Empower, Don't Compete
Turn capable competitors into partners who expand your movement
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 97%
Start by identifying the competency your business performs exceptionally well and a complementary capability that other providers already possess. Instead of competing with those providers for the same customers, package your competency into a system they can adopt through certification, licensing, enablement, or operational support. Partners continue doing the customer-facing work that suits them while your business supplies the difficult backend capability. This changes competitors into a distributed delivery network, gives them a stronger offer, and expands the reach of your method. The mechanism only works when the underlying system produces results, partner economics are attractive, quality is protected, and the arrangement creates meaningful value for customers as well as both businesses.
Origin
Amanda Tress developed the approach after her wellness marketing clients proved effective at building personal brands but often struggled to create strong fitness programming. She turned her proven Faster Way programming into an accredited certification they could deliver to their own communities.
Core principles
- 01Treat market saturation as evidence of demand
- 02Build around a competency you can reliably deliver
- 03Let partners retain the work and visibility they do best
- 04Create mutual value before asking others to adopt your system
- 05Scale impact by enabling others rather than controlling every client relationship
How to run it
- 1
Find Your Core Competency
Identify the capability you perform unusually well and can support with consistent customer results. Choose something more defensible than general enthusiasm or visibility.
Pro tip Look for work clients repeatedly ask you to perform or fix.
Watch out Do not build a partner model around an unvalidated method.
- 2
Map Complementary Strengths
Identify adjacent providers who reach the same market but possess strengths different from yours. Determine which difficult or undesirable work you could remove from their businesses.
Pro tip Study where strong marketers, operators, or practitioners routinely need outside help.
Watch out Do not assume every adjacent provider has the same needs.
- 3
Package the Capability
Turn your expertise into programming, training, standards, tools, and support that another provider can consistently use. Define the customer experience and expected outcomes.
Pro tip Begin with the smallest complete system that can be taught and quality-controlled.
Watch out Loose advice is not a transferable operating system.
- 4
Design Mutual Economics
Specify how customers, partners, and your company each gain from the arrangement. Make responsibilities, revenue, support, and ongoing costs understandable before recruitment.
Pro tip Test the economics at both modest and high partner volumes.
Watch out A model that only benefits the platform will erode trust.
- 5
Pilot With Trusted Partners
Invite a small group with relevant audiences and complementary skills to use the system. Observe delivery quality, customer results, and partner friction.
Pro tip Select early partners who will provide candid operational feedback.
Watch out Do not interpret initial enthusiasm as proof of sustainable economics.
- 6
Scale the Movement
Use pilot evidence to improve certification, support, and quality controls before recruiting more partners. Expand only when the system works without constant founder intervention.
Pro tip Track partner activation and customer outcomes, not certification sales alone.
Watch out Rapid recruitment can magnify weak programming or poor incentives.
In the wild
Tress saw that her agency clients could attract wellness audiences but were not always strong at writing workouts. She built an accredited certification around her effective programming so those entrepreneurs could run the Faster Way to Fat Loss program in their own communities rather than compete with her for clients.
→ The vertical grew from roughly $1 million to more than $60 million in gross revenue, with approximately 2,000 certified coaches by the time of the interview.
A hypothetical bookkeeping software company notices that independent accountants have trusted local relationships but struggle to standardize monthly reporting. It packages its reporting workflow, templates, and automation into a certified partner system while accountants retain client relationships and advisory work.
→ Accountants gain a stronger recurring service while the software company expands through trusted local partners.
Common mistakes
Certifying Before Proving Results
A polished certification cannot compensate for a weak underlying method. Establish repeatable customer outcomes before distributing the system.
Treating Partners as a Sales Channel
Partners need sustainable economics, useful support, and meaningful autonomy. Viewing them only as acquisition sources creates fragile relationships.
Ignoring Quality Control
Distributed delivery can dilute customer results unless training, standards, feedback, and remediation are built into the model.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for businesses with proven intellectual property, programming, processes, or infrastructure that other practitioners can use.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for businesses whose method is unproven, difficult to standardize, or unsafe to delegate.
From the transcript
“let me lean into my core competency.”
“instead of just simply trying to compete, I'm actually going to take the opportunity to empower those around me and, and maintain that abundance mentality.”
“Why not really kind of bring them into the fold of what I'm doing, certify them to essentially be my competitors and make a huge,…”
From the episode
The FASTer Way to Stand Out In A Saturated Market with Amanda Tress
Amanda Tress