Why is collaboration important for your small business?

Collaboration occurs when two or more individuals or businesses come together to work towards a common goal or purpose. It could be a one-off short term gain or it could be a long-term relationship doing a series of joint activities to build their brand and create a deeper connection with their audiences.

As small businesses we all have our strengths and talent, our uniqueness that keeps us running successfully for a while, but over time as creativity runs out or with increased competition or changing needs of consumers, it gets more and more important to join forces with someone who can bridge that gap and help you offer more value for your product or service.

Collaborations are important for small businesses for :

1. Problem solving – If one mind can’t solve a problem then two minds put together can make a difference. There is an undeniable power in numbers or just putting things together when solving a problem. A new thought, a new approach, a better way to look at things can get solutions to problems easily.
   
2. Growth and Learning – After the initial surge that we start our businesses with, it is easy to get into a routine day-to-day pattern without knowing or realising that there could be better ways of doing things. Collaborating with others helps you get out of that routine and see things in a different way specially if two parties coming together have very different skill sets, which can shoot up your learning curve.
   
3. Networking – Collaborating means meeting new people, extending your brand to a new set of customers. In order to be successful you have to continuously meet and make new associations in business. Every new contact is a potential new customer, collaborator or a meaningful connection.
   
4. Save Resources – Collaborating means sharing. Sharing common resources like money, time, customer base and even intellectual contribution can get you more for what you invest, save you precious time as more people get involved and work gets evenly distributed.
   
5. Builds Trust and confidence – It is true that no matter how successful you become, if you can’t share your success with others it kind of rings hollow. Being solopreneurs can be hard as you work alone. Working along with another person gives you the much-needed energy and boost that can make a big difference in your productivity.

Want to get ideas on how to collaborate or share some of your own? Join our Mums@PLAY women entrepreneurs community and stay connected.

Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash