Can you collaborate with another business owner who does the same thing as you do? Maranda Carvell, a registered nutritionist who has an online business that helps other nutritionists turn their passion into profit, believes there is a lot of value in in just that.

Why work with other business owners?

Collaboration is a great opportunity for business owners to grow. As an entrepreneur or solopreneur you may find that you do everything yourself: marketing, content creation, etc. Everybody else in your industry is also doing it alone – all of you are basically doing the same thing. If you work together then you are not spending so much time trying to reinvent the wheel.

Why do people hesitate to collaborate?

Collaboration can be a scary thing, especially if you have never done it before; but as you start to decide what your focus and niche is, you will also see that everyone has their own style, personality and approach to doing things, so although there is overlap, everyone’s work is unique.

Not everyone will want to work with one nutritionist, etc. so by connecting with others who are in your line of work you are building your professional network and can refer people and vice versa.

What kind of projects can you collaborate on?

You can collaborate behind the scenes i.e., sharing of digital products, resources, etc. It does not have to be a face-to-face collaboration, you can share content and tools that are similar, but then are altered to reflect your business’ offerings, etc. For example, challenges – two separate businesses can run a similar challenge, but with two different offerings at the end.

Another way is to co-create programs. You can split the workload, share ideas and then both promote to your own mailing list and social media followings, etc. You can then each share an online community group where participants can join together to connect with a larger group.

How can you find the right person to collaborate with?

Most of the people Maranda collaborates with are people she has gotten to know online, or are specific to her professional network. As you engage with people in your industry you will get to know them better and see if their philosophy and values are in line with your own.

The scarcity mindset needs to go. There is so much benefit to working with others, but if someone is hesitant than maybe they aren’t the right person to collaborate with. There is more than enough business out there and an open-mind is needed.

There is always competition, but building relationships builds businesses and people want different things and are attracted to different styles, etc. so just be yourself and don’t worry about other people.

When you work alone it can be very lonely and isolating, collaborating creates connections and brings something fresh to your business.

Tips to work effectively with more than one person:

- Be organized with your work and make sure the other person is too

- If you don’t see the person face-to-face have online systems set up to ensure goals are being met

- Have open communication, such as constantly connecting via a private Facebook Group or with weekly calls, etc.

- Use a shared drive such as Google Drive to share documents

Other tips on collaboration

Many business owners share a passion with another business owner. The more of us who are successful and who are willing to collaborate then the more of your industry there will be to help others.

Don’t be afraid. Just focus on your specific niche and goals. The benefits of collaboration outweigh the risk – there is opportunity to be found in collaborating.