In the last 2 weeks I saw my 13 year old daughter, Jordan and my 19 year old son, Eric playing lead roles in school plays. Jordan played “Anna” in “The King and I” and Eric played “Tevye” in “Fiddler on The Roof.” They both studied for their roles by watching the movies and they were absolutely fantastic in emulating the actor in that movie that played the part. It posed to me an interesting business question. In developing or revamping a wedding business, stationery business or event business model, do we look for a successful business or well known individual that is a great role model to aspire to or do we try to achieve greatness following our own inner direction?
If you are a local bridal retailer or invitation retailer, I feel you have a great opportunity to re-stage a successful production by doing research on other businesses in your category that compete in other markets. Probably the best approach is to take pieces of many productions and form them into your own original production. I feel it is more important when you are competing in the wedding, stationery or event market nationally or online to be original because copying is much more transparent. In any event you can use the success of others as an inspiration if it is not appropriate to use it as an emulation.