This is a lesson I learned the hard way in the comics industry almost a decade ago.

At the time the industry was dominated by Marvel, DC and Image, with two or three hundred other publishers fighting for the remaining shelf space. Gaining a foothold in every store was almost an impossibility for a comic that wasn't published by the three big publishers. But if you could get a latch on enough stores, it was enough to make a comfortable living. That is - until the actions of the big three publishers caused a giant contraction in the market. Suddenly the comfortable living was cut to a third. It was my own fault for relying on a market that was so completely influenced and controlled by my competition.

It's a lesson that Jones Soda understands very well. The Coca-Cola Company and Pepsi Co. have a strong hold on the soda market. The traditional mindset would be for Jones to try to purchase premium shelf-space at convenience stores and super-markets paired with a large glitzy ad campaign to trumpet the new brand. Had Jones followed that route, it's unlikely it would be in existence today. The world has a Coca-Cola. The world has a Pepsi. It would take more marketing dollars than most companies can spare to convince anyone that there is a need for another brand of soda, let alone that your brand is the one that's needed.

Rather than fight Coke and Pepsi on their turf, Jones sought distribution venues that no one had ever considered. Jones approached tattoo parlours, collectible stores, sports stores, motorcycle shops. Any place that Coke and Pepsi had never in their wildest dreams considered approaching - Jones was there. Rather than play the rules set by the competition, Jones is busy writing their own rules and gaining a share of the market that would otherwise have been impossible to attain.

Who's rules are you playing by?