Working on your own at home is fine (and I quite like it) but of course it has its downsides too. For instance when you have a job you go to each day, then you get all that social contact, and if you get on with the people you work with then it can be fun too.
I sort of miss that a little, but the freedoms I have now far outweigh any small misgivings I have about the team thing and missing the camaraderie. You may feel the same.
And of course while you’re doing your thing and working from home, there’s nothing to stop you from forming an alliance with a like minded person or two and then creating a business from it.
The most important aspect is the division of workload and finding someone who has complementary skills to your own. And you have to be able to get on with them too. 🙄
The thing is, just by being “out there” and doing stuff like product creation and getting your name known, you’ll inevitably bump into people along the way who share your enthusiasm and most importantly “get it” and who are on your wavelength.
It doesn’t happen every day, or even that often, but when it does you should grab the opportunity with both hands.
Sometimes you’ll find that you already know the person, but events just get in the way until one day you find that things are just right and you can get your act together.
The big benefit of finding someone you like and who has the abilities to handshake yours is you can get a lot done in a short amount of time. IF you divide the work up between you and you can actually do what you say you’re going to do. 😉
Let’s not forget that when you work on your own, then every so often FEAR raises it’s head and you start to think you’re going to fail.
FEAR stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.
If you’re working with someone else, then that fear of failure – which is just an emotion – largely disappears because suddenly you find yourself busy doing important stuff and you have goals to achieve.
So my question to you today is…
Is there someone out there than you can form an alliance with?
An alliance that will mutually benefit both of you.
I reckon if you stop to think for a few moments then you’ll come up with at least two people you’ve met either online or off that you could work with and split the profits.
Why not drop them a line or give them a call and ask if they want to work on a small project with you? Nothing too big, just a 30-day project to begin with, and create a new product and get it to market.
Two of you working together will mean you start to spark off each other and you’ll come up with some great ideas. You’ll find you always have different resources you’ve both found to share with each other which can then be used to help you in your venture.
My suggestion to you today is you put aside 30 minutes and call or write to someone and ask them if they wouldn’t be interested in working with you on a small project.
You’ll almost certainly find that they’ll say yes.
And that could be the start of a beautiful (business) relationship. 😉
-Frank Haywood
Frank,
Casablanca quote notwithstanding (!), that is a good idea. 😉
I think one of the things that some people would be scared of, though, is someone else running off with their idea.
That said, the old adage is definitely correct: two heads are better than one.
Nobody is good at everything so finding a “left glove” to go with your “right glove” attributes is a way of doing so much more than 2 people can do separately.
I wonder how many people who’ve read your post will wish they could find someone to partner with – but never take the step of approaching anyone? I’m willing to bet it’s a very, very hefty majority.
As they say, if you don’t ask you’ll never know – will you?
@Amin: Aha! So nice to “hear” from you again, I was beginning to worry, and I’ve just been hunting round your sites to see what was going on.
I know you’ve been very quiet, and I read you’d been ill and flooded out, so I hope that’s all behind you now.
You’re right, sometimes people do run off with your idea and copy it, but I think those happenings are few and far between. For instance, a dicky bird told me that a large (ish) product launch that happened this time last year was out and out stolen and duplicated by someone who was supposed to have been partnering on it. So we saw two copies of what was essentially the same product released at about the same time.
Very naughty.
But like I say, that’s the exception rather than the rule, and you just have to trust people not to do that – most have the ethics, some don’t. I reckon you’d have to be very unlucky to have that happen to you.
And yes, I agree, some people will never take that first step – it’s usually the hardest.
-Frank
Hi Frank,
Thanks for your advice.
Sometimes its difficult to trust people when we are starting out. Only when we truly know the person do we value their contribution.
@Eruwan Gerry: Yep. I find that by giving trust I get it back in return. Very few people are amoral enough to react badly to trust.
-Frank
Frank,
You failed to mention one important benefit of having partners. One of the best parts of having others work with you is that you can have each person concentrate on what he or she does best. One person might be great at graphics and site design while another would excel at copy righting.
Plus, having people work with each other will increase the odds that deadlines are met, products that are promised are delivered, and that follow-up is done correctly. These are all critical parts of any Internet Business and sometimes one person just cannot do everything in an efficient and timely manner.
Dave Greis
Hi Frank!
Thanks for another useful post on your blog.
I read your advice, and as a matter of fact I did contact a successful and very well known
UK marketing specialist a couple of weeks ago about a possible JV project I thought might have been of interest.
In the blogpost you say…
“My suggestion to you today is you put aside 30 minutes and call or write to someone and ask them if they wouldn’t be interested in working with you on a small project.
You’ll almost certainly find that they’ll say yes.”
— > Or not. <—
And I guess some will simply ignore the suggestion without giving an answer at all.
Of course, the guy I wrote to is very busy, with lots of balls in the air, but still…
Cheers, and all the best, Frank!
Jan
http://www.Christmasgifts-2009.com
Great article, Frank, and some very insightful commentary, too.
Fear is probably the biggest barrier to anything we attempt for the first time, whether business or life in general. I’ve found that if you give your fear a shape, a color and even a size, that it lessens by the mere act of so doing.
Taking action, even small steps diminishes it, too. I also agree that the synergy between two complementary souls can magnify as they build their project and their relationship together.
For those who break the trust, they will be repaid with their own bad karma… all in due time, as that’s just how the Universe works.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts & ideas — you are terrific in my book!
Take good care,
Donna