Dealing With Rivals pt.2

     So this is the first way people that used to be your friends start to resent you in business. This is sad but it’s a part of growing as a business. The next type of rivals is a little more worrisome and a little more hurtful. I’ve seen this happen to other people in completely other business, and I’ve had it happen to me and it’s something you have to be on the lookout for as you go farther in business. It’s the good friend who starts to turn on you. Having had this happen to me twice I began to look inward to see if it was something about my personality that was causing this. And I’m sure I’m no picnic to be a friend with; I read numerous business articles and interviews with people where similar things happen. I want to set this up as an article to help you pinpoint when things are beginning to head a little south.
     The first article I chronicled rivals who dropped out of the game and who stand on the sidelines bitter. That is to be expected. But your friend has been with you for the long haul. In my case they graduated in film and had been trying to do their own thing. I would offer help but they wanted to remain on their own. Now there is nothing wrong with two friends both trying to succeed in the same business. Except eventually one person is going to pull ahead of them just by sheer luck sometimes. So when that other person starts to struggle, you have to approach it from two ways. Do you help them out as friend or are you helping them about because you’re doing well. See it’s almost the exact same thing but one person is going to see it two different ways. They might not even complain when you are offering them advice or showing them how to improve; except in a lot of cases they are just going to hear you telling them they aren’t any good. This is when said friend might shut down on you but in a lot of case including my own we were very close so you couldn’t just brush them aside. The friend begins to feel alienated. What I went through was my friend became a rival when he decides to copycat every business decision I made. He started to make a company in my company image. I noticed he started to be more hesitant to talk about himself. And they’ll become vastly interested in your business every move. They will start to view themselves as equals and start trying to approach your talent and try to beat you to the punch. Be prepared for this because when it happens it really hits you in the gut.
     Now there is one of two ways for you to react in these situations. The scorched earth policy ends the friendship, remove him from your company, and if you want become hostile towards. Start trying to take his talent and poison the well on his future business endeavors. And when a close friend hurts you this begins to sound very appealing. Except if I may offer another solution remember he’s your friend. Don’t remove him from your company; just limit his contact with it. In the meantime try to hang out as friends and put the business to the side. Do the things you used to do in college or high school before the careers ever entered into it. This just might save the friendship and preserve your business. Now, I know there are lots of ways to go about handling the problem but I firmly believe these are the best two. And the only bit of wisdom I can offer sitting from my position is you might have a lot of great ideas, and business adventures in your career. But as you get older friendships become harder and harder to make time for, let alone cultivate a new one just to see the process repeat again. In the end go with the devil you know. He just might be your best friend.