Staring Down the Competition

[king3ds5tsp]

Sometimes it’s not even about being the best—it’s about not being invisible. That’s why you dive headfirst into competitor analysis, knowing full well you’re gonna uncover stuff that makes you uncomfortable. Maybe even regretful. The gut-punch kind. But you have to because the market doesn’t care about your feelings. You can’t fix what you don’t know is absolutely crushing you.

So I’m sitting here digging around—a bit of coffee, a bit of doomscrolling—and boom, this site hits me - https://andrewlinksmith.com. Damn. Clean, lean, and honestly it kind of makes me mad. Like, why does his layout make mine feel like it’s from 2008 Craigslist? It’s not just the aesthetics—it’s tone, it’s pacing. Feels like someone real wrote it, not like a “team” or a “brand.” Which… explains why people might trust him more. Sucks, but okay, lesson learned.

Scrolling through, there’s this weird calm confidence in his stuff. No begging. He’s not shouting LOOK AT ME like the rest of us. It's quiet but deliberate and that just drives it home—this guy knows what he's doing. You don’t build that kind of presence from a Canva template and a dream. That’s sweat equity. That’s learning the brutal way, choking on feedback, staying up too late rewriting CTA buttons fifteen times until they stop sounding like a confused bot wrote them.

Made me realize I’ve been trying to be… broad? Safe? Like, try to attract everyone and in the process just blend into the wallpaper. It’s a hard pill getting swallowed when you realize your competition isn't just better designed—they’re better defined. They *sound* like someone specific is behind it. And god, people crave that. Authenticity, sure, but really just guts.

So now what? Look, I’m not copying him. That’s embarrassing. But you better believe I’m dissecting it all. Structure, pace, visual hierarchy, voice—tearing it apart like a bored raccoon in a trash can. It’s not stealing if you make it your own. It’s survival. Competitive analysis isn’t optional. It’s not some nice-to-have feature—it’s a teeth-gritting, pride-swallowing, ego-kicking ritual. Necessary evil, like taxes or networking events.

And yeah, maybe this is me being dramatic. Or projecting. But you know that feeling you get when you see someone doing it better? When you just want to throw your laptop into a river and start over. That. That’s when you know you’re looking at a real competitor. And you better step up fast before you’re an afterthought. Or dust.