What’s another year?

As my 11th business birthday has crossed over with the Eurovision Song Contest this year, I found myself remembering the Johnny Logan song from 1980, “What’s Another Year?”

After re-reading my earlier birthday blogs I was indeed wondering, what is another year? Does marking the passing of 12 more months actually matter? For me, the answer is a big “yes.” And especially this year. The shift this time has been that my work is increasingly based on collaboration. That was true in birthday blog part 10, and looking back it has been steadily moving that way for the last few years.

 In answer to the comment that is often made about those of us who work on our own, I have said on many occasions that you may be working independently, but there is no need to be alone. Networking leads to collaboration, and with the right people leads to partnership, and more.

I mention Angela Fumpson and Andrew Western frequently, and that’s because over the last 11 years and 8 years respectively they have become good friends as well as close working partners. There hasn’t been a time over those years where we haven’t been collaborating in some way. We have also been edging towards a more structured way of talking about how and why we work together for a while now. It’s called The Power Of Three and you’ll see this logo appearing very soon along with how you can find the power of truly connected support in your business.

But there’s more. Hannah Rowe and I met at a networking event last Autumn, I dragged her into working on a project that ultimately didn’t take off, but we found the process so enjoyable that we actively sought out a way of working together. Our workshop “Thrive in Any Season: A Workshop for Resilient Hospitality Businesses” will also launch soon. Connecting with Hannah led me to meet Xander Wild and Ryan Whitehead, video makers extraordinaire at River Axe Media, who have in a short space of time become friends and colleagues with new projects and adventures opening up almost daily it seems.

Andrew, Angela and I have established a tradition of being thrown out of pubs every Christmas for simply occupying a table for too long. We enjoy each other’s company and just talk. Hannah explained to someone recently that our workshop came about over a very long lunch from which it just naturally evolved out of the chat. The same applies to Xander and Ryan, and my other key business partner and friend, who prefers to stay out of the online fray, but who is nonetheless someone I couldn’t imagine not being part of my world.

It is about shared business vision and values, and common goals and approaches, but the thing I’ve come to realise this year, more than ever, is that it is about the personal connections and friendships that are built up over time. We are, in the end, all working on our individual businesses and will stand or fall by our own efforts. That is made so much easier by building a network of trust and partnership with like minded people whose work complements and adds to yours. If you find that it can last for years and enrich your life in ways you never thought possible.

Last year I described Selling Service as my 5oth Birthday present to myself. Getting out of corporate life and into something that I had a measure of control over and took joy in. In which case my 60th birthday present was hitching my wagon to some lovely people with brilliant offers and making ourselves more than the sum of our parts.