I really can’t say it more simply than that headline.

There are some amazing experts in this business who keep our fabulous invalid alive despite the increasing difficulty of doing what we do.  Where we’d be without those few folks, I have no idea . . . but it has kept me up at night. (Thankfully, I do end up nodding off because I’m fortunate enough to work with them.)

At the same time, we work in an insulated industry, where there aren’t a lot of people providing the services we need.  That lack of competition can drive up prices, and if you don’t have the right vendor, it can drive down the quality of the work.

What do you do?

In other industries, you’d have vendors, service providers, creators of new products, etc., making appeals to you daily to give them a shot.  They’d cut you deals, give you incentives, and so on.  That doesn’t happen so much in our biz.  A lot of Producers I know make choices because they feel they have no other choice.

But there is always a competitor.  And if they won’t come to you, then it’s your job as the producer to seek them out.

Luckily, that’s never been easier than in 2010.

Competition is good. It’s what this country was founded on.  Lack of competition breeds complacency.

With our limited choices, your task is to find a vendor that is passionate enough to compete with himself, or to find another vendor, period.