Page 98 - The Magic of Tiny Business

Chapter Five  Be Ready for Takeoff

not hide from what needed to be done. We renegotiated
terms, paying late when we needed, and speeding up pay-
ments when we could.

When the Competition Gets Tough, Collaborate

After Oprah and all the resulting media exposure, our
reusable bag concept was out of the stable. Even during
the recession, companies were smelling profit and step-
ping in to crowd our space. At the same time, other entre-
preneurs were having their own aha moments, starting out
as humbly as we did, to address the same urgent problem.

It didn’t take too long before there were multiple
brands like ours on the market, brands that took the prob-
lem seriously and were addressing it with gusto and integ-
rity. Here’s one thing we did right: we saw these other
brands as competition, sure, but we also saw them as pos-
sible collaborators to address the bigger problem—plastic
pollution. So instead of putting our resources into com-
peting with these brands, we looked at it differently.

We asked ourselves, what if they sell and promote our
brand and we do the same for theirs? What if we talk
about them in our marketing channels and share their sto-
ries? What if we take a cooperative, generous stance and
ask the same of them? What if we practiced co-opetition?

Co-opetition = Competition + Cooperation

— Onyeka Obiocha, Director of Innovation,
Yale University, Center for Public Service
and Social Justice

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