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Lesson
By the end you will have an honest comparison of the alternatives your customer already uses today, and a clue about where you can serve clearly better.
11 min read10 min activity
Your competition is not only the business across the street. It is everything your customer does today instead of buying from you, including doing nothing.
What you'll learn
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
The idea
If nobody else sells what you sell, your customer still solves the problem somehow: they do it themselves, ask a relative, use something similar, or put up with it. That habit is the alternative they already have, and sometimes it is the hardest to serve better than, because it is free and already familiar.
It is easy to compare on what you do well. What is useful is comparing on what your customer values when choosing: price, convenience, trust, speed, closeness. If you do not know what matters most to them, it is not yet time to research the competition: it is time to talk to customers.
Use only what anyone can see: visit, observe, read their public prices and hours, look at what the business itself publishes, and ask your customers what other options they use. Do not deceive anyone, do not pose as a customer to extract private information, and do not copy. Information changes: write down the date of what you saw.
You do not need to be better at everything. You need to be clearly better at something your customer cares about and the alternatives do not give them. Your comparison is a snapshot of today, not a verdict: revisit it from time to time.
The strongest alternative is often your customer's habit.
Illustrative example
Marco is about to launch and needs to set his price. He visited the two laundromats near his area and wrote down, with the date, what anyone can see: prices on the wall, hours, waiting time. He noticed that neither picks up nor delivers. He did not copy their prices: he understood the alternative was “cheap, but it costs you your Sunday,” and built his message around that.
Marco did not find an enemy. He found what his customers already put up with, and there he saw how he could serve them better.
Picture it
01
List
Everything your customer uses today, including “do nothing” and “do it yourself.”
02
Compare
On what the customer cares about: price, convenience, trust. With what you observed yourself.
Your turn
Write only what you have seen yourself or what your customers have told you. If you do not know something, write “to find out”: that is a result too. At least one alternative should be “do nothing” or “do it yourself.”
Your alternatives comparison
0 of 8
It is built only from what you type. It is a snapshot of today: date it.
Your answers are saved only on this device. Nothing is sent to Leonix or to any AI.
This comparison is a snapshot of today, made from your own observations. It is not a verdict.
Your comparison is now ready as context for the AI conversations just below.
Plan my research with my AIAsk your AI
An AI does not know the businesses in your area: it can invent names, prices, and reviews. That is why these conversations do not ask it for facts; they ask it to help you plan what to observe and to read what you saw yourself. Fill in what is missing, copy, and paste into whichever AI assistant you prefer.
Start here
Your conversation, ready to copy
version 1
I have decided to start a small business in [city]: [your idea or business]. I am getting ready to serve my first customers. I want to understand what other options my customer has near where I am going to work. This is what I have seen so far; these are my own observations: My customer: [who you serve] What my customer cares about most when choosing: [what your customer cares about most] Alternative 1: [alternative 1] — what I observed: [what you observed about alternative 1] Alternative 2: [alternative 2] — what I observed: [what you observed about alternative 2] Alternative 3: [alternative 3] — what I observed: [what you observed about alternative 3] Where I think I could be clearly better: [where you could be better] Act as a patient business mentor and use plain language. Guide with stewardship, service, integrity, excellence, responsibility, and wisdom. Profit is necessary: it should help the business survive, pay people, reinvest, serve better, and leave something sustainable. Do not advise domination, manipulation, inflated promises, or growth for its own sake. Do not quote religion or preach. 1. First ask me where I am going to work and what options my customer has near there. 2. Build a short list with me of what to observe in each alternative before I set my prices and my message. 3. Tell me what I can find out by visiting or observing, and what I can only learn by asking real customers. Very important: you do not know the businesses in my area. Do not invent business names, prices, hours, reviews, or market facts. If you need a fact, tell me where and how I can check it myself: by visiting, by asking customers, or by looking at the business's own public, current information. Do not suggest deceiving anyone, posing as a customer to extract private information, or copying another business. Do not advise me to attack other businesses or obsess over them. The goal is to serve better.
There are still blanks in brackets. You can fill them in here or directly in your assistant.
Before you paste: remove your customers' personal details. Afterwards: check what matters with real people.
