Mastering the Game of Business Distinction

Have you ever wondered how a little competition can fuel your business's success? Strap in as we pull back the curtain on the competitive landscape in business, inspired by the craze for Stanley cups. We're sharing personal insights and experiences that debunk the myths surrounding competition, especially within the beauty industry. Discover the unsuspected benefits of healthy rivalry and why being obsessed with competitors can hinder growth. Our conversation is a gold mine for entrepreneurs and business veterans aiming to stand out without losing sight of their core values.

Today's tales from the trenches feature the inspiring stories of Misty Solomon and Maddie, entrepreneurs who have made their mark in bustling markets. Follow along as we reveal how Misty's bakery and candy shop rose to demand through her passion and social media prowess, and how Maddie's dedication to health and accountability translated into a booming business for shakes and acai bowls. Plus, we're breaking down Bethenny Frankel's savvy journey with Skinny Girl, showcasing the impact of targeted marketing and a clear, unwavering business vision. Whether you're just starting out or looking to inject some fresh energy into your venture, these stories of differentiation and triumph are sure to spark your entrepreneurial spirit.

Dempsey, Weiss & Associates
Meeting the insurance and financial needs of business owners & individuals in NJ & PA since 1989.

J. Faith Hair Studio
Located in south NJ, J Faith Hair Studio is the place to go to become the best version of yourself.

Flying High Agility & Dog Training
Helping people & their pets since 2003. We come to you!

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Email us at: TwoDaughtersAndTheirDad@gmail.com

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Jennifer Faith Dempsey has been in the beauty industry for over 10 years. For the last 5m years, she has owned J. Faith Hair Studio. She brings her experience on how she balances entrepreneurship and motherhood. Check out Jen’s blog.

Staci Joy Dempsey is an insurance agent, a mom, and a busy non-profit volunteer. She truly understands what it means to be an entrepreneur. Staci serves as the podcast's host.

Jack Dempsey is the dad who heads up this busy family. He is a founding partner in Dempsey, Weiss & Associates, an Elmer, NJ-based insurance and investment firm that began more than 30 years ago.

Transcript

Staci Dempsey: 0:00

Hi everybody and welcome back to the Business of Business podcast. Two daughters and their dad. I'm your host, stacey J Dempsey, and thankfully, like always, I am joined by the other daughter, jennifer, and the one and only forever and ever dad. Good morning to the both of you, good morning Good morning.

Jack Dempsey: 0:19

Good snowy morning.

Staci Dempsey: 0:21

Yes, here in New Jersey we did get some snow, slash ice. That apparently puts everything on delay, but not this podcast. Here we come, all right, we're doing it, how about it? So? So, yes, good morning to all of you, wherever you are listening from. Today we want to talk a little bit about competition and this.

Staci Dempsey: 0:44

This idea kind of sparked from the hype the so so much hype around these pink and red Stanley cups. If you haven't heard then, well, you're about to hear it now. So allegedly these pink and red Stanley cups that are limited edition, that if you were going to target, you would have to stand in line outside overnight to get the Stanley cup, and only one per guest. You could not swing diggle to get two of them. Absolutely not. Okay, they were holding them, it was in a locked cage. I mean, this was, this was serious stuff. And so it got me thinking about competition and and just learning a little bit about Stanley the brand. And so Stanley the brand has been around for a very, very long time and they were really notorious with construction workers Cause, as you may know, stanley will keep your item hot or very cold. And so it really got me thinking about, well, how did we take the evolution of this Stanley, this, and now today there's so much competition around these Stanley, like cups. You know, we're all kind of familiar with the word dupe I got a dupe for this, I got a dupe for that, you don't have to pay this, you don't have to pay that and so it kind of also got me thinking about our businesses that we're in, and it really got me thinking about perhaps those that may really want to start a business and maybe they're getting the feedback that there's just too much competition in that area. So I wanted to start this conversation today because Dempsey Weiss and J-Faith Hair Studio clearly, even in distance, wise proximity, we have competition, right, right, dad, we've always had competition. Jennifer clearly has competition, at least in our area here.

Staci Dempsey: 2:49

But there's some, I think there's some things that really we could share with our listeners today about healthy competition and then also realizing that it's just, it really doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter in the long run. So this Stanley cup, one of the things that I was listening to, I was listening to another podcast. I do listen to other podcasts besides hours, not very often. I usually just keep ours on repeat all the time, as I should you all? But the Stanley cup.

