Do you wonder about the possibility of using your unique story to build a business? Do you worry that everything you desire to teach or promote has been “done before”? Do you think you have nothing new to add to the conversation, or that everyone has “heard it all before”?

Stop.

This kind of thinking is the number one killer of new businesses, and it is absolutely not true.

• Wendy’s hamburger chain was conceived long after McDonald’s already had a huge piece of the fast food pie.

• Dominos and Little Ceasar’s exist in the same niche quite well (as do many, many others).

• Marie Forleo, Carrie Wilkerson, Denise Duffield-Thomas and dozens of others all help online entrepreneurs find success.

Clearly, if there were only room for one superstar in any given field, many of our most-loved businesses would not exist today.

So what’s the lesson here? There is absolutely room for you.

But let’s take a closer look. If you really think about it, these “competitors” are unique individuals. You won’t find a Quarter-Pounder wanna be on the Wendy’s menu. And Little Ceasar’s sells itself as the less expensive alternative to other pizza places. Likewise, Marie, Carrie and Denise are not clones of one another.

They are very, very different, because they all have different stories that allow them to appeal to completely different audiences. And you are no different.

For new (or even established) business owners, this is a powerful lesson. In order to stand out from the crowd, you need to embrace your unique story, too. Your story can literally be the key to building your own successful business.