Some people are stronger at things than others. That’s what makes business so magical. Before you get into new collaborations, take some time to get to know your own personal SWOT. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Strengths are things you are good at.

Weaknesses are things you suck at.

Opportunities are circumstances that make something possible

Threats are things that could cause person or professional damage

Make a list of characteristics you have for each area. Then look for people that don’t have the same profile as you do. Choosing those who are strong at your weaknesses and vice versa makes business grow under the partnership. If you have to people that love to sell and are horrible at details, unless you can find someone to do the details, you’ll just have bigger problems collectively. Have your partner do a SWOT analysis themselves and then compare with each other.

The mistake I see a lot of people make is that they try to get good at what they suck at. What they should do is just focus on what they are good at and find partners that are good at the other parts. For me, I’m a starter, not a finisher. I get my jump from building new business models, developing the cash flow process, and building out the systems, then I want a partner who can run the ball and keep me in the loop, but do what they do. If I find another starter, all we are going to do is start things and not finish them. Every good partnership has two sides that reflect one another, but have different skill sets. This is where collaboration gets very exciting. Birds of a feather, might flock together, but they rarely make money together.

Cheers,

Chris.

www.ghostceo.com

What separates those entrepreneurs who build highly profitable businesses from those who eke out a living? A lot of people think it has to do with being lucky. I don’t think so. Neither does Larry Farrell, author of “Getting Entrepreneurial” who outlines 4 traits all highly successful business owners have:

1. Sense of Mission: Their whole focus is about creating value; they passionately believe that what they do is important. They have a strong vision of what they want to build and are extremely driven to make it happen. They do not make excuses.

2. Customer/Product Vision: They have a clear vision of their niche market, who their customers are and why they buy. They dream and talk about what they are building all the time. They are experts in both product and marketing. Having a great product is not enough – you have to be good at catching market attention. Lee Valley Tools is a superb example of this

3. High Speed Innovation: These entrepreneurs move quickly to respond to opportunity. They don’t get bogged down in a lot of research and analysis and “thinking about it”; they go for it! This mentality of speed is the simplest way to beat the competition.

4. Self-Inspired Behavior: All great entrepreneurs are highly self-motivated because they know that they live or die by the consequences of their behaviors. If they don’t create a product the market wants, if they don’t get out there and sell, if they don’t invoice and collect, their business won’t survive so they do what needs to be done.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

1. Synchronize your calendars. A lot of office software allows you to view your colleagues’ calendars from your desktop. If you don’t have that option, wall calendars and bulletin boards can work well even for a big office. Flag special events and opportunities for your colleagues to work together.

2. Schedule regular meetings to get updates on progress, brainstorm and work together on specific projects.

3. Encourage water-cooler chats. A simple coffee and water station can be a focal point for some informal chats and collaborative efforts.

4. Collect emails and send out a daily or weekly memo with a quick update from everyone about what they’re up to. This simple habit will help everyone keep up to date.

5. Get to know each other outside of a work setting. Whether this means organizing a company softball team, grabbing a slice of pizza at the corner or a round of mini-golf, seeing each other in a less formal setting can help reinforce relationships and even inspire some out-of-the box thinking that will help when you get back to the office.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

Co-marketing is the idea of piggybacking your marketing along with someone else’s marketing in a win-win situation. The first step is finding another business that meets the needs of a similar target market to yours and provides a complimentary product or service.

Then, you look for ways to reach that target market and promote your products or services together while sharing costs.

Here’s an example:

A fellow with a personalized car service wants to reach drivers with more money than time who would be happy to have someone pick up their car, have it serviced and cleaned, and deliver it back, all while they were busy at the office. Regular maintenance gets done on their vehicles, but rather than using up their own valuable, personal time on weekends, the task is handled by a trusted professional.

What we know is that busy professionals are likely to have disposable income, value convenience, prefer personal service, and value their vehicles. They are also likely to be concentrated in a downtown area. And, we know that there are other businesses in the downtown area that cater to this same clientele, as well.

One example is dry cleaners. Often downtown dry cleaners charge more than ones in the suburbs, precisely because they are offering greater convenience, and paying higher rent to do so. I speak from experience back in the day when I say, it’s less hassle to grab your dry cleaning on your lunch break than it is to make an extra stop on the way home after an already lengthy commute.

In this instance, a co-marketing campaign might look like this:

The car service prints promo tags that can be hooked onto the hangers at the dry cleaners. In exchange for having the dry cleaner add the tags to every order, he offers the dry cleaner a free opportunity to promote his business on the back, complete with special offers or seasonal discounts (this space is usually left blank, so it’s wasted real estate otherwise). Coupons from the tag can be returned to either business to claim the special rates.

The car service pays only for the printing, while the cost to actually reach his very specific target market is free – printing is cheap, doing mass mail outs to a niche target customer is not. The dry cleaner gets free promotion for the mere effort of adding a tag to each completed order. And both parties are able to track how effective the marketing program was by the number of coupons they get back.

It’s a win-win for both, and they both received a greater return together than they would have if they’d each done a campaign alone. That’s how 1+1 can = 3.

- Liz Gaige
Market Navigators Consulting

It’s amazing to me that we, as human beings, co-habitating on this planet, would ever make the assumption that we are meant to do things on our own. Yet from an early age there is conditioning that starts, whether it be competitive mind-set (”I have to win in order to succeed), scarcity mind-set (”I need to take from them in order to have more for myself”) or fear mind-set (”what if….”). And we all laugh when we see the uber competitive parent on the sidelines of the soccer field freaking out at the players (who, by the way are 5 years old), but, this is really where it all begins. And yet, when we really take a look at life objectively, it’s obvious that we are here to find ways to work in collaboration with one another and in doing so we will reach unimaginable heights.

