ly integrate social and financial goals and align themselves with their communities in ways that boost the bottom line. Instead of deciding to give back once revenue is up, decide to work giving back into your strategy from the get go. Find ways to contribute through your clients, employees and your business. This will boost your name recognition, offer some tax benefits and open up new or unseen market opportunities, as well as differentiate you.

Sometimes we forget that the most important alliances are the people who work for the business everyday, but your employees are the ultimate partners. Finding and retaining top talent is key to a company’s

Although being autonomous and independent are traits that are seen as being very positive in our culture, being a lone warrior is a common mistake many business owners and small companies make. In our increasingly global economy it’s impossible to be all things to all clients. It’s important that small and midsized companies create and build on strategic alliances in order to leverage their strengths.

This is going to surprise you but one of the first places I recommend looking for alliances is your competition. Many companies refuse to partner with their competition, or even talk to them. Many business owners don’t want to be in the same networking groups as their competition or in the same business circles. This shows weakness and fear and probably means you aren’t secure enough in your own value proposition. Running into your competitors should not cause you to break out into a sweat. It should help you to further hone in on your unique value and focused strategy. As a small business operating in a local market it is not only going to be important to be able to be in a room with the competition it is also going to be important to partner with the competition to stay afloat amidst the larger players. It is a tough global economy out there. You should be looking for allies not enemies. Many businesses fear losing secrets or that their competition will gain an advantage over them. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and see what you could gain through leveraging a relationship with your competition.

The next place to look at is companies that sell to the same target market as you, a complementary or supplementary product or service. Research your potential partner and analyze the value each proposes to put into the alliance. Even if the partnership wouldn’t be equally beneficial and one party benefits more, the question a business should ask is whether or not this new alliance would give them more than they would get without it.

When choosing a prospective partner it is wise to do a reference check with other partners that they use or have used and make sure that they don’t have conflicts and that they do have certain synergies. You should make sure that your partnership has approval and support and that the executives in both organizations approval of the relationship. Again, remember that the value doesn’t have to be equally important to both sides, but it does have to be a real benefit that each side would not gain without the other.

When seeking to cultivate partnerships and boost your business don’t overlook the power of your community. Companies can seamlessly integrate social and financial goals and align themselves with their communities in ways that boost the bottom line. Instead of deciding to give back once revenue is up, decide to work giving back into your strategy from the get go. Find ways to contribute through your clients, employees and your business. This will boost your name recognition, offer some tax benefits and open up new or unseen market opportunities, as well as differentiate you.

Sometimes we forget that the most important alliances are the people who work for the business everyday, but your employees are the ultimate partners. Finding and retaining top talent is key to a company’s

groups as their competition or in the same business circles. This shows weakness and fear and probably means you aren’t secure enough in your own value proposition. Running into your competitors should not cause you to break out into a sweat. It should help you to further hone in on your unique value and focused strategy. As a small business operating in a local market it is not only going to be important to be able to be in a room with the competition it is also going to be important to partner with the competition to stay afloat amidst the larger players. It is a tough global economy out there. You should be looking for allies not enemies. Many businesses fear losing secrets or that their competition will gain an advantage over them. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and see what you could gain through leveraging a relationship with your competition.

The next place to look at is companies that sell to the same target market as you, a complementary or supplementary product or service. Research your potential partner and analyze the value each proposes to put into the alliance. Even if the partnership wouldn’t be equally beneficial and one party benefits more, the question a business should ask is whether or not this new alliance would give them more than they would get without it.

When choosing a prospective partner it is wise to do a reference check with other partners that they use or have used and make sure that they don’t have conflicts and that they do have certain synergies. You should make sure that your partnership has approval and support and that the executives in both organizations approval of the relationship. Again, remember that the value doesn’t have to be equally important to both sides, but it does have to be a real benefit that each side would not gain without the other.

