“I couldn’t help her, she might become a competitor!” said Nick* when I asked if he’d been able to help Angela* with a business idea.
That response, and the murmured agreement of everyone around us, broke my heart, as Angela’s business experience could have helped Nick’s struggling operation.
Nick had taken the short-term, narrow and reflexive view rather than listen and think through the opportunities presented by collaborating with Angela, a successful businesswoman who had recently sold her previous venture and was exploring new ideas.
As I discussed a few weeks ago, most business is now global. Instead of worrying about the guy up the street, most enterprises have to worry about what’s happening in the rest of the world. Business is now bigger than petty neighbourhood turf wars.
In many cases, identifying your business’s weaknesses and finding partners who have complementary skills can grow everybody’s ventures and the overall market. This is particularly true in regional areas where locals are having to look outside their districts for the right skills and products.
To be honest, this issue is personal; one of my IT businesses was constantly hamstrung because I couldn’t establish relationships with other tech support companies. The companies I approached were happy for us to refer work to them but the idea of referring work back or, God forbid, working together when we had complementary skills was untenable.
As a consequence none of the businesses grew and everybody was a loser. That reluctance to collaborate between parties is one reason why the IT support sector is such a dog’s breakfast.
Nick’s reluctance to help and engage with other players may not kill his business but he’s lost a valuable resource that could have made his company’s growth easier. It’s a loss for everyone.
If your neighbours or friends have an idea, embrace them, even if they could be a competitor, they may be the best allies you ever had.
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Paul Wallbank is a writer, speaker and broadcaster on technology issues. He founded national support organisation PC Rescue in 1995 and has spent over 14 years helping businesses get the most from their IT investment. His PC Rescue and IT Queries websites provide free advice to business computer users and his monthly newsletter has over 3,000 subscribers.
Smart Company is the leading online publication in Australia for free news, information and resources catering to Australia’s entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners and business managers.
