Community vs Competition - We’d rather be friends

In most businesses, the goal is to stay ahead of the competition, but 4160Tuesdays has a different way of looking at things, one that’s about building a big community, not guarding shed-sized territory.

Whether you’re making perfume as a hobby or a living, Sarah and the team believe in sharing what they know, helping others get started, and making space for more people to join in, because the more of us there are, the more people get to discover how brilliant artisan perfume can be.

This isn’t just true for perfume, it’s true for almost every industry. There’s this common belief that if someone else is doing something similar to you, they’re your competition. Your rival. Your enemy.

I think it’s the opposite.

So many industries are full of secrets, people snooping on each other in the shadows. Why not open the curtains, let everyone see what’s going on, and make a few friends along the way?

Sharing what we know

When I first encountered Sarah and 4160Tuesdays, I realised very quickly that this wasn’t a typical business. She was sharing her formulas for bestselling fragrances. She was teaching people, people who might one day be seen as her “direct competitors”, how to make perfume, for free, on her YouTube channel, or for a very reasonable price through Patreon and her online Scenthusiasm course.

There’s more than enough of everything to go round, and we’re more likely to find it if we work together.

In the ‘normal’ world of business, this kind of thinking might be called naive, idealistic or even stupid.

But the more I’ve come to understand the world of niche and artisan perfume, the more I’ve realised it’s the only thing that makes any real sense.

Let’s make some interesting friends

Who wants to work in a miserable world where the people that actually share the same interests and passions as you are the ones you compete against and often hold an unjustified grudge against, when actually, they are the ones you have most in common with and are likely to make the most interesting of friends.

And let’s be honest: in a world where the big mainstream perfume houses have the budget and power to shape most of the public’s understanding of what perfume is supposed to be, the only way we’re going to show people what else is out there is if we join forces and lift each other up.

If you loved painting, wouldn’t you want other people to experience the joy of it too? I think Sarah has a bit of that in her thinking; she wants everyone who’s interested in perfume to be able to give it a go. But she knows the only way that’s possible is by cutting out all the pretentious, overly complicated nonsense that gets in the way.

Sure, making beautiful and balanced perfume isn’t something you master overnight. It’s part creativity, part chemistry, part trial and error. But you have to start somewhere. And Sarah wants that starting point to be simple and welcoming.

So let’s keep building each other up, share what we know and make this a more joyful space to be in, for ourselves, our customers, and the future of artisan perfumery.

Sinead, Sarah and the 4160Tuesdays' Team