When seeking to cultivate partnerships and boost your business don’t overlook the power of your community. Companies can seamlessly integrate social and financial goals and align themselves with their communities in ways that boost the bottom line. Instead of deciding to give back once revenue is up, decide to work giving back into your strategy from the get go. Find ways to contribute through your clients, employees and your business. This will boost your name recognition, offer some tax benefits and open up new or unseen market opportunities, as well as differentiate you.

Sometimes we forget that the most important alliances are the people who work for the business everyday, but your employees are the ultimate partners. Finding and retaining top talent is key to a company’s

sses fear losing secrets or that their competition will gain an advantage over them. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and see what you could gain through leveraging a relationship with your competition.

The next place to look at is companies that sell to the same target market as you, a complementary or supplementary product or service. Research your potential partner and analyze the value each proposes to put into the alliance. Even if the partnership wouldn’t be equally beneficial and one party benefits more, the question a business should ask is whether or not this new alliance would give them more than they would get without it.

When choosing a prospective partner it is wise to do a reference check with other partners that they use or have used and make sure that they don’t have conflicts and that they do have certain synergies. You should make sure that your partnership has approval and support and that the executives in both organizations approval of the relationship. Again, remember that the value doesn’t have to be equally important to both sides, but it does have to be a real benefit that each side would not gain without the other.

When seeking to cultivate partnerships and boost your business don’t overlook the power of your community. Companies can seamlessly integrate social and financial goals and align themselves with their communities in ways that boost the bottom line. Instead of deciding to give back once revenue is up, decide to work giving back into your strategy from the get go. Find ways to contribute through your clients, employees and your business. This will boost your name recognition, offer some tax benefits and open up new or unseen market opportunities, as well as differentiate you.

Sometimes we forget that the most important alliances are the people who work for the business everyday, but your employees are the ultimate partners. Finding and retaining top talent is key to a company’s

it.

When choosing a prospective partner it is wise to do a reference check with other partners that they use or have used and make sure that they don’t have conflicts and that they do have certain synergies. You should make sure that your partnership has approval and support and that the executives in both organizations approval of the relationship. Again, remember that the value doesn’t have to be equally important to both sides, but it does have to be a real benefit that each side would not gain without the other.

When seeking to cultivate partnerships and boost your business don’t overlook the power of your community. Companies can seamlessly integrate social and financial goals and align themselves with their communities in ways that boost the bottom line. Instead of deciding to give back once revenue is up, decide to work giving back into your strategy from the get go. Find ways to contribute through your clients, employees and your business. This will boost your name recognition, offer some tax benefits and open up new or unseen market opportunities, as well as differentiate you.

Sometimes we forget that the most important alliances are the people who work for the business everyday, but your employees are the ultimate partners. Finding and retaining top talent is key to a company’s

ly integrate social and financial goals and align themselves with their communities in ways that boost the bottom line. Instead of deciding to give back once revenue is up, decide to work giving back into your strategy from the get go. Find ways to contribute through your clients, employees and your business. This will boost your name recognition, offer some tax benefits and open up new or unseen market opportunities, as well as differentiate you.

Sometimes we forget that the most important alliances are the people who work for the business everyday, but your employees are the ultimate partners. Finding and retaining top talent is key to a company’s growth. This is especially true for small to midsized companies that are competing with larger companies for management. Many companies are starting to understand the connection between employee satisfaction, high levels of productivity and the bottom line. It is important to create a culture of connectedness and a teamwork in which employees feel that they are respected and will be rewarded for their efforts. This will result in a company that can flourish due to the growth and hard work of its employees.

The smartest companies that create the fastest growth know that partnerships and finding ways of creating alliances is the way to get ahead. It is easy to see why many companies choose not to partner with their competition, choose not to offer employee benefits and training, and choose not to give back to the community. Fear of going belly up keeps these companies thinking small. It can be a scary venture to give to employees and the community and partner with the competition in order to increase revenue and it seems to go against common sense. However, if small to midsized companies want to stand a chance against their larger competitors they need to put aside those fears and misgivings and see that partnerships can be a smart path to profits. For more information on how you can create strategic alliances, visit www.flourishingbusiness.com.