Читать книгу Start & Run a Graphic Design Business - Michael Huggins - Страница 44

Thought-leadership groups give you the ability to coordinate your knowledge and experience with two or more like-minded people to attain your business goals. This is similar in some ways to coaching, but is more informal.

Thought-leadership groups are made up of people in a similar business situation to yours. In these groups, you informally share your knowledge, experience, and research findings with the other members. These types of meetings are a huge benefit because, unlike the coaching groups, they are unscripted. They often don’t follow a structured plan, but they can provide immediate real-world feedback. If you are having troubles in collecting fees, for instance, you can ask others in your group what they have done, and the kind of success they’ve had doing it their way.

Some local business groups may run these types of meetings in your city. In many cases, these groups are free to attend or have low joining fees. Your local Chamber of Commerce might know of such a group in your area.

If you want a group exclusive to design business owners, why not start your own? Look around for other people who own a business similar in size and structure to your own and approach them with the concept. Design the meetings so they are easy to have, and so that the members can easily connect with each other, and you’ll have greater success. A meeting could be a gathering at a coffee shop, or in someone’s home or office. Meetings could also be held through conference calls. There are many free conference call services available that allow you to have as many as ten people on the line for no cost. You can even record your discussions and distribute the recordings to the group.

With all that said, I understand that any of these solutions may still fall short of the benefits you feel you might get from a real partnership. That’s because the motivation to avoid doing it all yourself is a strong one. Just remember there are a lot of cautions to consider. If you really have to have a partner for your business, do yourself a favor and take the partnership contract and lawyer route that I’ve outlined in this chapter. Spell it all out right down to the penny if you can. You’ll be better off in the long run if you do.