Staci Dempsey: 3:22

What they decided was that you know what, we don't necessarily need to worry about price, we don't need to worry about, you know, maybe, the audience. All we need to do is we need to shift who we're marketing to. We need to change our audience. We don't need to change what we're doing, we just need a brand new audience. And that has now the last that I Googled Stanley cup is making, just on their limited edition red, red and pink cups.

Staci Dempsey: 3:54

I mean, they're we're talking like $25 million. $25 million not off of a new idea, just off of a new audience, and so I think that can be really encouraging to those that may be thinking to start a business. So, jen, I wanted to ask you seven or eight years ago, when we were sitting at my kitchen table trying to map out the salon with water bottles in my living room where the station would be, in that very beginning process, did you have anyone talk to you about competition or bring up competition? Or? I know that we spent a lot of time looking at where to make home at for the studio, but I'm curious as to what your thought process was around this area.

Jennifer Dempsey: 4:53

Yeah, interesting, especially in the beauty industry there's such a negative light on competition. I think that there's so much like you have to hate the next salon or you have to hate the next hairdresser and there's just this toxic energy that comes along in our beauty industry and we've been trying to change that and especially with the new methods and the new way that I'm doing business, I'm definitely trying to change that because instead of being in competition with each other, there's a real opportunity to come together and network with one another and unfortunately, our industry does not do that well. So, yeah, I would say, when I was thinking about opening my business, that competition was already bred within me from when I grew up in the industry. But I wouldn't necessarily say that, dad, when we were looking at locations to put this on, it wasn't, it had nothing to do with anyone else. It really had. It really came from what would be a good location for my salon.

Jennifer Dempsey: 6:02

You know we, me and dad were more worried about things like great parking, great location, visibility from the road, signage, I mean things like that. And so, no, I wouldn't say necessarily competition really goes into it. I think when we talk about competition with inside of a business it's. It's healthy to understand your competition, but I think it can become unhealthy when we vision, when we take our vision only onto the competition and we're so worried about keeping up with the next person that we lose ourselves and what we're trying to do. So me and dad talk about this all the time, of understanding competition. And you know it's still okay to understand. What are they? You know charging, what are they doing? How are they doing it? But that should not dictate necessarily how you do it. If you, you know, if you're you have a salon and everybody's charging $40 for a haircut and you come in and you charge 60, that could be like, you know, oh, I should be $40 because that's what everyone else is doing, and that's just untrue.

Staci Dempsey: 7:15

Yeah, great point, great point, Go ahead. Dad, you were leaning in, yeah.

Jack Dempsey: 7:21

Well, right, and it reminds me what Jen was describing there about not losing yourself and your identity in your business because of what the competition is doing. It reminds me of the story of Truett Cathy, who was the founder of Chick-fil-A, and I read a story where the franchise was really starting to take off and chicken sandwich was obviously the flagship product for Chick-fil-A. And then, all of a sudden, these fast food burger places were getting on the bandwagon with chicken sandwiches, wendy's and McDonald's, and they were all coming out. Well, they're in a boardroom and people are like, oh well, now we have all this competition and what are we going to do? We need to maybe lower our prices, and they're just going back and forth.

Jack Dempsey: 8:16

And the way the story goes is, all of a sudden, truett Cathy slams his hand out on the table and just brings the room to silence. He said all we have to do is get better and we'll win. And that was it. And so just keep getting better and we'll win. And so it was. But he was wise enough to know these people and they're probably all MBAs from Harvard are saying get cheaper, do promotions, do all these things to keep up, and he saw that that's not who we are and we don't have to do that. So that was an excellent point of not allowing your competition to frame who you are. You start with who you want to be, what your why is what you want your business and you build around that. You build around it with conviction and those other competitive things are not going to matter. And if it does matter to someone, you probably don't want them as a maybe as a customer or client anyway, because that's not who you are.

Jennifer Dempsey: 9:27

So you know, I love this conversation because I was just talking to another stylist and I asked this question of why do clients want to sit in your chair, why do customers want to come inside of your business, and so she didn't necessarily have an answer. When I asked that question, I said okay, ask me. So, stace, can you ask me the question why do clients want to sit in my chair?

Staci Dempsey: 9:52

Jennifer, why do clients want to sit in your chair?

Jennifer Dempsey: 9:57

Because I know that I'm going to give the best customer service. I'm going to go above and beyond, I'm going to go the extra mile, I'm going to do what it takes, I'm going to come in early, I'm going to stay late, and so that's why people want to do business with me, because I truly care about my clients and the customer service and the experience. And now when I explain that to someone, I say now notice, it had nothing to do with the actual craft of doing hair. I didn't say I'm the best hair stylist, I can give the best haircut, I can do the best. None of that. And that's why I believe myself and my salon is successful, because we truly go the extra mile, we focus on the small things, and that separates us from the competition, without thinking that it's separating us from the competition.

Jennifer Dempsey: 10:53

And so when I first started doing hair, especially when I opened the salon, I used to say all the time it doesn't matter, I'll cut your cat's hair, I'm just here to cut hair and make money. And so as you evolve in your business or I think it was braid your cat's tail, something like that I was just trying to make money doing hair. Didn't matter what hair it was, and so, as you evolve, now it's like well, I'm not cutting kids hair anymore and I'm not going to do these kinds of services because I'm just not passionate about them. I'm going to focus on what I'm good at, what I love to do, what I'm passionate, and I'm going to be the one that's charging the most to do it, and so that's not going to be the right fit for everyone, for every client, for every consumer, but there's other places out there that can cater to them. It just might not be me. So you can see how.

Jennifer Dempsey: 11:48

You know, if I was so focused on the competition, then I would still have that mindset of it doesn't matter, I'll braid your cat's tail Because I have to do hair. You know, I would be still stuck in that same mindset. But as you evolve, it doesn't matter what other hairstylists or other salons are doing. I'm solely focused on what I'm good at, what I have to offer and attracting the people that really want an amazing experience, and I'm going to charge top dollar for it.

Jennifer Dempsey: 12:18

So before it was like I want to do everyone's hair, and now it's like I want to do three people's hair and it's going to be amazing from start to finish and then they're going to go tell three more people. So you know, that's the difference. So for you know, for anyone that's starting in business or maybe starting a new business opportunity, it's okay to have that mindset, that hustle mentality, because whether you want to or not, as you grow inside of your business, your mind grows too and you change kind of how you think about yourself, your business, your why and especially your competition.

Staci Dempsey: 12:57

Yeah, that's a great point, Jen. It reminds me of when, several years ago, I had joined a B&I networking group and I had a great experience with B&I. It's a commitment. It's a commitment to honing in on your craft and being able to explain how you can help others so that those people in that group can then refer you to people that they're doing business with. And so the way that you do that is through one-on-ones, and I was sitting with my category was life insurance, and so I was meeting with another insurance professional that was in the group and they did homeowners and auto, and when I shared with her that I was a captive agent, that I work for one company, and she goes oh well, what if? What if?

Staci Dempsey: 13:48

Like the, you know and this was in reference to like homeowners and auto Well, what if you get someone and like it's higher, like you can't go to another company, and I'm like, yeah, because I'm not for everyone, right, I'm not for everyone in that area. Like I, you know, and what I, what I found through more conversations with her, was that could she write policies with lots of different companies? Yes, however she had, she had no client loyalty, you know, even with she had no relationship with, you know, the her peers inside of those insurance companies that she would work with, and so did she have the ability to work with other companies? Absolutely. But the things that I could offer to a client being able to call and have a relationship with a peer at American National and, you know, be able to do, you know, ask for certain things, you know, do I have an amazing, I have amazing clientele that has, I mean, at this point, 20, you know, those are the things that, again, my, my, I'm not going to fit for everyone and that's okay, but the fearfulness that this woman had, oh, my gosh, like you might lose a client, yeah, not have anywhere to put that, yeah, yeah, because my, my niche is my niche and you know there's arguments on both sides but it clearly has worked for over 35 years, as you can see from, you know, dumsey Waysson Associates.

Staci Dempsey: 15:22

So, dad, you're leaning and I know you have something here when it comes to competition, because in our world there are things out of our control when it comes to the property and casualty side of you know, just pricing and things like that. But also, I mean, you have clients that have been with you for 35 or more years, and I think to what Jennifer spoke to about experience, that that clients know that they get when they have, they have you as their advisor and they have you to go to to help them with with issues.

