No entrepreneur starts from scratch. He or she first sees what

others are doing, and then tries to make improvements in

order to attract customers from others. Even someone who

starts a completely new business is still competing (ultimately)

against all other entrepreneurs, for the scarce dollars of potential

customers. For example, a movie theater owner competes

not merely with other theater owners, but also with the owners

of amusement parks, and even the owners of restaurants and

gyms. Whenever a customer spends money at one business,

that is less money available for other shops.