Competitors are companies and businesses in the same industry, field and market, even targeting the same customers and providing the same products and services as your company. If you are astute, when starting with limited capital, choose a niche market or “blue ocean,” meaning no competitors, or very few and barely noticeable ones, so you can operate freely in your own market. But one thing is certainly inevitable: if the niche you target is particularly lucrative and has substantial future growth potential, many individuals and organizations will rush into it to claim a share of the pie. Some competitors may even have previously been your colleagues. This creates enormous obstacles. If your product lacks copyright protection, distinctive features, advantages or strengths that cannot be copied or are difficult to copy, competitors will certainly not hesitate to copy almost everything: products, services, business models and supply chains. They may even approach and recruit your key personnel with incentives such as salaries, bonuses, benefits and promises for the future that your company currently struggles to match. So many problems. Therefore, you can see that you must overcome yourself, win the support of your loved ones and family, win the trust, affection, respect and support of your colleagues, and gain customer loyalty before you can get through difficult periods of competition with rivals, which are certainly inevitable. Still, always respect your competitors. Play fairly and compete fairly. You can even propose collaboration instead of focusing on fighting and taking from each other, dispersing brand value, resources, and customers. Competitors can weaken your company, but also provide motivation, resources, and opportunities to grow stronger and improve. What happens depends greatly on you, the founder.

Many issues and characteristics of a regional economy can create difficulties and challenges for a company with limited capital. Each place has a different economy. Some focus on agriculture, others on industry, services, or technology. In the regional economy where you operate, many matters require attention, including average income, population characteristics, common occupations, administrative procedures, and customs. Without understanding and researching the market clearly, your business may fail from the moment it is established. Or, once you have built the company, you may face fierce competition from many rivals in the market. If you fail, you may not simply return empty-handed but be left with substantial debt. To avoid such unfortunate outcomes, choose your market wisely. Use the 5W1H questions (who, what, when, where, why, how) to clarify each aspect, the issue is building a solid foundation and a wise path for your small-capital business to grow. If you cannot compete in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, start in smaller provincial cities. If your product or service does not fit one customer group, quickly seek another target group.

Survival and development require constant struggle and effort, not only in the wild but also in the civilized world. As one story goes: “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or be killed. Every morning, a lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest gazelle or starve. It does not matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun rises, start running.” Life is sometimes harsh, but elimination and selection are unavoidable. Accept this and enter the endless struggles for survival on the entrepreneurial journey. There will be success and failure, pain and peace, goodness and cruelty, loyalty and betrayal. All these experiences, in greater or lesser measure, can make people more mature, strong, wise, loving and understanding. Conflict is inevitable, but it is also a necessary driving force at different stages of development.