Jack Dempsey: 16:00

Well, before I dive into that, I remember back when Dave and I started Dempsey Waysson Associates and you know, basically we're just out, you know pounding on doors and you know our niche market at the time was was farms and and still is today. But you know we're driving up and down farm lanes and knocking on doors and chasing farmers down in the fields, you know, as their tractors plowing and whatever we had to do, and you know, and you know.

Jack Dempsey: 16:34

So we were hungry and we were out there really pounding the pavement, and we did hit a couple of insurance agencies fairly hard in terms of taking business from them. And I remember this one agent and they've been, you know, these client people have been clients with them for years. So now, all of a sudden, you know they're losing these clients. And so the one agent's calling up the clients and saying this well, you know, you're going from a Cadillac to a pickup. That's what. That's what she said to the clients. And so so again, nothing about. Well, you know, here's who we are, you know, here's, we know nothing. You know, it was all about you know us versus them. She's the Cadillac, we're the pickup. Now, just think about how stupid that was, because most of these people were fooled, right. So what was their response? They were like well, you know what? Quite frankly, I'm more comfortable in a pickup than a Cadillac. Anyway, Right.

Jack Dempsey: 17:44

And so you know. So again, that's the way not to do it. That's the reason for that story is that's you don't call people up and badmouth the competition. You know you call them, say you know, like we just described here. Here's why you know we feel like you should stay and do business with us. But you know, when it comes to you know just all the, you know the longevity and keeping clients for a long period of time. You know they're really the key.

Jack Dempsey: 18:19

The key to no matter what type of business you're in if you're in our type of business, jen's type of business, it really doesn't matter, you know is how are you delivering value? How are you delivering value to you know the end user of your product, your service. You know your client, your customer, because the more that they see the value over and above, you know kind of what they're paying for, then certainly you know price becomes much less of an issue. As Jen said, you know their, her clients are going to be willing to pay more for the service because they know that they're going to get an exceptional experience and not an experience to just last for the hour or two hours during the salon, that when they walk away, that's going to go with them, you know. So you know we try, you know, to always be bringing value and investing back into our clients.

Jack Dempsey: 19:27

I think that that is a great mindset, you know, is to how can I, you know, how can I invest back into my customer and my client?

Jack Dempsey: 19:38

You know it comes down to the. You know, if you went to the bank and said, you know, went up to the tower, said I want to withdraw $10,000 from the bank, and the tower looks at you and say, well, the only problem is you don't have any money in here, you know there's nothing with to withdraw. But so if we take that and think, all right, how am I investing in my customer, my client? So then when it comes time to ask for a withdrawal or a sale or a service, you've invested into that client that you've earned the right to make that withdrawal, you've earned the right to make that ask.

Jack Dempsey: 20:18

And I just think that if people can and if entrepreneurs can think, invest, influence, impact, you know those are going to be really meaningful. You know how can I invest in my client influence. You know how they make their decisions and then what kind of impact can I promise if they make the decision. That breaks into my favor, and I think if entrepreneurs can think that way consistently and build their business, competition is not going to be an issue.

Staci Dempsey: 20:49

Yeah, well said, well said. You know, and if you guys think back to you know some other episodes that we've had with Misty Solomon of Devour Desserts. You know, again, she opened up a bakery. She opened up a candy shop, close proximity to other competition. You know whether it was the big name stores. You know where you can go into. You know your supermarket and get a get a cake. You know you can go into the CVSs and the Walgreens to get candy.

Staci Dempsey: 21:19

But you know, even even now, you know her idea wasn't revolutionary. She had a why, she was passionate and she was also cultivating an audience online at that point. For years she had been on social media. She had changed hats a couple of times, if you remember her story, until she just decided that she was going to take her passion and make it a business. And you know, thankfully Misty is a client of mine and just recently, talking with her, she's like I can't hire enough people. I mean just my audience, my customers. They come back, they come into the store. They always, like you know they can order something online. They come in, they talk to someone, they can walk in and buy something. If it was last minute, you know she's thriving. And again, her audience just happens to be different than those that want to walk in on a Saturday morning to buy sheet cake for their kid or whatever it is. And also, Maddie still being still nutrition you know she shared it when we had her on as a guest that a lot of people were saying I mean, you're going to sell shakes, you're going to create like assiables, like I can go to? You know there's another place that close proximity to you that does that. And again, she is someone that is, yes, is she selling shakes and teas and assiables? Yes, but her audience is different. What she brings, you know what she offers when you come into. You know her business of having someone that can help you be accountable if you want to be healthier. She has free, you know resources online that anyone can go on and get to me. She's constantly bringing a different mindset and a different. You know she's bringing a lot of value to people that come into her business and so, yeah, she's, she's rocking it now. Her little, her little shake shop that people told her like that. That seems like that's going to be really hard to do and I think she has. Like last year she went on like six vacations and pay, you know, and live in her best life off of not a revolutionary idea. And so I think that those are just very motivating stories.

