Leap of faith

This summer while at a friend’s cottage, I witnessed her young son taking a bold, brave leap off the dock into the lake.  Now this was something he’d wanted to do for ages, but had never quite had the courage to do.

His face as he achieved this milestone, first with his life jacket on and then without it, was a picture of sheer joy and pride.

It made me think of the perseverance and determination we need as small business owners to achieve our goals and that sense of accomplishment we feel when we close our first big deal. It makes all the hard work to get there worthwhile.

The key, as our young diver showed, is you don’t give up.  You just go closer and closer to the edge until you feel you can make that leap of faith, that you will succeed.

Fired by his successes, he moved on to finessing and turning his jump into a dive, and with that successfully achieved, we had a hard time getting him out of the water!

Maybe this summer you stuck your toe in the entrepreneurial pool, gingerly lowering yourself into the water.  Know that there will come a time when you have to get wet, when you have to just go for it, and when you do, know that like my friend’s son, we are behind you, cheering you on because we believe in you and we know you can do it too.

Get ready to make your big splash. 

Collaboration vs. Competition

When I worked as a community developer, much of my job was to bring agencies and organizations together to look at combined efforts to resolve community issues.

Much of the time it worked, because while there were sometimes funding or territorial issues, most non-profit organizations shared the same values and tended to look at what was best for the client, rather than getting into who “owned” the client.  Our focus was to take a holistic approach to the family and their problems.

It isn’t quite that simple in the private sector as business owners are always looking at the bottom line and there is an element of WIFM (what is in it for me).  Certainly it needs to be a win-win situation for all the parties involved, but when you take an abundance approach and try to work together, the end result is far-reaching.

I’ve always believed in the value of collaboration because when you pool efforts and talents, you can both be successful, and more to the point, the client benefits.

But it is not always that easy, and sometimes I have leapt into partnerships that have backfired down the road because we hadn’t clarified our end goals or how we would achieve them.  Much of the time, in hindsight, we also didn’t share the same values which is crucial to any business relationship.

That’s why I am so excited about Company of Women’s new partnership with Women in Biz Network.  Not only do Leigh Mitchell, Founder of Women in Biz Network and I share the same values, but we are both driven to helping our members succeed.  And while Leigh and I could get a tad carried away in our altruistic efforts, her partner Fay Chappele keeps us grounded and focused on the bottom line. 

By combining our efforts, we will provide even more services and benefits to our now 400+ members but there is also an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to network and meet up with more seasoned business owners.  We can all learn from each other.   

We also bring different skill sets to the partnership, meaning that between the three of us, we can reach further and potentially achieve success much faster, than if we slogged away on our own.  The key is we respect each other and recognize the expertise that each brings to the table.

Now admittedly we are in the “honeymoon” stage but I have a good vibe about this one and with all the lessons I have learned (the hard way) in the past, I am confident it is going to work, and if it works for us, it most definitely will benefit and work for you.

And talking of you, who could you partner up with?  Is there someone in your sector with whom you could cross-promote? Is there the potential of working together?  Perhaps there is a joint project you could work on as you build trust and become comfortable with each other. When you are both targeting the same client group, it can be more fruitful to combine your efforts.

As Helen Keller said “Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much.”

Speaking Out Loud

While I am getting much more comfortable with public speaking, my interview at the Toronto Women’s Bookstore made me more nervous.  Mostly because I didn’t know the questions and therefore couldn’t rehearse my answers.  I’ve never been someone who felt confident speaking off the top of my head.  And then there was the reading out loud – I had to read two or three sections from my book. 

First, which ones do I choose?  And second, and probably more important, I suck at reading out loud. I always went to great lengths to avoid this at school, where there was the expectation that the students in leadership roles (I was one)  would frequently read to the whole assembly.

Well you know what… it was OK.  Actually it was more than OK, it was pretty good.  What I had forgotten is that when you know your topic (which was me and my book), you know the answers.  On reflection there were a couple of things I probably shouldn’t have said – being critical of a well-known entrepreneur – but hey, take a number,  there are many who take pot shots at him.

My thanks to friends who came in to be supportive, especially those who drove in from Oakville.  It was lovely to see some familiar faces and it made the whole event seem like a friendly conversation between friends. Annemarie Shrouder was a charming host who made you feel comfortable and at ease and she seemed to have genuinely liked my book, which helps.

So my advice to those of you facing a demon or taking a risk – just do it.  It is usually worse in your head than in reality.