There is always a way to compete.

“If everybody is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find your niche by going exactly in the opposite direction.”

— Sam Walton

Have you ever wanted to compete with someone who is much more successful than you are?

Have you ever wondered if you could play a game at a very high level? Or start a business that competed with the best of the best?

Most people are underdogs. We want to win, but it seems like we are always David looking up to our own Goliath.

Some of the time, our David and Goliath scenario prevents us from even stepping onto the field.

But there is a way. There is a path to follow for those of us who are worried about competing with the best — with the leaders in any field.

Two great entrepreneurs have shared how to compete with the best. Here’s Sam Walton and Jeff Bezos have said.

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How to Compete with the Biggest and Best Players

“What makes me sad these days — and a little angry too — is that some of these stores are starting to shut down before we come to a town. They hear we’re coming, and they close up before we even get there. We get a bad rap for that, but to my mind somebody who’ll close his store just because he hears competition’s coming is somebody who must know he’s not doing much of a job, somebody who probably shouldn’t have been in the retail business to begin with.”

— Sam Walton

Sam Walton devotes a section of his autobiography to sharing his thoughts on how to compete with Wal-Mart. In Made in America, Sam Walton describes how to compete with his company.

1. Don’t try to out-Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart. You are not going to offer lower prices on toothpaste. In Sam’s own words, “Get out on the floor meeting every one of the customers.” That is something that Wal-Mart just cannot do.

2. Offer products and services that Wal-Mart can’t offer. There are always niches that the leader cannot serve.

3. Offer better service than the big leader can provide. There will always be customers who want service that is better than what can be offered by the leader.

Made in America also quotes Don Soderquist, a Wal-Mart executive who worked for a competitor of Wal-Mart before joining Sam Walton. Here’s what Don said:

“I have personally competed with Wal-Mart, so I know it can be done. You develop a uniqueness, a niche, and then you capitalize on it.”

Even market leaders have soft spots in their armor. Goliath has a weakness. But you better be ready for a fight.

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Competing with Jeff (Bezos)

“We’re gifted with some very large businesses we’ve built over time, and we can’t afford to put our energies into something that if it works, it’s still going to be small.”

— Jeff Bezos

Amazon seems to be the great Goliath in business today. First, it was books. Then other items. And retail. And web services. And movies. And everything else.

How can someone compete with Amazon?

Even Jeff Bezos has limits, however. There is some room to compete. Even the giant has to have restriction on what it can and can’t do.

In a recent article, Jeff Bezos describes the three requirements for Amazon to pursue an opportunity.

1. Originality. The opportunity cannot be exactly what someone else does. “It can’t be a ‘me too’ offering.”

2. Scale. It must be able to grow to a high level. “We’re gifted with some very large businesses we’ve built over time, and we can’t afford to put our energies into something that if it works, it’s still going to be small.”

3. Return on Investment (ROI). Even if it scales, it must have significant returns. “Even at substantial scale, it has to have good returns on capital.”

Those three requirements provide some insight into how Amazon takes advantage of new opportunities.

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Big Now Does Not Mean Big Forever, and Big Has to Start Somewhere

“You can make positives out of most any negative if you work at it hard enough. I’ve always thought of problems as challenges.”

— Sam Walton

Some people might give up after reviewing the above advice from Sam Walton and the requirements from Jeff Bezos.

But for me, there is hope.

Wal-Mart grew because it did certain things extremely well.

Amazon grew because it did other things extremely well.

But the biggest companies will not stay big forever. Everyone starts small. Everyone has to start.

I am not going to tell someone exactly how to compete with Amazon or Wal-Mart. But I will say this: there is someone who is a Goliath for us all right now. I can think of a few for me personally.

Any time I have reinvented myself, I have found a large, well-established person or company that appears to be so far ahead of me that I cannot even imagine competing.

There is always a Goliath waiting for us when we try to reinvent ourselves.

Someone is always ahead of us. Someone is always making more money. Or has a better lifestyle. Or is dominating the market.

The two stories above ‒ about Sam Walton and Jeff Bezos ‒ remind us that even the biggest, most successful companies can have competition. There is a way to compete with the best.

It may not be easy. But it is possible.

• Can I take better care of a customer than Goliath?

• Can I offer more value than Goliath?

• Can I find a niche that Goliath can’t serve? Or serve as well?

• Are there people who will follow me rather than Goliath? Or follow me at all?

We only have to answer yes to one of these questions to get started.

I can’t make any promises, except this:

If you are afraid to even start the game, then you will never grow.

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Learn the one lesson that has changed my life more than any other.