Most people are playing it safe and following the old routes to success. They start businesses because they’ve seen someone else doing something similar. They copy blueprints and try to replicate the revenue and results of others in the space. Exceptional entrepreneurs know that’s not where the magic happens. But the new routes are where they face resistance. And you will too.
Every time you try to break into a new space, build something different, or challenge the status quo, you’ll meet people who want you to stay exactly where you are. Not because you don’t deserve better, but because your success threatens their position. They don’t want you in the game.
I started a social media agency in 2011, when most companies weren’t using it. The industry’s work was split between fewer, bigger, more established agencies. They didn’t want newbie freelancers in the game. The big players want to maintain their advantage. And they always will. But their resistance actually signals your potential.
Why gatekeepers want to keep you small
The pattern is everywhere once you spot it. Big agencies don’t want freelancers stealing their clients. Your boss doesn’t want you to start your own business. Record labels fought against singers releasing their own tracks. AI companies build elaborate moats and tell you it’s “too complex for you to understand.”
YouTube stars preach “anyone can do this” while quietly implementing strategies to keep you from competing with them. They’ll sell you courses on “how to succeed” but never reveal their actual playbook. It’s obvious what’s happening. They’re protecting their advantage.
These gatekeepers aren’t smarter or more talented than you. They simply got there first and now control the gates. The system is designed to keep you patient, polite, and playing by the rules they created to maintain their position.
How to win despite the opposition
The good news is that you can beat this system. The established players have weaknesses you can exploit. Their size makes them slow. Their success makes them complacent. Their conventional thinking makes them predictable.
Act where they’re not looking
The biggest opportunities exist in the blind spots of established players. While they focus on defending their main territory, look for unguarded entry points they’ve dismissed or overlooked.
When I built my agency, I targeted smaller businesses the big agencies ignored. They were focused on landing huge corporate clients while I built a profitable business one small client at a time. By the time they noticed, we’d already established our reputation.
Find the tools, channels, and audiences the gatekeepers consider too small, too new or too niche to bother with. These “not worth the time” spaces are precisely where you can gain traction without direct competition.
Move fast while they move slow
Large companies are cumbersome. They change direction slowly. Their size, processes, and organizational structure create natural limitations that you can exploit.
Make decisions today that they’ll need three meetings, two proposals, and executive approval to match. While they’re planning the perfect move, you can try five different approaches, learn what works, and execute at scale.
Speed is your competitive advantage. Use it. Test ideas rapidly. Launch before you feel ready. Adjust as you go. Create a cycle of action and learning that outpaces your bigger, slower competitors.
Be more you
The gatekeepers built systems that worked for them, not for you. Stop trying to copy their exact path. Your distinctive approach is your strongest asset.
Identify your ace cards. What unique combination of skills, experiences, and perspectives do you bring? Where are you already strong? Double down on these areas rather than trying to beat the gatekeepers at their own game.
I never tried to make my businesses look like the established players in my industry. Instead, I maximized my outsider perspective to spot opportunities they missed and my youth to connect with emerging platforms before they did.
Your differences can become your greatest strengths when you reframe them as unique advantages rather than trying to hide them.
Build your own community
While established brands focus on protecting what they’ve built, create something new that attracts people they’ve overlooked or underserved. Community is a competitive moat.
Find others who share your frustrations with the status quo. Build connections. Share resources. Support each other’s growth. The strength of your network can overcome many of the advantages that established players hold.
Communities built around shared values and genuine connection create loyalty that industry stalwarts can’t easily disrupt. They’re too busy protecting what exists to see the power of what you’re building.
Document your journey
Those at the top maintain their position by making the path to success seem mysterious and complex. Break this illusion by documenting your journey openly.
Share what you learn. Talk about your failures and successes. Create the resource you wish existed when you started. This transparency builds trust with your audience and attacks the very foundation of the gatekeepers’ power.
Your honest documentation becomes both your marketing and your rebellion against a system built on artificial scarcity of information. Win the populist vote to overcome the odds.
Turn their resistance into your advantage
The fact that they’re working so hard to keep you out proves there’s something worth pursuing on the other side. Act where they’re not looking. Move faster than they can respond. Be authentically you in ways they can’t replicate. Build communities they’ve ignored. Document everything to help others follow. Keep going.
Every rejection letter, every “that’s not how it’s done,” every dismissive comment, is confirmation you’re onto something valuable. Resistance is not a sign to quit. It’s validation that you’ve found a path worth taking.
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