I heart GladRags!
It’s not very often that you get kudos from your business competitors, but then again, the alternative menstrual products world isn’t exactly your average business. I feel compelled to respond to Brenda Mallory’s (GladRags’ founder, doncha know!) empathetic comment on a recent blog post of mine with more positive thoughts.
It’s an interesting coincidence that Brenda and I both started our respective padmaking ventures in 1993. We also share the commonalities of being Moms to “only” (Brenda could probably come up with a more positive term) daughters, as well as being of a creative bent - in my case as a former fashion designer, and in Brenda’s as a highly accomplished visual artist, sculptor and teacher - check out her work here. We didn’t actually cross paths until 1999 at a crazy trade show and I must say that it was an odd meeting for me, encompassing part looking in the mirror, part curiosity, and part feeling very threatened. It’s a shame, the way traditional businessthink has us programmed to fear (or even dislike) our competitors, without first relating to them as people.
My initial reaction lasted all of about 30 seconds, and I’m happy to report that today, Suzanne and I are proud to count Brenda as a valued friend and esteemed “compatriot” (Brenda’s wonderful term) and that we keep in regular contact. It’s frankly liberating to have come to this place. When we fear our so-called competitors, the world becomes very small, scarcity-oriented and us-or-them. In our case, with upwards of 60 million women in North America alone out there as prospective customers, it would be seriously counterproductive to see the game as being about Lunapads vs. GladRags (so male - arghh!), not to mention that we’d be missing out on an extremely interesting realtionship.
So thanks for your support, Brenda, you are a fabulous person who, like the thousands (yes we can!) of other women in this natural menstrual dance, is making a positive difference for women and the planet; we’re proud to be working with you.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Years ago, as a young teen, when I was a bit miffed at a few friends for always copying me, my sweet mother told me, “my dear, having someone copy you is the best compliment of all, just make sure you are worthy of being copied.”
At my first job out of b-school, at Wachovia, my manager’s, and the company’s philosophy, was to embrace our competition. Their motto was: strong competition equates to a strong industry.
Yes, it is a good thing to welcome our competitors - in my business I hope more and more companies copy us - because we are doing it right and as more businesses, such as yours, keep doing it right - the entire business environment will someday be right. There is always room for more right in the world!
Thanks for all your great work and energy!
Maureen Quinlan
Founder and Director
QRubini