Today, simply notice your way of being in the world. Do you approach it from a collaborative mind-set? Are you willing to partner up when it makes sense in order to achieve what you couldn’t otherwise achieve on your own? Or do you think you have to do it all yourself? Do you think you’re less than, if you need to ask for help? Are you worried about being judged if you can’t get it all done on your own.

Only by ‘taking the temperature’ of your natural way of operating today, will you know if you have some work to do, in order to see collaboration for the true gift that it is.

Let me know how you do.

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

Collaboration allows amazing things to happen, but make sure that you are partnering with the right person. It is much easier to avoid a bad partnership, then it is to get out of a bad partnership. Women will give each other the benefit that they will both contribute equally. This is rarely the case. When you are collaborating, have a conversation that openly discusses what each person is going to bring to the table. The relationship should have measurable goals that both partner contributes to and that both partners can identify with one another. When everyone is pulling equally and in the same direction, magic can happen. When one partner is doing all the work and the other is coasting, bitterness and resentment set it.

Here are some questions to go through with a partner you are considering collaborating with. If the answers don’t add up or make sense, look for someone you are better aligned with.

1. What is each of our selfish reasons for this alliance (”because it would be fun” is not the right answer)
2. Let’s make a list of what needs to get done and who will do what.
3. What needs to get done that neither of us want to do? Who will do it?
4. How will me measure the success of our collaboration?
5. At what intervals do we want to check in?
6. What ‘weaknesses’ do each of us bring to the table?
7. What are some of the reasons that past collaborations we’ve been involved with (individually) have failed?
8. How am I likely to piss you off? How am I likely to get pissed off?

Having a frank discussion at the beginning of the process will save feelings, time, and resentment down the road. Collaborators who don’t take the time before hand, set themselves up for failure. Those that put in the due diligence will benefit from the collective power of the team.

Best,

Chris.

www.ghostceo.com

I love this quote!  And how true it is.  I really only accomplished amazing things in my life when I started thinking of myself as a success and just going for it, rather than giving myself all the reasons why it might now work out.  Thanks to a very inspiring business woman – Karen Engelage – owner of Beauty Solutions for today’s inspiration.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

First, choose just one habit you want to change. You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. The habit can and often will be a habit of omission – for instance, you often lost your access key card, miss appointment or neglect your paperwork.

Next, tell yourself how you’re going to replace your habit. Tell others. The more of your colleagues who know you’re trying to change your habit, the easier it will be. Write it down.

Every day, take a few minutes to think about the habit you are changing, and repeat to yourself (out loud, if you’ve got some privacy) your commitment to change your ways. You can also use this time to actually undertake the replacement habit. For instance, if you’ve resolved to improve your filing of paperwork so it becomes a regular process, doing this on a daily basis at a regularly scheduled time is ideal. If the problem was missed meetings, then taking a few minutes to check your calendar at the beginning of every day just before your prioritized tasks is essential.

Remind your colleagues about your habit change so they can help keep you on the right path.

Consistency is key. In 30 days, you can replace your bad habits with better ones. Remember, it’s not about willpower. It’s about routines.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

For many of us, high school is a well-faded memory – for some more faded than others — but that little reminder urging us to “Stop worrying, just try it!” would come in handy right about now, too.

It’s weird. In our many roles as women, we are incredibly competent, we juggle 101 things at once, we just: Get. Shit. Done. And we still second guess our every move. What is up with that?!

SheTeam did a readers survey a few months back, asking what advice they’d give their younger selves and sure enough, a recurring theme was have more confidence, less fear.

That’s what holds us back. Fear.

It’s a thought that holds you back. Doesn’t that seem odd? It’s not a lion or a grizzly. It’s a thought. Abstract, concrete, without form. But we let it stop us from acting. That’s always seemed really crazy to me.

It’s one thing to look before you leap off the diving board to ensure there’s water in the pool. It’s quite another to paralyze yourself evaluating, “How much water is there in the pool?” and “What temperature is the water?” and “I wonder, does the water have the right saturation of chlorine?”

Quit getting in your own way and freakin’ jump already!

Wait! Feel that? It’s your future self patting you on the back. You go, girl.

- Liz Gaige
Market Navigators Consulting

This months theme is to get out of your own way, and one of the biggest ways I see myself and many of my friends, colleagues and clients getting in their own way is by going WAY too fast in life. Rushing from this to that, prepping for 5 minutes before a big meeting instead of an hour the day before, like you’d planned, road raging to find parking, running behind all day, not eating proper meals or taking proper breaks, just plane old running.

At first you’ll just be lightly jabbed and made fun of by your peers. “Oh, we already ordered because we knew you’d be late…” things like that. Then, eventually, you’ll stop being invited. Now this might be a blessing for you, since you obviously have too much going on, but, I highly doubt you actually want people saying this about you. Let’s face it, I don’t think you’re intentionally trying to appear flaky or incompetent, but, let me be the one to break the news – YOU DO!

When you are always rushing there is a certain energy that you carry. People notice the red cheeks, sweat on your brow, shallow breathing, whatever it is that your body does when you push it too hard.

Take some time today to slow down. Say ‘no’ to anything new that comes up. Take a look at your schedule for the rest of the week. Where have you not given yourself enough time? When can you already spot where you’ll be running from that point on in  your day? What can you do to help yourself out? (make your lunch the night before, leave 10 minutes earlier, etc).

‘Staying present’ is a new buzz phrase that Eckhart Tolle, with the help of Oprah, made popular. Let me tell you how hard it is to ’stay present’ in your life when you’re always rushing around. Are you smelling the roses these days? Take a step back, reassess, slow down and stay present. Because….

Life unfolds much more smoothly when you get out of your own way!

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.