exactly why I have visited you. You have spent your life believing in lack and the competition mind set but I want to show you another way to interact in your business. I would now like to introduce you to something that will change your life forever… the creation mind set.”

“Let us being with a simple example that clearly illustrates the difference between a competition mind set and a creation mind set.” He continued. “According to the competition view of the world if  one doctor, we’ll call him Dr. Jameson, is successful in his practice, then another doctor, Dr. Marcus, has lost some degree of his potential success to Dr. Jameson. If  Dr. Marcus wants to improve his business, he might have to look into stealing away some of Dr. Jameson’s patients.” I nodded in agreement.

“Now what if we take a look at this scenario from a creation mind set?” He said. “If Dr. Marcus and Dr. Jameson look at the number of doctors practicing in their area and compare that to the population of the city, they will see there are far more patients than either of them can treat. For illustration’s sake, if there are 25 doctors practicing in a city with a population of 21,000 we see that each of the 25 doctors have access to 840 patients which is more than enough to build and sustain a thriving practice…. but we can take this a step further.”

“Each doctor  has a particular personality or bedside manner and this one factor is what will determine which patients become regular customers. And this one point is what makes the creation mind set work. Everyone will attract the right and perfect clients, customers or patients for them. You have something unique and special to offer in your business and there is no one else that can offer it in exactly the way you do.”

It was starting to sink in now. “I think I get it! That’s why McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King are all successful even though they’re selling essentially the same items. They each provide those items in a unique way and each customer has preferences that make them choose one restaurant over another.” “Precisely” said Mr. Wattles. “When you work within the creation mind set your goal is to provide the absolute best service or product you possibly can each and every time. You aren’t doing this with the intention of stealing away customers from competitors but, instead, to improve your product for your customers so that they continue to return and refer you to friends and family who likely have similar tastes and interests and who will likely become loyal customers as well.” And at that point I really got it.

“So the key to breaking out of the competition mind set is to start opening your mind to just how vast things really are.” I said. “What I see in front of me is just the tip of the iceberg.” “Yes” replied Mr. Wattles. “Consider this: every single day thousands of people become interested in new things…book subjects, specific authors, movies, foods, music, philosophies, theater, hobbies, etc…and each and every time that happens a potential customer is born and that customer is going to have preferences that cause him or her to seek out your unique version of whatever product or service you provide.” I sat there for a moment letting this amazing wisdom sink in and then I thanked Wallace Wattles for the profound lesson he had just given me. With a smile, he stood and said, “Share this with the world” and then turned and left my tent. At that point, I woke up.

So here I am fulfilling my part of the bargain and sharing this information with you. Something I’ve become more aware of recently is the notion that the majority of life, including business, is not set up like a sport where only 1 person or team can win. With life or business, winning is simply a matter of meeting a goal. If you’ve decided you want to earn $10 million a year in your business, there is no reason to think you can’t reach that goal…and have 100 other businesses do the exact same thing right along with you.

I remember reading something from the author Alan Cohen that ties in well with this article. He was talking about the first time he decided to write a Metaphysically oriented book. He wrote it and sent it to his publisher and then one day, out of curiosity, he visited the New Age section of a local bookstore. He was floored at the number of books on the same subject he had just written his about. He said if he had gone to the bookstore before writing his book he might not have written it because he would’ve convinced himself that the competition was too great and he would be wasting his time. However, despite all the other books out there with similar information, Alan’s did quite well.

I sincerely hope my visit with Wallace Wattles has helped you see another side of business and life in general.

To your success!

Jason Hundley

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