Laziness or Leverage?
Having worked in corporate America for more than a decade before branching out on my own five years ago, I understand the joke in the picture above. It’s true, many profitable companies create space for less motivated people to slack behind true leaders. However, as a solopreneur, drafting isn’t necessarily lazy, in all reality, it’s leverage for survival as long as you take your turn as lead bird.
If you caught my last post, “An Army of Sum” you’ll remember we discussed the advantages of banding together in a tribe. Even though Tribe Mastery 2.0 focuses predominately on elevating the awareness of their fellow members’ blogs, the concept applies for participating cooperatively in building up partner businesses.
Here are the 4 basic building blocks for successfully creating and operating a mutually beneficial community of solopreneurs.
1. Find Similar Partners
When I say “similar”, I’m suggesting you band together with other solopreneurs who have a common drive, commitment, and ethics, but complementary strengths and skills.
For example, if you have a strong background in managing money and you’re committed to helping families take control of their personal finances , you will do well to find other people with the same level of drive (i.e. putting in the same amount of hours), commitment (i.e. not bailing out at early setbacks) and ethics (i.e. playing by the same rules) while having complementary strengths (i.e. a connector, a copywriter, a sales pro, a marketing marvel, and technical expert).
2. Set Mutual Beneficial Goals
The team won’t stay together if there isn’t any equally gain for all involved. If all solopreneurs involved put in the same hours, but one or two members reap the biggest reward, the other members will stray their own way.
Keep in mind, however, that at times, some partners may be more active than the others in the flock. Each member will take turns being lead bird while the other members draft behind them. For example, the marketing marvel and the tech whiz may have action items to complete when ramping up while the sales pro may be less active. Each member’s activity will fluctuate over time. Don’t keep a daily ledger nickel and diming time spent. Instead, focus on activity and benefits over a period of time – say monthly and quarterly.
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Source: TheSologuide.com by Doug Dolan
