Many of us are, including me. When I meet another business coach, my first instinct is to size him/her up, and then draw a mental picture of strengths and weaknesses. It's a bit harder for the more common occupations... insurance agent and money manager. They meet their competition on every block.

So what to do?

(1) People will pick you more often than not based on your personality and approach. As long as your reputation isn't a mess, your only real challenge is how good you are at asking questions and avoid your own feelings of inadequacy.

(2) In most cases, there is enough work for everyone. Another way of saying this is you won't know if you can win the business unless you try.

(3) Get really comfortable with your strengths. It's better to talk about your strengths than your competitions weaknesses. This isn't a political contest. Surprise everyone by talking your competition up instead.

Allow your jealousy to exist, but know that it's a feeling that only impacts your results as much as you let it.