More conversations to continue
Your conversation, ready to copy
version 1
I have decided to start a small business in [city]: [your idea or business]. I am getting ready to serve my first customers. I want to understand what other options my customer has near where I am going to work. This is what I have seen so far; these are my own observations: My customer: [who you serve] What my customer cares about most when choosing: [what your customer cares about most] Alternative 1: [alternative 1] — what I observed: [what you observed about alternative 1] Alternative 2: [alternative 2] — what I observed: [what you observed about alternative 2] Alternative 3: [alternative 3] — what I observed: [what you observed about alternative 3] Where I think I could be clearly better: [where you could be better] Act as a patient business mentor and use plain language. Guide with stewardship, service, integrity, excellence, responsibility, and wisdom. Profit is necessary: it should help the business survive, pay people, reinvest, serve better, and leave something sustainable. Do not advise domination, manipulation, inflated promises, or growth for its own sake. Do not quote religion or preach. 1. Using ONLY what I wrote, put my comparison in order: where each alternative is strong for my customer and where it falls short. 2. Tell me whether the place where I think I am better is something my customer truly cares about, or only something I care about. 3. Help me state that difference in one honest sentence, without speaking badly of anyone and without promising what I cannot deliver. 4. Tell me which part of my comparison I should check before I set my prices and my message. Very important: you do not know the businesses in my area. Do not invent business names, prices, hours, reviews, or market facts. If you need a fact, tell me where and how I can check it myself: by visiting, by asking customers, or by looking at the business's own public, current information. Do not suggest deceiving anyone, posing as a customer to extract private information, or copying another business. Do not advise me to attack other businesses or obsess over them. The goal is to serve better.
There are still blanks in brackets. You can fill them in here or directly in your assistant.
Before you paste: remove your customers' personal details. Afterwards: check what matters with real people.
Your conversation, ready to copy
version 1
I have decided to start a small business in [city]: [your idea or business]. I am getting ready to serve my first customers. I want to understand what other options my customer has near where I am going to work. This is what I have seen so far; these are my own observations: My customer: [who you serve] What my customer cares about most when choosing: [what your customer cares about most] Alternative 1: [alternative 1] — what I observed: [what you observed about alternative 1] Alternative 2: [alternative 2] — what I observed: [what you observed about alternative 2] Alternative 3: [alternative 3] — what I observed: [what you observed about alternative 3] Where I think I could be clearly better: [where you could be better] I do not want you to agree with me: I want you to test my comparison, respectfully. 1. Point out where I may be unfair or too optimistic: am I underestimating an alternative, especially “do nothing”? 2. Tell me what it would take for a customer to swap their current habit for me, and whether what I offer is enough. 3. Point out the 2 weakest assumptions in my comparison and tell me how to check each one with real people or by visiting. Very important: you do not know the businesses in my area. Do not invent business names, prices, hours, reviews, or market facts. If you need a fact, tell me where and how I can check it myself: by visiting, by asking customers, or by looking at the business's own public, current information. Do not suggest deceiving anyone, posing as a customer to extract private information, or copying another business. Do not advise me to attack other businesses or obsess over them. The goal is to serve better.
There are still blanks in brackets. You can fill them in here or directly in your assistant.
Before you paste: remove your customers' personal details. Afterwards: check what matters with real people.
Before you paste anything into an AI, remove real people's details. Do not paste your customers':
AI helps. You verify. An AI can invent businesses, prices, and reviews: check by visiting, by asking customers, and against public, current information.
Common mistake
The mistake
Saying “I have no competition.”
Do this instead
Ask: what does my customer do today instead of buying from me? That is your competition, even if it is not a business.
The mistake
Copying the best-known business, or lowering your prices just because someone else charges less.
Do this instead
Look for what your customer cares about and the others do not provide. Competing on price alone is almost always won by the biggest player.
The mistake
Asking an AI for “facts about my competitors” and believing them.
Do this instead
Use AI to plan and organize. You get the facts yourself: by visiting, observing, and asking.
An important note
Research respectfully: use only public, current information, do not deceive anyone to get information, and do not speak badly of other businesses. Comparing yourself honestly makes you better; attacking others makes you less trustworthy.
Key words
Checklist
Verify
Other businesses' prices, hours, and services change, and an AI can invent them. The only reliable source is what you see with your own eyes and what your customers tell you.
AI helps. You verify.
In short
Your competition is everything your customer does today instead of buying from you, including doing nothing.
Compare on what your customer cares about, with what you observed yourself, and honestly.
You do not need to be better at everything: you need to be clearly better at something that matters. And to check it.
Wrap-up
Almost there
This progress lives only on this device.
Just your sheet: your result, your checklist, and your main AI conversation. You can also save it as a PDF from the print window.
What comes next
Next lesson
Revenue versus profit
The difference between what you sell and what remains to sustain the business, the people, and the work.
03
Find your space
Something your customer cares about that the alternatives do not give them.