Staci Dempsey: 23:47

And you know the last story that comes to mind that I had heard years ago. If you are familiar with the brand Skinny Girl, it's by Bethany Frankel and for years she had this idea of lower calorie popcorn, lower, lower calorie popcorn, lower, making sure that you love your food and being healthy. And she was going around broke and she was going into supermarkets just doing, doing small cooking episodes, and someone she went to lots of places to. You know, try to get capital. And finally someone said, after, I think, 15 years. They said we love what you're doing, all of your ideas. We're going to buy your idea for you from you for $35 billion. How about it? Billion with a B, B. Now she has lots of products. Now she's on as a consultant. So you want a skinny girl Margarita. Again, you can go like not revolution. And you know what? My whole point? The story is that someone asked her about competition and she goes. I know she has a potty mouth, I won't say it here, but she goes.

Staci Dempsey: 25:04

I never once even looked. I knew what I wanted to do and I went. I put all of my effort into my ideas and what I knew would work and what I knew would sell. And I had talked to enough people, I had enough knowledge and I just kept going. And I've been rejected, rejected, rejected. I probably been rejected thousands of times. It only took that one time. And now, if all of those rejections led to one $35 billion, was it worth it? Yeah, absolutely.

Staci Dempsey: 25:40

And again skinny girl Margarita, skinny girl popcorn, all the stuff that you can find on the shelves. But she knew her why and she did the hustle. She didn't look at the competition, not once, and she just kept going forward and so kind of bringing this back around to my original thought of Stanley Cup. It was just a different audience. It was simply just a different audience creating some get it now or you're not going to get it, and just doing what was already working. And here they are a pink and a red cup, a pink and a red cup, and they're making millions of dollars off of limited edition pink and red cups.

Jack Dempsey: 26:37

So yeah, it is interesting Again, that just something, because I wasn't even aware of that whole scenario until you just just shared it, stacey. But then when I'm thinking about that, you know, then you have, like Yeti, that's been out there a long time and I think they're fairly successful. I mean, they know, and they're certainly not an inexpensive product but very good, but yet you know that's a competition out there. That's, you know. They figured out a way, you know, to you know again, I guess the special edition just drew all this attention, you know. So I guess the point being is that you know also thinking creatively around your you know, around your product and service, and how you can, you know again, make market penetration. You know, looking at other ways maybe then what the norm would be as far as product advertising and those kind of things too. Yeah, it's interesting, interesting times when it comes to the ability to you know to really compete, you know, because of you know, technology and all these different things that we have at our fingertips now.

Staci Dempsey: 27:57

Yeah. So for those that are thinking well, there's other things in my area that do this, or maybe people are saying putting, maybe projecting their fears on. You know, competition is always going to be out there, new competition. When dad started, you know the business. There was no online insurance. Get an insurance quote, right. So here's a new level of competition.

Staci Dempsey: 28:27

But the singular factor that's the difference is you, and what are you going to bring to the people that you want to do business with? How are you going to make them want to do business? How are you going to stand out? You know there are people that there's lots of competition insurance world, but guess what, if they go somewhere else, they don't get Jack Dempsey. You can go to another hairstylist, but you don't get Jennifer Faith. So there's, that's the difference. That is, that is the difference.

Staci Dempsey: 29:00

And especially when things are not so good, that's when people want you to show up. So if my Stanley Cup breaks, guess what? They send me another one because there's a lifetime warranty Maybe. Yet he doesn't have that, I don't know. But those are the things that stand out. And so you are the thing that stands out and you are in control of what you want to make your idea into a business, and you certainly can do that. So good luck to all of my Stanley. Like friends, we are out here just Getting rejected and we're limited edition and we're headed towards our $35 billion buyout. So let's keep going. How about it? Love it, love it, love it. So thank you all for listening. We will talk to you guys soon and until then, we want you to be kind to each other and be kind to yourself. We'll see you guys in the next episode.